Magical Curiosity

by MagLocal

Rating: everyone
Tags: Starlight Glimmer, Equestria Girls, Tragedy, Sunset Shimmer, Twilight Sparkle, Main 7 (EqG), Twilight Sparkle (EqG), Drama, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic
Length: 117809

Sunset Shimmer's close friends know about the magical world called "Equestria", but, soon, Twilight becomes unsatisfied with just having their questions answered. So, Sunset brings her camera in her next trip across the portal.

For Sunset Shimmer, letting a group of impressionable high school students in the know about another dimension where magic reigns and talking ponies are the norm is not the easiest thing to handle. It does not help that the portal to this dimension is right in front of the school.

Sooner or later, though, she has to deal with more than mere questions about Equestria. Twilight becomes curious enough that words won't cut it for her anymore. She wants to see this dimension for herself.

So, Sunset begins by offering to bring her camera through the portal to take pictures and videos of her next trip there in Equestria.

Published 2018-07-13 16:10:01 UTC
Last updated 2018-08-24 13:38:03 UTC

Souvenirs from Home

The statue of a rearing horse still stood there between the school and the road. The building itself had no lights on, devoid of conversation. The houses surrounding the school mostly had their lights off, too, though some snoring could be heard if one would strain their ears.

It was a cold, chilly night. Or a cold, chilly morning that happened to be too early for the sun.

Then, a white flash radiated from the statue’s base, and out came Sunset Shimmer, back with her two hands and her two feet. She looked around, seeing no cars and no one on the streets, hearing only crickets chirping and owls hooting.

Sunset fumbled a hand in her bag and took out her phone. She turned it on and read the time.

One ten in the morning.

After scanning her surroundings once more, she checked her messaging app.

No new messages, not even from Twilight. Well, the Twilight with glasses, that was.

“Good,” she whispered, slightly shivering in the cold. “She’s not staying up past midnight and going crazy over it. I hope she doesn’t go crazy when she wakes up.”

Then, she held up the camera still strapped around her neck, and turned that on. The screen now showed pictures of the kite competition, the ponies and their kites on display. Sure enough, it would not be complete without a photo of the champion herself, Derpy Hooves, happily holding up her trophy for all to see.

She turned off the camera, looking around again. Still saw no car, still saw no one.

Sunset yawned as she headed for home, not forgetting to look left and right before crossing the empty road in that cold night.

Sitting on her bed back home with no lights on but that of her camera, she browsed the pictures she had taken. With only the occasional car zooming by on the road outside and the rustling of trees planted on the sidewalk, she then came across the only video she got from the event.

She pressed a button and played the recording.

Sunset could see Starlight visibly gulp.

She heard her voice. “Uh, h-hi!” And another gulp. “If you’re wondering why I-I look familiar, that’s because I’m Starlight Glimmer! You know...”

Sunset chuckled as she saw the rest of the video: the kites in the sky and the ponies holding them, Maud’s straightforward greeting for the camera, Trixie’s entrance from out of the blue, and the laughter everyone except Maud had.

She turned it off. After opening the drawer by the bed, Sunset put the camera back into its plastic bag.

With that done, she took out her phone and turned it on one more time.

One forty-one.

She yawned, covering her mouth in her exhaustion. “I’m not gonna have a great morning, am I?” Then, she smiled as best as she could. “Pinkie’s cakepies always do the—“ yawned again “—trick….”

She placed her sling bag on the shelf, put her phone behind a book, and covered herself in her blanket. After putting her head on the pillow, she slept.

Morning had returned half an hour ago, and Sunset was walking her way to school, first passing by the shops and stores of her district and then seeing more houses crop up the closer she got. Holding her camera, she encountered Fluttershy’s house.

It was a corner house and it looked modest. With brown bricks and a green roof, it gave off a humble atmosphere, but what got Sunset’s attention were the pets roaming around in the front yard. Dogs, cats, birds, bunnies—even a bear was present, but it behaved quite well for such a big creature.

Sunset then saw Fluttershy walk out of the house, saying farewells to her parents inside before closing the door shut.

Sunset glanced left and right, crossed the street, and walked up to her. “Flutters!”

Fluttershy gasped in surprise and tightened the grip on her own sling bag. “Sunset? I thought you would be, um, sleepy!”

“Nah.” She shot a thumb behind her. “Turns out I’d stored some of Pinkie’s cakepie things from Monday. Enough sugar to last me through the entire day without eating.”

Fluttershy nodded and smiled. “That’s good, if not unhealthy—“ and gasped again, placed a hand on her mouth, looking at her friend speechless. “How did your, uh, visit go?”

“Oh, it was really good!” Sunset held her camera up again, this time for her to see, finger on the button. “I even got some shots and footage of the competition! Also, Starlight showed up there as expected.”

Fluttershy smiled. “Who won?”

“You’ll be so happy for her when you realize who she is!” Sunset then winked.

And the two of them walked their way to school together, chatting about other stuff.

The school library was a spacious dome-shaped room, its ceiling made of diamond-shaped glass panes which let in ample sunshine so that everyone could have proper reading light in the day. It also smelled of both musty old pages and of aromatic woody scents. Bookshelves lined up the circular walls, most of them filled to the brim with books on a wide variety of subjects—and it was not just textbooks and yearbooks, for some comics were there, too. Finally, at the center was the computer station where a few computers sat around the bronze bust of a horse.

As Sunset and Fluttereshy entered the library, they saw the sparse number of students there—and by sparse, there were only their five best friends from the diner. The only teacher at hand, Cheerilee, shuffled books around, placing them on each table while brushing her purple hair.

“Morning!” Sunset greeted, waving at her.

Cheerilee waved back with her comb-holding hand. “Morning, Sunset! Don’t stay here too long; class will start in fifteen minutes!”

“Don’t worry,” she replied, “I can handle it.”

With Fluttershy, Sunset walked to the only packed table in the library.

Among those seated there, Applejack and Pinkie Pie were anxiously watching Twilight reading a book entitled The Golden Sail. Rarity sat beside her, tapping her nail-polished fingers on the table, eyeing those glasses with an impatient look. “Are you done?”

Pinkie tapped Rarity on the head and then on her arm. “Hey! Guess who’s here!”

She turned her head and there they were, Sunset and Fluttershy. “Why, good morning, you two!”

Pinkie furrowed her brows and inspected Shimmer. “You ate my cakepie leftovers, didn’t you?”

Sunset raised her hands. “You got me, Pinkie!”

Then, those last two friends sat down on the remaining empty chairs and settled down.

Sunset took out her camera and looked around. With a whisper, she said, “Is she watching?”

Rainbow Dash looked around and saw Cheerilee on the other side of the room, counting the number of books on a certain shelf; it had a book or two missing, from the looks of it.

Sunset looked there, too. “I’ll take that as a yes.”

Then, everyone looked at her.

Applejack adjusted her hat, tense. “Heh, thank you for bein’ here, ‘cause Twi’s acting a bit...out of her mind.”

Sunset looked at Twilight again who was still reading the book, holding on to it. She saw, on the cover, several armored knights and a stately unicorn riding a boat with, well, a golden sail.

All eyes then shifted towards Twilight, who noticed the attention. She laughed nervously and pushed the book back to Rarity who responded, “Hmph! If you only knew how much we love our books, too!”

Twilight scratched the back of her head. “Sorry!”

Applejack looked back at Sunset, gestured an open hand to Twilight. “Exhibit A.”

Pinkie nodded, her smile somewhat dampening. “Yeah! We all know Twilight’s a little zealous when it comes to reading, but this is even worse than when I brought over laser pointers for the book club!”

“Uh,” Fluttershy spoke up, raising a trembling hand, “I thought Twilight didn’t want us to speak about the laser pointers.”

Twilight cleared her throat loud, glared at Pinkie.

It was now Pinkie who raised her hands. “Hey, it wasn’t a Pinkie Promise, so I get a free pass!”

And everyone went quiet as they considered Pinkie’s argument.

“Let’s...not bring that up again,” Sunset said, breaking the tension. “Let’s get on to why Twilight probably brought you all here.”

Twilight gasped, stared at her in shock. “How did you know?!”

Sunset wagged a finger, smirking. “After what you texted last night, I had to prepare myself for anything today.”

Twilight gulped and scratched the back of her head again. “Yeah, about that….”

Sunset pressed a button and the camera turned on. “You don’t have to worry about that anymore. I got home very late at night, but it was worth it for all of you.”

Those friends gathered around Sunset; some leaned closer while others stood up and walked to her side.

“Am I in there?!” Pinkie shouted, stretching her hair out. “Tell me, Sunset, am I in there?!”

“You joined at the last—wait, the other you joined at the last minute,” Sunset said, shielding the screen with one hand and scrolling to a certain picture with the other.

Everyone was silent as the pictures blurred as they scrolled.

Cheerilee, by another bookshelf, looked at the huddled group around the table. Then, she giggled to herself. “You go, old-fashioned Sunset!” she whispered under her breath before returning to her librarian duties.

Then, Sunset opened her mouth in delight. She put down the other hand. She drew in a huge breath of air. “Alright, girls. Are you ready to see what Equestria looks like for the very first time?”

“Do you have pictures of all the Princesses and their castles?!” Rarity shrieked with mad eyes. “It’d be a dream come true to catch even a glimpse of them!”

“You know you can go online and search up castle photos,” Applejack stated.

“Says Miss Farmgirl over here!” said Rainbow, nudging her on the shoulder.

Applejack smacked a palm on her own face. “Dash, I know how to use the in’ernet for years now.”

Sunset sighed, smiling though. “I think we all know what Rarity meant.” She faced the fashionista herself. “I took a picture of one of the castles. The second one is a train’s ride away, and the third one’s all the way up north. Might’ve taken me an hour both ways at best.”

Twilight inched her head even closer, then bumped Sunset on the ear.

“Ow!”

Twilight pulled her head back. “Whoops! Uh, sorry, Shimmer!”

Sunset rubbed her ear. “That’s OK. I know you’re excited and—“

“I’m so excited!” Twilight cut in, biting her lip. “I mean, sure, magic is very dangerous, but this is beyond anything I could ever imagine! Having magic here is one thing, but a whole world that can’t live without magic? Could I—”

Sunset held out her hand towards the over-excited Twilight. “Woah, calm down there! You’re getting ahead of yourself.”

And everyone, including Cheerilee, was looking at her odd.

“Uh, whoops again!” Twilight then looked around and took a step back.

Sunset caught a glimpse of Cheerilee who then turned her back on them and resumed sorting the books out. Then, turning to her friends, hand still over the screen: “OK, whatever you do, don’t talk about it unless it’s just us. If anyone asks you what we talked about today...say it’s between the group. We already have enough trouble with creatures going here; I don’t wanna know what’s gonna happen if someone stumbles into the portal on accident.”

“Or on purpose,” Applejack noted. “Didn’t Starlight arrive right in the middle o’ the day with everyone watchin’?”

“True,” Sunset answered, “but we don’t want them to just walk in and out the portal like it’s a door, and the less attention the portal gets, the better.”

Fluttershy nodded, saying “Mm-hmm.”

Rainbow nodded, too. “Yeah. Sounds pretty reasonable.”

Sunset wiped her forehead. “Phew! Now, let’s show you—“

Rainbow’s head leaned down beside the camera. “Did you take a picture of my awesome pony version there?! What did she do? Did she fly around and do cool loops?!”

Sunset gulped, glanced at Rarity and Twilight who were looking at her with excited grins, then raised a hand.

She looked at Cheerilee who did not look back at them this time; the teacher was now skimming through a book.

“What about all of you keep quiet?” Sunset then said, sweeping her friends with her view. “Don’t wanna cause any trouble, do we?”

Applejack sighed, looking down on the mischievous three beside Fluttershy. “She’s right, y’all.”

Rainbow, Rarity, and Twilight gave anxious grins to Sunset and immediately dropped them, regaining their composure.

Sunset sighed. Her shielding hand was shaking. “Alright? Here we go!”

The hand was lifted, showing the screen to all.

And everyone except Sunset gasped and said their slow “Wow!”’s, eyes wide as they saw the picture of a pink kite held by none other than Pinkie Pie herself.

Except it was not the Pinkie they knew.

In the picture, this other Pinkie Pie was a pink pony with curly pink hair. She had hooves, a tail, and three balloons on her flank.

“Wow, Pinkie!” Applejack looked at the Pinkie standing beside her, then at the camera, then at Pinkie, then back at the camera, then at Pinkie again. “Sunset talked about us bein’ similar, but I didn’t know it was like this!”

Pinkie—not the pony—smiled at the photo, holding both of her hands. “Aww! She looks so cute!”

Fluttershy tapped her chin. “Uh, if she’s a talking pony, what do I do with her?”

Sunset cleared her throat and pointed at herself. “I’m sometimes a talking pony, and you don’t have any issues with me.”

“I don’t have any issues literally talking to myself!” Twilight blurted out. With some eyes on her once again, she backtracked, saying, “Uh...maybe not a lot of issues?”

Rarity visually scrutinized the happy pony in the picture. “Did you take pictures of the rest of us?”

Sunset nodded, scrolling through the pictures fast enough so they were a blur once more. “Actually, it turned out all of your pony selves were up late for some reason.” Pointing at Rarity: “You were going to the town’s bakery to order a cake and have some chit-chat with Pinkie who, in Equestria, works there!”

With everyone still looking at the camera, Sunset stopped at another picture and showed them a photo of Pinkie Pie and Rarity sitting at a table in the bakery. This Pinkie’s mouth was buried in blue frosting, but this Rarity remained as clean as ever with her gleaming white coat and her curled purple mane—

“And those eyelashes!” yelled this world’s Rarity. “She has bigger eyelashes than I do!”

Applejack laughed, pushing her seat closer to the camera. “Sees herself as a pony, an’ the first thing she thinks of is eyelashes.”

Rarity then placed her face closer to the screen. “Wait...is that mascara? On a pony?!” She whirled her head towards Sunset. “You didn’t tell me ponies could be that fashionable!”

Sunset blinked. “I did.”

Rarity shook her head, glancing at her pony self on the screen. “What else is out there? Do they have lipstick?”

Sunset nodded. “Yeah. So?” Then, she caught a glimpse of Fluttershy peering at the camera. Sounding more eager: “Hey, Flutters, you were with Applejack right before the market closed; she was selling apples for the ponies attending the competition.”

With a swift flick of a finger, Sunset brought up another picture, this one of two ponies standing by an apple cart. The yellow one, Fluttershy, was smiling a modest smile, almost as if trying to hide from Shimmer with her long pink mane. The orange one, Applejack, was wearing her country hat and was holding up an apple on her hoof.

The Fluttershy and Applejack in this world looked at each other, mouths wide open, both saying, “Uh….”

Sunset scrolled through the photos again. “Alright, on to...um, you, Rainbow!”

Rainbow punched the air. “Aw, yeah! Did you catch me doing spinning tricks? Doing those sonic rainbooms like a pro?!”

The camera-holder chuckled. “You were just regulating the wind for the kite fliers.”

And she promptly showed the rather disappointing picture of pony Rainbow Dash floating in the sky, her wings spread out. She looked bored there.

And her counterpart looked bored here. “Ugh. But...hey, she has wings all the time. Going super fast is cool, but flying whenever you want?”

Sunset smiled, taking a closer look of the photo herself. “Yeah, it’s cool.”

Twilight placed a hand on her own cheek. “So, what did I do?”

“You organized the whole competition,” Sunset replied, scrolling down to a picture of pony Twilight doing just that.

There she was, the alicorn Princess herself, pointing a hoof over there while ordering another pony to do something—but, she was smiling. Also, beside her was a little purple dragon.

When Rarity saw him, she gasped. “Is that Spike?!”

“Mm-hmm,” was Sunset’s subdued reply.

Twilight, meanwhile, dropped her jaw. “Th-That’s...that’s what she looks like? I-I’m...I….”

Sunset looked at her, devious. Then, she lightened up. “Starlight Glimmer also sent a message.”

With all now quiet again, even excited Twilight, Sunset swiped the screen a few times and located the video. A press of a button and it played.

All were silent as they saw a unicorn sitting on the chair under the open night sky.

Fluttershy raised both her brows. “Is that Starlight Glimmer?”

Sunset nodded, not saying a word.

“Uh, h-hi!” the camera sounded with Starlight’s voice. “If you’re wondering why I-I look familiar, that’s because I’m Starlight Glimmer!”

And everyone watched as Starlight directed the camera towards the kites in the sky. Except for Sunset, they all dropped their jaws as they saw ponies move around with kites.

“W-Was that one floating her string?!” Twilight asked.

“Shush!” Sunset then placed a finger to her lips as they watched.

Twilight grinned, nervous.

“Oh, and Pinkie,” Starlight went on in the video, “your sister Maud also has a pony self! Here!”

And they saw a gray pony sitting on a chair.

Pinkie put both hand on her cheeks. “Maud!”

Sunset gave Pinkie an unnoticed smile as the video continued.

Then, they reached the part where Starlight was back in focus. “So, there you have it! It’s the three of us—uh, actually four, but she’s—“

“I’m here!”

And some gave odd looks at that.

Dash scratched her rainbow-colored hair. “That sounds awfully familiar.”

Then, the camera spun around, and a blue unicorn came into focus.

Everyone opened their mouth once again at the sight of the pony.

“Trixie?!” they all cried out.

“Sh!” Cheerilee shouted, putting a finger on her mouth as well before turning back to skimming another book.

But they did not pay attention to the teacher. They paid attention to the unicorn wearing a pointed hat and a flowing cape, and they saw that unicorn stick out her tongue. “No offense, but I, the Great and Powerful Trixie, can’t stand a world where magic isn’t real and the only thing you could do there is fake stage magic!”

Rainbow tried to stifle her laughter. “If only Trixie could come here and see this!”

And the others tried to stifle their laughter, too. Even Sunset.

“Well,” the Trixie in the video went on, “at least I could do real magic...like this!”

And when they saw the pony’s hat float into the air along with her horn glowing pink, their mouths were zipped.

Twilight’s eye twitched. “Wh-What...just happened?”

“A unicorn doing what she does best,” Sunset said, smiling. Then, she looked at her. “Don’t act surprised; you have telekinesis, so you already know what that’s like!”

Twilight smiled back. “And you used to do that a lot back in Equestria?”

“You already know that, too,” Sunset said, concerned.

“Oh! Right, right, right!”

“And, did I hear a challenge?” a haughty voice called out.

Sunset turned off the camera and turned around to see Trixie standing by the library’s doors, crossing her arms and wearing a glower.

She was also wearing a wizard’s hat.

Sunset smiled, waving at her. “What’s up, Trixie?”

Trixie did not wave back, approaching her slowly. “Do you think you fraudulent good-for-nothings could hide a secret from the Great and Powerful Trixie?!”

Sunset pushed her camera behind her back.

Her friends stood beside her, giving Trixie no greeting smiles.

“What secret?” Sunset said, sounding sheepish. “We were just having small talk, having a good refresher on trigonometry—“

“Hah!” Trixie brandished a pointed finger at them. “If you are truly refreshed, then tell me—“

“Inside a triangle, sines, cosines, and tangents are ratios related to an angle and/or the lines in that triangle.”

Trixie retracted her pointed finger. “That is sufficient for the Great and Powerful Trixie, for Trixie knows you possess a vast amount of knowledge.”

Sunset groaned. “It’s just triangles—“

“It’s more than just triangles!” Trixie yelled.

“Sh!” Cheerilee then placed a finger on her own mouth a second time. “It’s five minutes until class. Shouldn’t you...not be here?”

Sunset and friends then got up from their tables and fixed the chairs, then said their goodbyes to the teacher.

As they exited the library, Trixie walked with them, entering the hallways as other students milled about, opening and closing their lockers, cramming the corridors with their words. She eyed Sunset’s camera.

“Uh, what are you doing?” Sunset asked, noticing where Trixie was looking at.

“I know what you’re thinking, Sunset!” Trixie said. “You think I’m not magical enough!”

Sunset waved her hand off. “That’s crazy!”

Trixie scoffed at that. “Oh, we all know you’re the only unicorn in this school—or, you know, used-to-be unicorn. Look, Sunset—“ placed a finger on her nose “—you may have helped Trixie get into a favorable position in the yearbook and Trixie may have helped you get your friends’ memories back, but no one dares say they’re more magical than the Great and Powerful...Trixie!” and finished with hands stretched high into the sky.

They blinked.

Trixie’s smile disappeared.

And she threw a smoke bomb, disappearing in the smoke as everyone in the hallway coughed, tried to shake the smog away.

When the smoke cleared, Trixie was nowhere to be found.

Sunset looked at where the magician had been. “Huh. Must’ve been—“

And her bag shook; she took out the journal, flipped through the pages, and found the one page with letters glowing.

“What did the Princess say?” Applejack asked, looking over Sunset’s shoulder.

Shimmer ran her finger through the words. “It’s not the Princess...it’s Starlight again!”

The rest of her friends looked at each other, confused.

“She...she wants to come over here after school ends...spend the night together with us!”

“You mean this school or their school?” Twilight asked next, giddy.

“I guess it doesn’t matter which one,” Sunset replied. “They end their classes around the same time as ours anyway, so we’ll be fine.”

“Why is she coming over?” Rarity said, being the third to ask.

“Oh, to learn more about friendship, see if she could spread her lessons around here, and...pfft, defuse bombs.”

Rainbow groaned. “Really?”

“What’s wrong, Rainbow?” Sunset said, smirking at her this time. “It’s not like she’s the kind of pony to cheat.”

“Yeah, yeah, rub it in!” Rainbow budged her on the shoulder. “But, that’s not cheating! The rules never said you could peek at the manual; it only said you’re not allowed to look at it!”

“And what’s the difference?” Sunset inquired.

Rainbow looked away. “Nevermind…” then looked back, “but tell Starlight I’m no cheater!”

And the rest laughed as they walked down the hallway, passing by other students and classmates.

Though Twilight did bump into a mint green classmate, ruffling her spiky hair. She picked up her books and caught up with the rest of her group, now looking up with dreamy eyes, muttering something about magic.

Starlight Glimmer

It was sunset with its orange sky, about to become night. Hanging around by the statue in front of school were those seven friends, either sitting or standing around. Pinkie had brought a picnic mat and was serving up her cakepies, hybrids of cakes and pies which looked like cake on the outside but had the sweet filling of pie inside.

Rainbow Dash, sitting on the mat, picked up a slice of cakepie and turned it around. “I still don’t know why we need cakepies.”

“Duh!” Pinkie rolled her eyes. “If you like both cakes and pies, why have a hard time choosing only one of them?”

Rainbow raised a brow. “But, what about a piecake? Like...it looks like pie but it tastes like cake?”

Pinkie scratched her rainbow hair. “I tested it in every possible way possible! There’s no way it can disappoint!”

“But I don’t like pie,” Rainbow stated.

“It’s for those who can’t choose between both, so...have a good day!”

“What?”

Rarity, leaning on the corner of the statue, glanced at Sunset who was scrolling through her messages on her phone. The fashionista looked at where she was leaning on, then at where the portal was though she saw nothing but shiny marble. Then, turning to Sunset: “Darling, what would happen if someone decided to rest their backs on the portal?”

Sunset tore away from the phone and shrugged. Then, she placed her hand through the portal, as if part of her arm was inside the statue.

Rarity’s eye twitched.

Sunset laughed, then returned the hand. “At any rate, Princess Twilight or Spike will notice and bring them back here.”

Fluttershy, who was standing beside Sunset, then asked, “We’re not going to do something like put up a sign?”

“That’d just make the portal more obvious,” Sunset said. Then, worried and tapping her head, “But, someone’s gonna get angry, that’s for sure.”

Rarity made a muffled giggle at that.

Meanwhile, Applejack and Twilight were talking, sitting on the grass.

“What’re you gonna do if you meet your other self through the portal?” Twilight asked, still giddy as could be seen by her smile and heard by her upbeat tone.

Applejack adjusted her hat a bit. “Uh, I don’t know. Greet ‘er?”

Twilight scratched her head, nervous. “Since my pony self is a Princess, maybe I won’t get to hang out with her much...heh-heh, I mean, if we do get permission from Sunset to go there—isn’t that right, Sunset?”

Sunset then looked at Twilight. “What?”

She turned back to Applejack. “See?”

Applejack narrowed her eyes at her. “What I see is someone who’s gone mad.”

Twilight then kept up that smile. “Hah-hah-hah, that’s so funny, Applejack!” She wrapped an arm around her. “Don’t you know you’re so...funny?”

Applejack sighed and glared at Sunset, stuck in a hug and pointing at Twilight. “Exhibit B.”

“Let her be,” Sunset replied, acting relaxed. “It’s not like she’s gonna go through the portal without my permission or the Princess’s permission.”

Applejack sighed again, tried to push Twilight away.

Sunset then looked at Rarity. “So, have you tried fishing—“

Then a bright white glow from the statue’s base, and out came Starlight Glimmer in her beanie, vest, ripped jeans, and sneakers.

Starlight looked around, seeing Sunset and her friends all in front of her. She raised a wobbly hand. “Uh...hi, again!”

Pinkie jumped up, ran, and gave her a slice of cakepie. “Here, Starlight! I’ve been saving this up just for you!”

Rainbow, in the meantime, groaned again and covered her face with both hands.

Everyone else also came nearer to the inter-dimensional foreigner, though Twilight tried to avoid Starlight’s glance as greetings went around with their “Hi!”’s and “Hello!”’s and what not.

Cakepie still uneaten.

Sunset slapped Starlight on the back, almost making her drop her food. “Ready to go to Pinkie’s house? Had to change venue since Rainbow’s parents are having the walls repainted.”

“Sure!” then Starlight noticed Rainbow who was just standing up to walk up to her; she was grumbling. “And you totally don’t live in a house made of clouds...right?”

Rainbow laughed at that idea, her frown disappearing though her laughter sounded canned. “Now, wouldn’t that be cool? But, even if I did, I’d fall off the floors.”

Starlight gave her a smirk. “Oh, and what about I beat you in that game without cheating?”

Rainbow growled. “Sunset!”

Pinkie’s house was close to a bridge and its river. It was fitting for her since the color scheme for her home was pink: the walls were a gray pink, the roof was a dark pink, and the mailbox was a bright pink.

Inside the kitchen, around the central countertop, Sunset and friends were busy helping themselves to a variety of sweet snacks: lollipops, chocolates, jawbreakers, licorice, cakes, pies, and, of course, cakepies. Not piecakes. Cakepies.

Starlight chewed on a slice of apple pie with her fork. She then looked at her hand holding the fork, turned the utensil around.

“What’s wrong, Starlight?” Rarity asked, examining Starlight’s nails from a distance.

Starlight smiled a nervous smile. “I guess I’m still not used to just...holding a fork without magic.”

“Well, surely, you can’t just use your magic to take a bite off roast beef!” Rainbow said, licking her lips at the thought of it.

Then, Starlight looked surprised. “Wait a minute. I just realized...” then pointed a weak finger at Sunset who was busy putting cuts of chocolate onto her cake. “You said something about how your kind can eat meat, right?”

Sunset nodded, turning away from her food. “And...?”

Starlight, with quivering lips, looked at the rest of her friends, though Pinkie and Applejack were absent. “Do you eat meat?”

“All of us except Fluttershy here,” Rarity answered, gesturing towards the girl in question who was having her own slice of cakepie. “She’s a vegetarian.”

Fluttershy, having heard it, looked at Starlight with that kind and tender smile.

Rainbow pointed to herself. “I eat all kinds of meat! Beef, pork, mutton, and certainly fried chicken!”

Twilight grinned, her teeth showing brown spots of chocolate. “Actually, since you’re...well, like that, Starlight,” looking at her up and down, “you can eat meat here without any ill effects! We won’t judge!”

Starlight gulped. “I’m not scared of what you might think of me. I’m scared of what my pony friends might think of me! We’re all herbivores there, so if they found out I ate meat...what will the Princess say? What will Maud and Sunburst say? What would Trixie say?”

“Trixie?!” Rainbow and Rarity cried out loud, shocked.

Starlight slumped her shoulders. “Oh. I forgot to tell you. Equestria’s Trixie is one of my best friends. We see each other often despite her...wandering nature.”

“Wandering nature?” Twilight asked, leaning over the table, careful to not stain her dress and bowtie. “What do you mean by that?”

Starlight twirled her striped hair around. “You see, you already know most of us back home aren’t students at school anymore. Trixie’s job is going around Equestria and performing magic shows in various places. She’s done various tours, sometimes I come along as her assistant, and I’m proud of her success.”

Rainbow gulped down her mouthful of sour licorice. “Wow. Even Trixie can’t beat herself!”

This elicited a few snickers from Sunset, who then stopped when everyone was looking at her. “S-Sorry!”

Starlight peered at Sunset, a hand on her own hip. “What’s the problem with your Trixie?”

Sunset leaned back on her chair. “She’s pretty much the same, except she doesn’t go around doing magic tours.”

Starlight cocked her head. “Then what does Trixie do here?”

Twilight raised her hand and said, “She does magic tricks at school and she’s also part of a band.”

Starlight looked at her skeptical. “Does she go around the world with her band?”

Rainbow snickered. “Starlight, it’s a high school band.”

Then, a couple of heavy steps from around the wall.

They looked that way, and saw Pinkie carrying a pink laptop and Applejack carrying a huge stack of paper bound together with paperclips, staples, and rope.

Starlight smiled and stood up while everyone else stood up and were frightened at the papers right before them, their eyes and mouth open in surprise.

“Uh, Pinkie?” Sunset asked, pointing at the paper. “Is that for art class?”

“No, silly!” Pinkie said, waving the laptop around. “You see, when I played Rainbow’s bomb game, I thought, ‘Wow! I should totally buy that!’ Then, I finished the whole thing by myself and got bored because it was so short! But, there’s a whole website filled with custom puzzles, so I want to introduce you to them!”

Only Starlight smiled at the prospect of having a ton of papers to work with in a video game.

“Are you disappointed?” Pinkie asked everyone else. “I know. I didn’t download all of them. This isn’t even half of it!”

Applejack then carefully placed the stack of paper down on the floor. “Good thing she separated ‘em by difficulty, so we’ll have a good enough time, right, girls?”

Almost all of them looked at each other and slowly nodded.

Rainbow Dash, however, placed a slice of cake into her mouth and munched, shuddering at what was coming next.

Then, a loud and gruff voice from upstairs: “Hey, Pinkie! Make sure I hear no shouting! I’m trying to sleep!”

Pinkie waved at the wall. “OK, Limestone!”

The living room was typical. Couches, sofas, tables, television, and radio were all in place; the carpet was there, too, also pink. Hanging on the walls were pictures of Pinkie’s family with two formally dressed parents in gloomy moods and four children who would have been very much alike if it were not for Pinkie. She stood out in those photos by just being pink in a family of gray and brown.

In the middle of the room were two chairs facing away from each other and two small desks in front of each chair. One desk had the laptop which already had Don’t Stop Saying Words and Everyone Lives running at the main menu screen. The other desk had a small portion of the manual, now as thin as a slice of cake, though there were almost thirty pages in that portion alone.

At the laptop’s chair was Starlight, who looked surprised and astonished at the many buttons of keys, numbers, words, and other symbols on the computer, along with the mouse connected to it. She held the mouse up and rotated it, pressed both the left and the right buttons. “This is how you press the virtual buttons in your computer stuff?” She smirked, hearing the click! “Yeah, I got it.”

Sunset laughed, sitting at the manual’s chair as she held it up and flipped through the pages. “Don’t mind the keyboard; you don’t need it for the game.” A pause. “If you want to pick up the bomb, you press the left mouse button.”

Starlight blinked, looking at the screen. “But, I see no bombs. I see the words, ‘Start’, ‘Choose Mode’, ‘Options’—“

“Start!” Pinkie screamed.

And Starlight shoved the mouse around and frantically clicked on “Start”.

Sunset chuckled to herself, looking at the rest of her friends who were seated on the couch as the audience. Then, she continued her instructions: “Since you’re the one with the bomb, you can’t look at the manual. Since I’m the one with the manual, I can’t look at the bomb. You’ll see a bunch of stuff in that bomb, and you have a certain amount of time until you defuse it. Click around to do stuff, and use the right mouse button to rotate the bomb and see what’s attached to it and—“

Boom!

“Agh!”

Sunset spun her head around to see a black screen and a visibly shaking Starlight. “That was loud!”

Pinkie laughed. “She cut the wrong wire before it even started!”

Rainbow added her own laugh. “You won’t see that when I’m in control!”

Starlight glared at her. “We’ll see about that! At least you grew up with hands!”

Sunset sighed, banging her head on the manual. “This is gonna be a long session….”

“OK, it’s on!” Starlight yelled, selecting the bomb.

Timer on the bomb: three minutes.

Sunset flattened the manual. “What’s the first thing you see?”

“Uh, there are some wires...and—“

“How many?”

Starlight gulped. “Five, and—“

“First wire is…?”

Starlight wiped her forehead, seeing those five wires as the timer’s seconds went down. “OK, what is it? Are we talking about how straight it is? Is it the color—“

“What color?!”

Starlight looked at Sunset. “Didn’t Limestone say—“

And Sunset stuck a hand on her face, covering Starlight’s eyes. “No! You look back at the screen!”

Rainbow crossing her legs. “Hah! Can’t even solve the first one without asking for help!”

“Uh, isn’t that the whole point of the game?” Applejack asked.

“Whatever, AJ.”

“Pinkie?!” Rainbow shouted, disoriented by what she saw—or by what she didn’t. “There’s nothing on this part of the bomb!”

“Ooh!” Pinkie flipped through the pages of the manual, sitting behind her. “Just answer me the following questions: How many batteries? How many battery holders? What indicators are there, both lit and unlit? How many port plates are there? Is the timer blue, green, or red? Are there wires, and if so—“

“Uh….”

"I got a fancy ‘ere clock,” Applejack said, stationed at the laptop. “It’s...wait, hold on...three fifty-seven AM!”

“Uh-huh,” Twilight said, browsing through the manual, adjusting her glasses. “Let’s see...color of the clock?”

“It’s, uh...blue—“

“Are you sure?” Twilight asked.

“What do you mean, ‘Are you sure?’ It’s blue!”

“What is blue?”

“The clock!”

“Which part of the clock?”

Applejack groaned, about to punch the laptop. “The round part!”

“Round part? OK...what’s the color of the clock’s hands?”

“Moving on to those easy-lookin’ wires over there!”

Twilight moaned, turning to another section of the manual and wasting precious time.

“You’re telling me this is a maze but I can’t see the walls?!” Starlight screamed.

“All you have to do is follow my lead and you’ll be fine!” Rainbow said, holding up the manual for her partner not to read. “First thing you do is tell me where you are.”

Starlight looked at the maze on the bomb, seeing only a grid and a black square. “I’m…in the first row, second column.”

“Wait, wait, let me check up.”

Sounds of rustling paper.

Starlight looked to the right of the maze.

The timer? Twenty seconds and counting down, milliseconds draining fast.

“Rainbow?” Starlight asked, resisting the urge to look back. “We got...seventeen seconds!”

“One moment!” Rainbow cried out, more papers rustling.

Starlight bit her lip.

Twelve seconds.

Her friends were no longer on the couch. They were standing near, leaning their heads and keeping their mouths closed.

A bead of sweat dropped on to the keyboard.

Starlight eyed the lonely black square and then the timer.

Eight seconds.

“Rainbow?!”

“What’s the time?” Rainbow asked nonchalantly, tossing page after page.

“Five seconds!”

“Let me do it!”

Rainbow shoved Starlight to the side, pushed her off the chair, slammed the manual onto the computer desk, smacked the correct answer on the manual with her fist, opened that fist to hold the mouse, pressed the arrows this way and that, and escaped the maze.

The bomb was solved with only 0.10 seconds left on the timer.

And Rainbow closed the laptop, stood on the chair, and looked down on everyone. “And, that, my friends, is how it’s done!”

As Starlight groaned, getting up with Fluttershy’s help.

Sunset looked up at Rainbow, glowering. In a decisive tone: “That was uncalled for.”

Rainbow then looked at Starlight as Fluttershy asked her if she was OK, Starlight herself rubbing her back and her shoulders.

“What do you have to say for yourself, Rainbow?” Sunset asked , eyebrows arched.

Rainbow raised her shoulders and grinned a nervous grin. “It’s the part where I say ‘Sorry’, isn’t it?”

Sunset nodded. “It’s just a game.”

“But, I don’t want to break my winning str—“

“And you cheated once again,’ Sunset went on. “This time, we all saw it.”

Rainbow was silent for a while, seeing Starlight recover from the little pain. Then, she hopped off the chair, took Starlight by the arm, and said, “Sorry, Glimmer. Maybe I got a little aggressive there.”

“A little?” Twilight asked, crossing her arms and tapping her foot.

“OK, maybe a lot.”

Starlight gave her a single-second hug. “It’s OK!” She held up her pink arms, inspected them. “At least I didn’t get hurt.”

Then, furious steps down the stairs, and through the hallway. Into the living room came Limestone Pie in her gray pajamas, her straight gray hair on one side of her sharp-eyelashes face.

“I was trying to sleep!” Limestone yelled. Then, she looked at the clock on the wall, then stormed back into the hallway. “I’m ordering pizza!”

Half an hour and an angry phone call later, everyone was back inside the kitchen, this time helping themselves not to sweets but to five boxes of pizzas, one of which was a veggie pizza just for Fluttershy—and, to compensate for it being just one pizza against four others, it was the largest size, covering almost half the countertop.

For Fluttershy, her pizza was sprinkled with bell peppers, tomatoes, parsley, spinach, broccoli, cabbages, lettuces, garlic, onion and potatoes. The sumptuous scent emanating from it rivaled that of the other pizzas which had lots of other toppings: alongside perennial pepperoni, there was salami, mushrooms, bacon, beef, chicken, tuna, shrimp, scallops, and dozens upon dozens of types of cheese. Of course, one must not forget the bottles of soda and the box of ice cubes nearby.

And Limestone closed one of the boxes and grabbed it. “This is for me and Marble! You and Maud have your fair shares, alright, Pinkie?”

Pinkie, who had already sunk her teeth into a slice, nodded. “Okie-dokie!”

Limestone flicked her long hair about, then walked her way out of the kitchen.

Sunset rubbed her hands, feasting her eyes upon a real feast. “Everybody, dig in!”

And everybody did dig in, with Rainbow Dash hoarding up slice upon slice for herself on that dainty little paper plate. Applejack did so, too, although trying not to compete with Rainbow for how many pizza slices they could fit on a single plate. Rarity, wanting to protect her polished nails, slipped her hands into some plastic gloves before taking a slice of the pizza.

“Come on, Rarity!” moaned Applejack, holding up her slice without a glove. “You didn’t do that last time we had pizza!”

Rarity raised her head, closing her eyes like a snob. “This pizza’s too oily for my taste! Haven’t you seen how the crust shines under the light? Like a face without any professional care!”

Applejack turned away. “Suit yourself.”

Twilight sat beside Fluttershy who was not only quiet with her talk but was also quiet in her chewing, taking small bites and taking long looks upon the individual vegetables. She then turned to Starlight who eyed Fluttershy’s pizza.

Starlight also did not have any pizza yet

She then gulped at the rest of the food. Starlight could smell it, that peculiar smell of cooked meat toppings. She raised the tips of her lips in a mix of disgust and baffled relish.

“I know what’s the matter,” Sunset said, patting her on the shoulder, now holding a glass of iced soda. “Getting over your fear of meat.”

“Uh-huh,” Starlight said, sounding more feeble. “On one hoof—heh, I mean, on one hand, it smells so good. On the other hand, I can’t stop thinking about eating a cow!”

Sunset nodded, giving her an assuring look. “I went through that before, when I crossed the mirror for the first time. As much as I wanted to keep my pony diet, the veggie stuff wasn’t cheap. Here, everyone eats meat except for vegans like Fluttershy. Also, the cows here aren’t like the cows there; they don’t talk, they’re just...dumb.”

Starlight looked at Fluttershy, happily eating her pizza. “OK...just gotta remember those cows aren’t the same as our cows….”

Fluttershy kept eating her pizza.

Starlight inhaled, seeing the meaty food on the countertop. “I think I’m good, but what does meat taste like?”

Sunset looked up, thinking. “It’s...it’s hard to explain. It’s like trying to tell you what leaves taste like.”

“Eh. All I know is that it’s savory.”

“Yeah.” Then, Sunset paused, studying the pepperoni for inspiration. “But, it’s more than just savory. Peanuts and beans are savory, but meat is...it’s...how can I put this?” She sighed, but did not give up. “Alright, if you’re talking about the meat on this pizza,” pointing at the pepperoni pizza, “it has the texture of horseshoe fries but the taste of mushrooms plus beans...but that taste is thrice as intense and twice as salty.”

Starlight blinked. “I don’t know if that analogy works out, but it sure does sound tasty to me!” Her fingers rolled about, ready to grab some pizza. Then, stopped herself, a frown appearing. “But what happens when I get back home tomorrow? The meat would be inside me when I go through and change back into a pony. Will I vomit it out?”

Sunset laughed; so did a few others there. “You’ll be fine. I’ve done it before, and, from what Twilight’s observed, the meat instantly turns into usable energy.”

“Smart portal!” Starlight commented as she picked up a slice of the pepperoni pizza. Then, she looked at it, eyeing those circular cuts of processed meat. “Uh…”

“Go for it, Starlight!” Sunset rallied, raising her hand into the air. “I know you can do it!”

And everyone was now looking at her, even Fluttershy, anticipating the moment that meat would be consumed by their pony visitor.

Starlight’s hands wobbled as she held the slice with both hands.

She opened her mouth wide.

Then chomped off the slice, letting it savor in her mouth.

And gulped. Eyes closed. Shook her head. “Ugh….”

Twilight turned her phone on, about to call the emergency number.

Then, Starlight opened her eyes.

And smiled. “It wasn’t that bad!”

Sunset slapped her on the back again. “And what will you tell the Princess now that you’ve eaten meat?”

Starlight rolled her eyes. “Can’t win if you can’t try, am I right?”

And everyone laughed before they continued with their dinner.

Hours later, the lights from the bedroom window were on. More laughter ensued, followed by a couple shouts. Then, one could hear the door opening with a bang! and Limestone yelling, “Do you know what ‘peace and quiet’ means?!”

Starlight, who was sitting on the front yard, looked at the window for a while. Then, she turned back to the night sky above.

It was a cold and clear evening for her. The stars were aplenty despite the skyscrapers trying to contest for the night. The moon was full, round and glowing in white. Before her was the street, almost free from cars for several were parked by the sidewalk. She turned her head towards a house across the road and saw a green-haired volunteer gardening some plants for someone else.

“Huh.” She tapped her finger on her chin. “She looks familiar. Isn’t that the Wallflower Blush Twilight’s talked about a while ago?”

She picked up the phone hidden in her vest, hesitated a bit before getting past the lock screen. Once inside the photos app, she scrolled through the pictures until she found a photo of someone just like that volunteer, posing with Sunset by some other flowers.

“She is,” was Starlight’s simple answer to herself. Then, she looked up, seeing the beautiful moon once more. “And to think I’ve never even thought of the moon being controlled by...just being there. The sun, too.” A pause, gawking at the sky.

Then, rustling of locks.

She looked back again.

It was Twilight. She closed the door behind her, walked down the steps, and waved at Starlight. “Oh, uh, hi! Didn’t expect you to be here!”

“Me, too,” Starlight said.

Twilight sat down beside Starlight.

They both looked up at the night sky, sitting on the grass.

“So, what brings you out here?” Starlight asked.

“I was gonna ask the same of you,” Twilight replied.

The beanie-wearing lady laughed. “It’s never the same here. I know that’s a moon up there, but my instinct always pictures Princess Luna inside Canterlot Castle, moving the moon and doing her dream duties. Here, she’s just a vice principal.”

“She likes the night, though,” said Twilight.

“Yeah, there’s that,” Starlight conceded. “But, she doesn’t control the moon here,” gesturing to the ground. “She enjoys night activities, but she isn’t entering people’s dreams.”

Twilight smiled. “Well, doesn’t it sound weird to have the sun and the moon be controlled by two Princesses? Sunset explained it all to me before, but...she accepts it as a fact of life.”

“That’s because it is a fact of life,” Starlight said. “We don’t question it because that’s how it’s always been for a thousand years...OK, there was the whole thousand-year part when Celestia juggled both sun and moon, but you get the point.” She ended with her brand of nervous smiles.

“Uh-huh.”

And they went back to looking at the sky, the moon and stars reflected on Twilight’s glasses.

Then, Starlight felt a tap on her shoulder. “What is it?”

Twilight’s smile disappeared. “Starlight...um, if you don’t mind me asking—“

“Shoot away!” Starlight said with a beckoning hand. “If you’re anything like the Twilight Sparkle I know, your curiosity knows no bounds!”

Twilight smiled again, though with a sober weight on it. “That’s...that’s part of the reason why—I wasn’t thinking about talking it out until I saw you and….”

Starlight raised her brow. “That there are two Twilights?”

She nodded, lowering her head. “I...I don’t know how these dimensions work out, how they’re connected, but...I’m assuming she’s older than me by a few years since she’s a Princess and all….”

“So, what’s your point?” Starlight asked, reserved.

Twilight balked, the answer in her throat. “The thing is, Starlight, I—“

And Starlight’s phone rumbled and rang tons of bells. She picked it up and placed it before her ear. “Uh, hello? Who’s this?”

“Sunset Shimmer?” a troubled yet familiar voice asked. “You do not sound like Sunset.”

“Luna?” Starlight glanced left and right, seeing no one but Twilight there. “This is Starlight Glimmer; I’m sure Sunset caught you up to speed about my being here. What’s the problem?”

“I’m afraid Trixie’s gone through the portal.”

Starlight paused with her mouth open in distress. “Uh, what do you mean?”

“I talked to every single student and teacher who saw her today, and, coupled with her hat I found lying before the statue, I have concluded that she has gone to your Equestria.”

Starlight then dropped the phone to the ground, sweat pouring down on her face.

Twilight stood up. “We’re getting everyone else!”

And Starlight jumped up, ran with her back inside the house.

Up to Her Old Hat-Tricks

Across the street, Wallflower Blush was watering the plants and the lawn with her hose, humming a song to herself. With only the sound of water splashing upon the leaves, she smiled under the glow of moonlight.

Then, bang! from the other side.

She turned to Pinkie’s house and saw Sunset, her friends, and someone new running down the sidewalk. Wallflower then waved at them, turning the hose off. “Hi, Sunset! Where are you—“

“Magical emergency!” Sunset yelled, still running. “No time to explain!”

And they sprinted down the sidewalk.

Wallflower dropped her waving hand, returned to her hose which she turned back on. “Hope they come back.”

One final street. After crossing while looking left and right, all eight of them were at the school. Running to the statue, they saw Luna in uniform, texting on her phone while sporting pursed lips.

The vice principal raised her head, hearing the footsteps.

“Luna!” Sunset shouted, stopping right before her, panting. “What’s happening? Is she back? Did anyone ask you anything?”

Luna shook her head, seeing the others caught up to Sunset. “However, that matters little. We have a potential catastrophe in our hands, and while I am willing to help a student in dire need, I do not know all the dangers of going to your world.”

Starlight raised her hand, catching her attention. “Trixie’s going to be fine! Princess Twilight’s over there, and she wouldn’t let her leave the castle, right?”

“If she realizes she’s there!” Sunset added, moving her way to the portal side of the statue. Then, yanking Starlight by the arm and pointing at the rest of her friends: “Everyone, stay here!”

“B-But, I-I could help!” Twilight said, nervously eyeing both Sunset and the portal.

“No!” Sunset shouted. “It’d take some time to get used to walking on four hooves, how to use unicorn magic—agh! We don’t have time to waste!” She glanced at the portal, then at Starlight who was looking at her with anxious eyes, and then back at Twilight. “What if Trixie’s already reading those spells? She’s gonna hurt herself if she miscasts!”

It was Starlight’s turn to gasp. “Oh, no!”

Sunset looked at her again. “Why, ‘Oh, no’?”

Starlight scratched her beanie. “Just remembered, Trixie’s staying in the castle for the night.”

“I don’t know if that’s good or bad!” Sunset yelled, pulling Starlight. “But, we gotta go! You first!” and pushed Starlight into the statue’s base.

“Woah!”

A bright light flashed and she was gone.

Sunset looked at Luna. “Don’t call the police! We need to keep this down low!”

“As I’ve always done,” the vice principal replied with a nod, “but I must call my sister. She must know about this development.”

“Alright; she’ll understand.” Then, Sunset turning back to her friends: “I repeat, no going through the portal!” Staring at Twilight. “Yes, even you!”

Twilight looked at her, a frown forming as she gazed longingly at the portal.

Sunset opened her bag, took out her journal, and threw it at Applejack. “Keep it! Don’t let anyone steal it!”

Applejack, having caught the book, lifted her hat and placed the journal on her head and under her hat.

Sunset faced the portal, that marble wall.

She ran into it.

A white flash. She was gone, too.

She appeared in the library, flying through and narrowly avoided hitting another table thanks to Starlight floating the table away again. Then, she floated Sunset and put her back on her four hooves.

The both of them looked around, flipping their manes here and there as they found themselves back in the library.

“She’s not here,” Sunset noted, walking to the double doors leading outside.

“Wait!” Starlight yelled, trotting to the bookshelves. She looked up at one in particular.

It looked full and it would have been full if it weren’t for a single book missing.

“That’s from the magic section!” Starlight said, trotting back to Sunset. “Did you teach her magic?”

Sunset shook her head. “No?”

“It’s way up there!” Starlight pointed at the rather high bookshelf. “The ladder’s not here; only a pegasus or a unicorn could’ve gotten it!”

Sunset rubbed her chin in panicked thought. “If your Trixie’s a unicorn, then this Trixie would also be a unicorn—“

“But, how could she know how to levitate stuff?!” Starlight screamed, raising her hoof to the air in frustration. “She hasn’t been a unicorn for more than a quarter of a day!”

“Unless...” Sunset gasped, “unless her talent at stage magic gave her a head start on actual magic!”

Starlight shuddered. “I don’t know why would that make sense, but you’re somehow making sense!”

“We’ve never had any of them come over here, so anything’s possible!” Sunset then galloped to the library doors. “Come on, we gotta find her before she blasts herself on the face!”

And the two unicorns ran out of the library.

Trixie, in her blue-white mane and her blue coat, spread out her cards on the table as she sat inside Starlight’s room. Along with some kites by the side and a couple of bookshelves, there were some interesting items to be found here: a picture of a butterfly tacked to the wall, a little tree by the window through which one could see the night sky with its moon and stars, and several magical artifacts in the form of a purple pyramid and a blue glass sphere. Hanging on the wall by nails were pictures of Starlight and her friends—of course, Trixie appeared among them. Over here, a photo of Starlight and Trixie with a couple of honeysuckle peanut butter sandwiches. In the background, one could find a big green creature with orange antlers making more of those sandwiches.

“And, now,“ Trixie said, putting the cards together in one magical sweep, then picked up one card and showed it to herself, “is this your card?”

It was an ace of diamonds.

“Yes!” She punched the air with a hoof. “Two hundred in a row without a mistake! The Great and Powerful Trixie has enough to impress the whole world with her perfection!”

Then, knocks on the door.

Trixie looked back, seeing the door which had a shape of a branching tree painted around it. “Who dares disturb the activities of the Great and Powerful Trixie?” Then, she whispered, “I hope you got home early, Starlight!”

“Ah-ha!” the unseen visitor yelled from outside. “Trixie has indeed found a challenger!”

Trixie’s ears perked up. “What’s this? Are you such a dedicated fan that you could mimic the sonorous voice of the Great and Powerful Trixie?”

“Trixie is more than just a fan!” the voice insisted.

Trixie rolled her eyes as she walked up to the door. “There are many who say they are number one fans of Trixie. But, as it must be so, there can only be one number one fan!”

Then, glowing the doorknob the color of pink, she turned it and opened the door.

Standing in the crystal hallway was a pony in her blue-white mane and her blue coat, only with a slightly bigger mane and a star-shaped hair clip on it.

They reacted to each other with screaming.

Trixie looked upon her other self. “You weren’t kidding about being the number one fan of the Great and Powerful Trixie! Though, you are far from perfect.” She pointed at her mane and her hair clip. “Trixie does not wear mane clips, and your mane is far too long.”

The other Trixie stuck out her tongue. “The Great and Powerful Trixie thinks that your hair is too short and that you lack her signature hair clip!”

Trixie smiled. “Well, Trixie must commend you for following her Great and Powerful speech pattern!”

“Following?!” the other Trixie repeated, slightly wavering. “The Great and Powerful Trixie made it up first!”

“How dare you speak lies!” Trixie shouted, pointing at her. “You profess to be a Great and Powerful fan, but you seek to replace the true Trixie!”

“No, I am the true Trixie!” the other Trixie shouted, pointing at herself—then wobbled out of balance and put her hoof back on the floor.

Trixie raised her brows, looking at her suspiciously. “Do you travel throughout the whole of Equestria inside a wagon, performing tricks for the masses?”

Then, the other Trixie gulped, her confident facade breaking. “Um...Trixie wishes she could, but cars have outdated that.”

“Cars?” Trixie asked, cocking her head. Then, she gasped. “You’re not my number one fan! You’re...you’re Sunset’s Trixie, the Trixie from the other world!”

This other Trixie nodded, confirming the suspicion. “Yes, the Great and Powerful Trixie humbly admits.” She looked at her hooves. “It has been a struggle for Trixie to get used to your ways. Trixie has no fingers, has a horn, and is basically a unicorn. As Great and Powerful Trixie is, she requires your assistance in the ways of true magic”

Trixie looked at her. Then, she noticed the book on her back. “And what is that book you hold?”

The other Trixie pushed the book out of her back and tried to pick it up with her hoof.

Rubbed it with one hoof. No good.

Tried to pick it up with two hooves. No good.

Lowered her horn and pointed it at the book, concentrating and concentrating. No good.

Trixie yawned. “Trixie does not have much time, for she must return to practicing for her next Great and Powerful show in Manehattan.”

“Trixie’s trying!” yelled the other Trixie.

She tried to pick it up with one hoof. She opened the book but it did not stick to her hoof. No good.

Then, with a groan, she bit the book and held it up with her mouth.

Pony Trixie then glowed her horn pink and levitated the book out of her other self’s mouth.

That other Trixie gulped, weakly pointing at the floating book. “I-I-Is that...h-how you use m-magic?”

Trixie nodded, smirking at her magically-incompetent version. Then, with her magic, Trixie rotated it so she could see the front cover. “Ah! Modern Spellcasting! A classic that must be read by the likes of you—yeah, you, who cannot even levitate something as simple as an apple!”

Then, the other Trixie stomped her hoof. “Trixie had to kick the walls just to see any magic book drop! It landed on my back, which was fortunate, but then, I had to learn how to walk with four legs!” She pointed at her. “Do you know how difficult it is to walk with four legs?!”

And wobbled again, almost getting out of balance before putting the hoof back on the squeaky clean floor.

Trixie laughed, pushing the pointed hoof away. “It is easy, other Trixie.”

That other Trixie smacked herself on the hoof. “What do you mean, it’s easy?! Trixie tripped over a dozen times just to get here! If it weren’t so much like a maze, then she would have gotten here in half the trips!”

Pony Trixie chuckled. “That’s because you’re standing right inside Twilight’s castle. Of course, it’s big; I’ve stayed here several times before and I still get lost!”

The other Trixie bit her lip, terrified. “You m-mean...I’m standing right inside Twilight’s—“ gulped “—castle?”

“Duh. She’s a Princess. Doesn’t automatically mean she’s better than me.”

The other Trixie shivered, and ran her way inside, budging her pony self into the room. She then looked back at Trixie. “Hide Trixie from the guards! She doesn’t want to be taken as a prisoner in another world!”

Trixie rolled her eyes. “Relax, Trixie. There are no guards. Twilight herself is out on some errands, getting a spa treatment with Rarity.”

The other Trixie’s eye twitched. “How do ponies have spas?!”

Trixie sighed, teasing her with some giggles. “It’s like you don’t even know what a spa is. You go there to get massaged, get your hooficures, and have cucumbers on your eyes. Trixie is sure you know that.”

The other Trixie gulped, looked past everything else and saw a window. She trotted out without stumbling, opened the window panes, and poked her head out.

She looked up and saw the sky. The moon and the stars were there as she expected. However, there were no high-rises in the distance. Instead, she saw a little village a minute’s trot away; most of the lights were still on.

Then, she saw, flapping their wings in the air, several pegasi moving clouds. On the ground, she saw Earth ponies mingling over their picnic mats by the pond over at the school. She even saw non-ponies; there was an orange dragon and a big yak talking with a hippogriff and a blue-green changeling. Finally, to the right, she saw a white unicorn wearing purple shades, levitating her headphones from her ears, trying to see if somepony was calling her name.

Trixie then closed the window shut and turned her back to the wall, facing Trixie with a horrified look. “All Trixie wanted was to prove herself more magical than Sunset! Trixie does not want this...this insanity!”

Pony Trixie snickered, shaking her head. “Looks like we are more alike than I imagined. You want to prove Sunset that you’re magical?” She pointed to herself. “The Great and Powerful Trixie once wanted to prove herself more magical than Twilight!”

The other Trixie shuddered, cowering behind a hoof. “Then, help me!”

Trixie chuckled, then walked up to her, helped her up on her four hooves. “Alright. Trixie will help another Trixie in need, but...it’s going to be hard.”

“Wh-What?”

“Uh, I-I mean...the Great and Powerful Trixie has the obstacle of teaching a unicorn who has never been one for her whole life.” She pointed at her horn which she glowed pink. “So, Trixie shall rehash the lessons from my most helpful assistant, Starlight Glimmer—among others—just for you.”

“Y-You mean the other used-to-be-unicorn?” the other Trixie asked in a scared voice.

“Um...she will be a unicorn again when she returns tomorrow.”

Sweat poured down on the other Trixie’s face. “So...when w-will the lessons end? Trixie does need her sleep, and she cannot stand sleeping in such an unfamiliar world!”

“Trixie shall teach you the basics, first and foremost,” Pony Trixie replied, “beginning with what magic is.” Taking in a deep breath: “Do you know what magic is?”

The other unicorn tapped her head. “Uh...it’s a force?”

Trixie shrugged. “Eh, close enough.” Then, floating up her winning ace of diamonds and moving it around in her pink glow, “It’s basically some kind of energy you can manipulate to do whatever you want except it has lots of rules.”

“That...doesn’t sound very helpful,” the other Trixie answered as her eyes followed the flying card.

“That’s what Starlight taught Trixie, so get used to it!”

The other Trixie gulped again, backing herself to the wall once more. “Wh-What about levitation? Just levitation?”

Trixie rubbed her forehooves together. “Here.” She put down her card on the table and lifted an apple into view. She dropped it onto the ground. “Imagine a cloth or a rag surrounding the apple, and you can move the cloth by just thinking.”

The other Trixie then planted her four hooves to the floor and pointed her horn at the apple. She grunted, groaned, then slouched her shoulders, lolling her tongue out in exhaustion.

The apple stood there as if taunting her for such a pathetic effort.

“Ah, Trixie sees that you are trying too hard for such a primitive thing,” Trixie said. “Don’t force the cloth to take the apple. Just treat it like you’re reading a book. Relax, other me, relax.”

“If y-you say so,” the other Trixie said, now quieter and muted.

Then, she breathed in, breathed out. Instead of planting her hooves on the floor again, she stood casually, almost slouching her shoulders again. She aimed her horn towards the apple, putting on as calm a face as she ever could.

She focused on it.

Then, a sparkling sound could be heard as the apple glowed pink and was slowly, if clumsily, lifted from the ground.

Trixie screamed, her eyes glittering under the lights.

The other Trixie gasped, seeing the apple wobble in mid-air. Then, she looked up, saw her horn glowing pink.

“That’s it!” Trixie encouraged. “Trixie may have failed in her mission to oust Twilight years ago, but she could still help another Trixie in the much less malevolent goal of beating Sunset!”

Then, the door swung open.

And Starlight and Sunset gasped at the other Trixie floating the apple, who was muttering, “S-Sunset? S-Starlight? I-Is that you?”

Pony Trixie turned around and bowed down to the both of them. “No need, no need! Starlight, I have taught the basics of magic to a magicless being!”

Starlight also faced the problem of finding no words to say. “Uh, eh, a-ah—“

“Trixie!” Sunset growled.

And both Trixies looked at her, the other one dropping her apple.

“No, the one with the hair clip!” Sunset yelled, pointing at her. “You’re coming with me!”

The other Trixie moaned. “But, Trixie was just getting started!”

Sunset sighed. “Face it, Trixie. You’re already more magical than me back there since I could only read people’s minds.”

“Only?!” she retorted. “That sounds advanced, more advanced than levitating an apple!”

“Trixie, can we just go home?” Sunset asked, sounding tired. “Everyone’s worried about you.”

Pony Trixie then stepped out of the way. “The Great and Powerful Trixie shall oversee the departure of herself.”

Sunset then walked over to the other Trixie. “Are you OK? Can you walk?”

“Of course, Trixie can!” she boasted, pumping herself on the chest. “Trixie faced no hardship whatsoever in the task of walking with hooves!”

Sunset rolled her eyes. “Good thing we only have one Trixie per world.”

Then, hoofsteps from the hallway.

“Sunset?” Twilight’s voice cropped up as the alicorn appeared beside an accompanying Rarity. “Oh, there you are! And Starlight, too! I thought you were—“ and her smile dropped.

Rarity gasped, putting her two forehooves on her cheeks. “Two Trixies?!”

Twilight looked at both Trixies as Starlight gave her a nervous wave, then noticed the one with the hair clip. She glared at her, but quickly assumed a neutral expression. “Well, I hope you enjoyed your time here in the land of Equestria, but as much as I want to accommodate you, you have your own friends back home.”

The other Trixie shivered. “Y-You’re...the Princess?”

“Uh, yes, but you don’t have to—“

But that Trixie fell upon her knees before royalty. “Trixie begs for your Highness’s mercy!”

Pony Trixie glanced away from her other self. “I can’t believe I’m such a pushover.”

Starlight glared at her Trixie.

Trixie then smiled nervously. “Not that it’s a bad thing to beg for mercy from a probably angry Princess, but…!”

Sunset then walked up to Rarity who was confronted with the dilemma of two Trixies in the same room. “Don’t worry. It’s just an accident. We’re bringing her back.”

“Good riddance,” Rarity replied, floating a comb to brush her curled mane with. “One Trixie is enough for me, thank you very much!”

They walked their way through the crystal corridors, passing by many identical doors of green glass and wooden frames. At times, the other Trixie stumbled on her hooves, and one of the ponies there would help her up, even Trixie herself.

Finally, they reached the library where they saw the portal was still swirling in purple.

The other Trixie balked upon seeing it then turned to Sunset. “Trixie is...Trixie i-is sorry for the trouble she’s caused. She promises you that Trixie will never do it again.”

Sunset cast a glare upon her, then mustered up a smile. She patted her on the shoulder with a hoof. “It’s OK. Just...don’t do things like this. You’re only gonna get hurt in the long run.”

“Yes,” she said, nodding her head. “Trixie would rather be alive than dead.”

Pony Trixie nodded with her. “The Great and Powerful Trixie agrees with her own statement.”

Twilight clucked her tongue, levitating the book back to its rightful place. “I gotta admit, it’s surprisingly nice meeting you, but I’m more concerned about your safety than you trying to beat Sunset in a magic contest.” She sighed in relief. “I’m glad you weren’t injured by any manticores, cockatrices, and what not.”

Starlight wiped the sweat on her forehead, seeing the other Trixie pale at the mention of those bizarre words. “So, what do we do? Just walk our way back with Trixie first?”

“Yeah,” was Sunset’s reply.

The other Trixie jumped her way to the front of the group, now standing right before the swirling mirror. She shuddered, her hooves shaky.

“Twilight and the others will be waiting for you,” Sunset told. “Vice Principal Luna’s also there.”

“What?!” yelped the other Trixie. “Trixie thought she was forgiven!”

“They’re standing guard,” reassured Sunset. “It’s no big deal.”

Then, the other Trixie sighed. “If that’s the case….” She waved at her pony self. “Farewell, other Great and Powerful Trixie!”

Trixie waved back at her. “You, too, Trixie.”

Twilight smiled at that. Rarity, however, did not, but was close to plugging her ears in irritation.

“Bye, Princess Twilight!” the other Trixie said, waving at her now. “Trixie hopes you do not hurt me!”

“I won’t!” said Twilight in a lively tone.

That other Trixie inhaled a lot of air, then turned her face back to the portal.

And was attacked by a bright flash and was slammed all the way to the far end of the room, both of them hurling towards that same old table before same old Starlight levitated it out of the same old way.

The other Trixie groaned as she struggled to get up, though another figure was there. Another pony, specifically.

More specifically, a purple unicorn wearing glasses. “Ugh….”

Twilight gasped at the sight of her. “Wait, what?! Twilight?”

“Wait, it’s the other Twilight?!” Rarity shrieked, then proceeded to trot a dozen steps behind a table.

Then, the glasses-wearing Twilight stood up, trying to get a grasp of the floor with her hoof, but slipped.

Starlight galloped to her, floated her up, and plopped her down on her four hooves.

Princess Twilight ran to her as well, went to her side. Placing a hoof around her neck, she noticed the different manestyle on her other self, that her mane was done in a ponytail.

Twi’s eyes fluttered. “Uh...wh-what happened...” then, she looked around, seeing the books, the crystal walls, the portal contraption, and then the ponies around her. “Am I h-here? Am I actually here?”

“Yes, Twilight, you are,” the Princess said, looking straight at her.

Twi smiled. Then, shivered when she realized who it was. “Princess Twilight?!”

She nodded. “Yeah, it’s me. Heh-heh.” She grinned nervously. “I mean, since I visited your world a few times already, it’s only fitting you’d come over someday.”

Sunset looked at the portal, then looked back at Twi. A scowl, but then that disappeared. Instead, she ran over to her friend and went to her side. “Are you OK?” She picked up one of her hooves. “No scars, no wounds? No aches, no pain?”

Twi shook her head, then looked down at her own hooves. “Woah! Uh...this...this is gonna take some time getting used to.”

“There won’t be much time,” Sunset said, pointing at the portal with her hoof. “We still have to get both Trixie and you back.”

Then, Twi bit her lip, looked around and saw the ponies there. Then, she lowered her head.

Rarity, having gotten over her momentary fear, trotted up to the newcomer, and looked at her. “Amazing! You’re almost a dead ringer for the Princess herself!”

Sunset chuckled at that, then turned to Twi. “I know you want to go here and I know you must be so happy you finally made it, but...” Sunset faked a cough. “Some...some other time.”

The Princess had her mouth open in surprise, in thought, as she saw Sunset help Twi walk to the portal’s steps, the latter struggling with which hoof to move first and then second and so on. She wobbled, almost tripped, but Sunset would catch her with a hoof there and then.

The other Trixie watched Twi being helped. “It’s even more sad seeing others do that!”

Pony Trixie opened her mouth to say something snarky, but refrained at the sight of Starlight’s menacing glower.

Sunset brought her to the front of the portal, seeing and feeling the heavy air as the purple swirl spun around.

Rarity went closer to the portal, watching the silent interactions between Sunset and Twi.

Starlight trotted up to the portal’s side, and she, Sunset, and Rarity all looked at the Princess.

She waved at her other self who was looking back. “Sorry for cutting your time here short, but...it’s been nice having you here.”

Twi stood there for a while. Then, she gave her a smile made poignant with those glasses.

Sunset looked at the swirling portal. “You go first, Twi. Rest of us and Trixie will follow.”

Twi shuddered. “M-Me?”

Then, with everyone silent, she did not wait for an answer and took a deep breath.

One hoof forward.

Another hoof forward.

No trip. No stumbling.

And then a slow trot into the portal, disappearing in a bright white flash.

Speak for Yourself

Twilight stumbled onto the stony pavement on her two hands and her two feet. With everyone looking down at her, she laughed nervously, and went back standing up.

The chill of night continued as a cold wind breezed by, crinkling the trees of some houses

With everyone still shocked as they looked on Twilight at awe, she eked out, “Um...sorry?”

Applejack put her hands on her hips, staring her down stern. “Who told you that sneakin’ around was a good idea?”

Words failed her as she spouted out “Um”’s and “Uh”’s, tapping the tips of her fingers.

Then, more flashes of light as Sunset and then Starlight walked out of the portal.

Fluttershy then hid half of herself behind Pinkie Pie. Pinkie herself was silent, speechless at Twilight with a wide open mouth. Rarity placed a hand on her cheek, as if pitying her poor friend. Rainbow Dash tried to keep her cool, but her furrowed brows spoke for themselves.

Luna raised her phone to her ear. “I shall talk to Celestia herself about this matter.”

“You don’t have to,” Sunset said, stretching out a hand. “We...we can handle this.”

Luna hesitated, glanced at her phone, then pocketed it. “I trust you, Sunset, since you are the magical expert—and,” looking at Starlight, “I’m assuming you are, too, considering you are also from her world. Nevertheless, Celestia will know about it by tomorrow morning.”

Sunset nodded in return, smiling a little.

Then, one more bright white flash, and Trixie fell on to the floor.

Sunset and Twilight bent down to bring her up, with Trixie slurring, “Ugh...w-was that a dr-dream? T-Tell Trixie that was a dream….”

“It wasn’t,” Twilight said, seeing Trixie’s eyes flicker back into activity. “I was there.”

Then, Trixie released herself from their grip, stood back up, and dusted herself off. “That wasn’t a dream?! Are you telling me Trixie didn’t sleep all of a sudden and that she really went to a magical pony world?!”

“Pretty much,” was Starlight’s answer for her.

Trixie looked surprised. “So...me floating stuff, my hooves and horn, my other self...they were all real?!”

“Real as you and me,” Sunset said, pointing at the magician and then herself. “I mean, you are talking to a unicorn.”

Trixie opened and closed her mouth, dumbfounded. “Well, I—Trixie knows you are a unicorn, but what Trixie has seen surpasses what could be possible in the mind of such a Great and Powerful magician...which should not be possible!” and stomped her boot down to the ground.

“But, you did go to Equestria,” Sunset said, “and, even better, you were able to use Equestrian magic. What can you say?”

Trixie raised her hand to protest, then stopped herself. She smirked. “Oh, Sunset!” She raised a fist. “With Trixie’s practice in the other world, she is one step closer to besting you at magic!”

Sunset laughed it off. “Eh, save it for later.”

Luna stepped in, cutting in between the two. “Trixie, follow my lead and I shall bring you home. You have been outside for far too long.”

Trixie then went to vice principal’s side and walked with her up the road, but she was able to shoot off a wave at Sunset and friends who waved back.

Then, Sunset sighed and looked at Twilight; everyone else was looking at her with troubled expressions. “Let’s get back to Pinkie’s first.”

Twilight then laughed nervously again, adjusting her ponytail. “Eh-heh….”

Back at Pinkie’s house, one could hear laughter again with a couple of simulated explosions here and there. Rainbow and Applejack were shouting at each other, battling for first place in a racing game as their luxury cars darted through a vista of forests and rural landscapes with the added thrill of the police trailing behind—which could explain the police sirens from the bedroom.

Rarity shouted, “Why must you be so loud?!”

On the other hand, Starlight exclaimed, “Can I join?! Three can play this, right?”

Inside the kitchen with the lights on, Twilight sat at the countertop with a forlorn look on her face, tipping a ballpen and playing around with it. She looked to her left and saw the night sky through the window; she also saw Wallflower still watering the plants with a hose.

Sunset closed the refrigerator, holding a bottle of orange juice. She poured down a glass for her and Twilight on the counter.

Then, Sunset sat down with her. She gave her an anxious stare. “What happened? Did you trip or someone pushed you on accident?”

Twilight tapped her fingers again. “No.”

Sunset arched a brow. “So, you went through the portal on purpose?”

Twilight looked at the window. Then, she nodded.

“How did you do that?” Sunset asked. “Everyone else was probably watching you, knowing your crazy curiosity for all things magic recently.”

Twilight gulped. “A police car came by and everyone got distracted. I took the opportunity to go through the portal myself.”

Sunset’s eyes went wide as she kept staring at Twilight. Sunset could see her close to breaking down if the moist on her eyes mentioned anything. “But, why?”

Twilight took in a deep, damp breath. Chugged down half of her orange juice, slammed the glass on the surface. “I...” sighed. “E-Ever since you and my other self fought for the crown, or since you and your friends fought the sirens, I wanted to see what was going on, what this magic was. You know how I live: there’s something both useful and beautiful behind everything, and you can use that knowledge in a number of astounding ways, maybe even make something fruitful everyone will appreciate. But, this magic...” she raised a hand, only to let it drop, “after all this time, much of it still remains a mystery to me, and it’s tempting to go there and visit the source of all magic!” She took up her glass again. “I think, no, I know I shouldn’t be over-occupied about Equestria, but...maybe, it was a moment of weakness, and...and—“

Sunset patted her on the shoulder and sighed. “It’s OK, Twi. It’s OK.”

With Twilight muffling her sobs, rubbing the tears on her arm, lowered her head there.

A minute of her softly crying, a minute of Sunset almost hugging her.

Then, she let go, returning to her chair.

Twi lifted herself up, removed her glasses and wiped her eyes. “S-S-Sunset?”

She made a small smile, one of sympathy. “Of course, Twilight. I’ll forgive you.”

Twi smiled back, her cheeks wet.

“But, you did go through the portal without my permission,” Sunset said, sounding more bossy.

“Anything!” Twi said, nodding, half-pleading while holding both of her hands. “I’ll do anything! I was probably so dumb out there, jumping in without thinking!”

Sunset signaled her to stop with a raised hand. “Nothing too harsh.” Then, she looked up in thought. “Now, it has to be something that matches the crime so...what about cutting down on your caffeine starting today all the way ‘till Monday?”

“What?!” She raised her hands to her head, almost throwing her glasses off. “How am I gonna wake up on time? What if Celestia announces that we’ll start classes an hour earlier? She never announced anything yet and tomorrow’s Friday! What if there are pop quizzes and I’m still sleepy?!”

Sunset chuckled. “You’re a smart girl. I’m sure you can push past the pain.”

Twi frowned. “Ha-ha, Sunset. You think you can just call it ‘pain’ without knowing how unorganized your mind can be when you’re tired!”

Sunset smirked, teasing her with that look. “Better than being asleep at class, that’s for sure.”

“Ugh,” and she finished her orange juice.

Sunset looked at her own glass, saw that it was still full.

Twi considered the empty glass before her, trying to avoid Sunset with her eyes. “So, it might not seem the perfect time to talk about it but...E-Equestria….”

“Yes?” Sunset asked, perking up a bit. “You don’t have to go there for now. You can always ask me since I go there on a regular...uh, kind-of-regular basis.”

Twi smiled, looking back at her. “I-I know you’re concerned because it’s dangerous out there with dragons and griffons and whatever else is out there, but...what about a compromise?”

Sunset raised her brow. “What’s the compromise?”

She cleared her throat as if presenting something. “You accompany me to Equestria and give out a limited tour around Ponyville,” Twi suggested. “If that’s too dangerous, I could stay at the library inside the castle and read up on magic. I mean, hey, I’ve never seen a kite at night but I’m OK with reading about it, so...deal?” with a happy grin on her face.

Sunset tapped her chin. “Let’s see...on one side, you and your friends should come over in the near future, if only to visit the land where all this magic came from, and, hey, you all might learn a thing or two about friendship there!”

Twi held her hands together and grinned wider.

“But, on the other hand,” Sunset said, sounding less positive and then taking a sip of her orange juice, “you went through the portal without my permission or the Princess’s permission, you could’ve injured yourself or, worse, and you could’ve cursed yourself with some random spell or relic without meaning to.”

Twi rested her head on her palm, defeated. “So, no trips?

Sunset twirled her finger around. “There might be one within this week or next if you keep your promise of not fooling around.”

Twilight smiled, but then tempered herself. “I know there’s a catch. What’s the catch?”

Sunset rubbed her hands like an evil villain. “No caffeine until you get to Equestria.”

“What?!”

“Not even soda,” Sunset said, wagging her finger at her again.

“What about tea?!”

“You think I don’t know anything about tea?” Sunset said, crossing her arms. “Most teas are caffeinated.”

“Raw sugar?”

“Your parents are gonna get sick of you eating raw sugar everyday.”

Twi groaned and smacked her face on the counter.

Sunset laughed. “What else can I do? You have to face the music, after all, and it’s where it hurts the most; can’t let you go scot-free and not learn anything.”

“Ugh!” She rubbed her head, groaning more. “Not like this!”

By midnight, everyone was asleep in Pinkie’s bedroom; the lights were off, casting everything under a dark blue, illuminated only by the soft glow of the moon. The walls were decorated with balloons from all over town and hanging pictures of sunny days. Lying on a shelf was a plushie for sleeping and a box of jewelry not for sleeping. Fittingly, Rarity was sleeping closest to such precious valuables, sleeping right under the shelf with her sleeping bag. Everyone else had their sleeping bags, too, with matching colors and pillows. Though Pinkie and Applejack snored the loudest, everyone was sound asleep.

Everyone except for Twilight.

She sat up on the bed, the only one not resting in a sleeping bag. She looked out the window and saw the moon and the stars once again.

Then, she tip-toed her way out of the room, careful to not to step on someone lest they know what feet would taste like if they were snoring.

She gently closed the door, put on a warm jacket over her pajama shirt, went through the halls, and traveled down the stairs, relaxing herself as she walked more normally without the need to be careful around anyone. She went through the kitchen, into the living room, put on some flip-flops, and opened the front door.

Outside, she saw the same night scene before her, although the moon was a bit higher. Where Wallflower had been, she was gone, though the plants looked a bit better thanks to her work.

Twi sat down on the grass, looking up at the moon. “I know I shouldn’t be doing this, but—“

Door creaking.

She shuddered and looked behind her.

“Oh!” Starlight said, waving at her with her black vest over her pajamas. “Just you, huh?”

Twi smiled as Starlight closed the door. “Yeah, just me.”

Starlight smiled back as she walked to her side and sat down.

Both of them sat on the grass, seeing the neighbors’ houses and their trimmed front yards.

“I can’t sleep,” Twi confessed, breaking the silence.

“Why?” Starlight asked. “Because I can’t sleep, too. I had a blast with Fast Tires 3! I have no idea how a car works or what gas is made of here, but it’s like an action movie where you’re the actor doing all those crazy moves and tricks!”

Twi nodded, understanding her. “Yeah. I’ve played some of that as well.”

Starlight raised her brow. “Wait. You play video games and get high grades at school?”

Twi laughed. “Not as much as Applejack, Rainbow, and Pinkie do, but they’re fun. In fact, studies show that if you play games that require fast reflexes and quick thinking, you’ll actually strengthen your brain!”

“Huh.” Starlight pondered on that statement. “When I came here, I’ve seen people staring mindlessly at the screen, and I thought, ‘What are they doing, just watching what comes up and pressing buttons at the right time?’”

Twi gave her a smiling shake of the head. “That’s what I first thought, too, but then, when you dive into them, you realize there’s a whole world of complexity underneath!”

Starlight wondered about that for a moment. “OK, that’s understandable. Just...I didn’t expect you to play video games.”

“Heh, now you know.”

And both of them laughed under the night.

Then, Starlight sighed. “So, what’s keeping you up?

Twi looked up at the sky, seeing the moon and the stars again as they glittered. “A lot of things, really.”

Starlight smirked. “Gone through the portal, huh?”

Twi tried to smirk back, but it came off feeling guilty. “Yeah, not my best moment.”

She smiled. “Let me guess: You can’t sleep because you’ve been thinking about Equestria and your time there as a pony. Am I right?”

Twi nodded. “Yeah. That’s it.”

Starlight kept up the smile as she leaned closer. “I can see why. You’ve had magic before, but you only use it when you need to or when it makes your life better. I see you levitate a few out-of-reach pencils from time to time, but never to the extent of an actual unicorn. Or alicorn.”

Another nervous laugh came from Twilight. “That feeling, though, when you have the full power of magic unlocked...and it’s right here.” She pointed to her forehead which lacked a horn. “I felt it. If only I knew how to really use it, then I would do more than just float stuff around.”

Starlight chuckled. “Yeah, that does sound fun and exciting, isn’t it? For me, it’s mundane because magic is so common, no one notices because everyone else uses it one way or another. But, when you gain a power only few others in this world could ever possess...” Starlight bobbed her head around, “I see where you’re getting at.”

Twi placed a hand on her head. “I’ve learned to embrace the magic some time ago, and...maybe I’m embracing it too much.”

“What do you mean?” Starlight asked, taken aback. “Do you mean, not controlling your magic powers?”

Twi looked back up to the dark sky. “Maybe, maybe not. I know how to keep my own magical powers in check and make sure our geodes don’t go all cuckoo, but that’s because my magic’s tied to the others, and I don’t want to hurt or embarrass them.” She breathed in a sigh. “What happens if I go out there? If my magic goes...um, independent? That I can use it whenever I want, even train myself in the art of spellcasting and...maybe make something that will help the world by combining science and magic?”

“You do know magic is a science in our world,” Starlight said in a sober way. “It’s not like those fairytale books where magic just is. There’s a whole hierarchy of complicated rules and systems for magic with types, sub-types and—“ noticed Twi smiling wider “—I’m just fanning the flame of your curiosity, amn’t I?”

Twi then caught herself and scratched the back of her head. “Heh, sorry! Couldn’t help myself!”

Starlight replied with scratching her own head. “Yeah, magic’s like that. There are some parts we can’t explain for now like...well, a lot of the things in the forest at my backyard, but that’s because there aren’t enough brave explorers to try.”

Twi nodded.

“So...anything else?” Starlight said. “I know you gotta sleep early, but—“ checked the watch on her wrist “—wow, you better go to sleep!”

“I’ll be fine,” Twi replied with a brush of her hand. “It’s not going to be that bad.”

“Aren’t you gonna avoid all sorts of caffeine and sugar for some time?” Starlight asked.

Twi glared at her. “Don’t remind me!”

Starlight grinned, putting both her hands up in self-defense. “Alright, no biggie! Just asking.”

Then, Twi’s glare gave way to a profound frown, looking down on the road before her. She curled up her knees, holding them with her arms. “You saw me meet my Princess self back there, didn’t you?”

Starlight nodded. “You both looked very similar! Trim your mane and take off your glasses, and I can’t tell who’s who!”

Twi laughed at that, then her laugh trailed off to a small, sarcastic chuckle. “When we first met some time ago, it was her going to us. It lasted for...what, five to ten minutes?” She turned her head back up. “It was fun and weird...but still fun to meet my other self in a place you’re familiar in. But to go to her place and see her where she belongs…” then forced a cough

Starlight reached in her vest for some pills, but then gave up.

“Remember when I asked you about how old she was compared to me?” Twi then asked.

Starlight nodded. “Uh-huh. What about it?”

Twi sighed, deeper this time. “Was...was I just following her the whole time?”

Starlight cocked her head to the side. “Uh, no? You followed her for less than a day, if tonight counts for anything.”

“That’s not what I mean,” Twi said, looking back on the grass around her. “Just think about it: In two separate worlds, one with magic and one without, there are two beings who have the same skin and coat color, who have the same hair colors down to the stripes, who have the same voice and the same name, and even our personalities aren’t all that different. Her parents are Twilight Velvet and Night Light, my parents are Twilight Velvet and Night Light—not to mention we both have a Big Brother Best Friend Forever in Shining Armor, and we both used to have a babysitter called Cadance—and those last two? They’re in a romantic relationship in both worlds!” She stopped, breathing slowly and controlling her stress. “I remember Sunset telling me how Twilight came to be where she is now...how she moved away from snobby Canterlot to a cozier place in Ponyville where she found her closest friends.” She took in a deep breath. “That’s the same thing that happened to me!” Pointed both hands at herself. “I went away from snobby Crystal Prep to a cozier place in Canterlot High where I found my closest friends!” Her speech was slowly wavering. “And the worst part? I’m always one step behind my other self with all those things. I was even born later than her! She’s probably past college age at this point, and...and, here I am!” her voice choking.

Starlight looked terrified, surprised at first. Then, she inched closer to her and wrapped an arm around her. “Your friends also have their other selves and, from what I can tell, they’re younger than their pony selves and they seem fine with it.”

Twi rubbed her dry eyes, removing her glasses. “I know, but...I don’t want to think about it, but I have to think about it because I’m not satisfied with an unanswered question!”

Starlight rubbed her chin. “So, the reason why you want to go to Equestria is to ask your other self why your lives are so alike?”

Twi shook her head. “Not the only one, but...” nodding again “but it’s one...and the magic, too...and what they could teach me about friendship, too, since I know that friendship is literally magic over there, and how bright it is over there….”

Starlight smiled. “Well, I haven’t seen my other self here, so I don’t know what to tell you, really. But, hey, you’re here, you’re alive, and you got great friends. Sure, your life’s like a copycat of some Princess in a magical world—so what?” She released her arm from Twilight. “Everything else about you is different...like how you’re good at video games,” and she winked.

Twi looked at her, awestruck by what was just said.

“You’re pretty similar, yeah, but you have the rest of your life to control and make your own. The Twilight I know has tons of responsibilities as a Princess and she doesn’t have access to those computing thingamajigs, but you have different responsibilities and you are smart with those screens and keyboards and mice, all those wires and blinking lights and...other techy stuff I don’t understand.” Starlight blushed in embarrasment.

Twi leaned her head back in laughter. “Yeah. I guess I do have that!”

Starlight looked at her watch. “Anyway, time to hit the hay!”

Twi snickered as she stood up, pulling Starlight as well. “You’re not sleeping on hay next time, right?”

“I heard it’s just an expression here,” Starlight replied as they walked to the front door, “but back home? Hay beds aren’t as bad as you think.”

And they chatted with each other while they closed the door behind them, leaving the night sky above their roof.

Now, no one was outside, though Pinkie’s and Applejack’s loud snoring could still be heard.

Friday Highs

Twilight sat at the kitchen’s countertop where bacon and eggs was the breakfast of the day as Sunset and Applejack took up their roles as chefs by the stove. Through the window came piercing sunlight with the dawning sun rising above the distant hills.

As Fluttershy and Rarity ate their breakfasts—with Fluttershy having pancakes and syrup instead—Twilight took her phone out and scrolled through her messaging app, seeing who texted her what.

At the top of her screen, she saw the blue-haired head of her brother beside the name “Shining Armor”. The words under the name: Twily, what happened last night?

Twilight gulped. Tapping on the virtual keypad, she wrote: Magic-related. Took care of the problem in half an hour.

She turned her phone off and picked her fork and knife up, ready to chow down.

Pinkie walked down the hallway, wearing a stack of hats on her puffy pink hair. “Hey! Did you know today’s National Wear-a-Hat Day?” And she brought out her party cannon and—

“Wait!” Applejack yelled, holding out a spatula at her. “You don’t wanna ruin breakfast now, do ya’?”

“Aww! But I had everything planned!” Pinkie then took out a scroll of paper which stretched all the way to the floor. “I got berets, panamas, fedoras, tuques, hard hats, top hats, bowlers—“

“We get it, Pinkie!” came Rainbow’s voice as she followed her, carrying a box labeled “Hats” before putting it down.

Then, Twilight heard slurps and swallows; she turned her head to a starving Starlight, gobbling up the bacon in no time, devouring the food down her throat with soda, and smacked the glass down without cracking it.

Fluttershy cringed at the sight of meat eaten so carelessly. Rarity did so, too, though out of a general disgust at her lack of manners.

Twilight, on her part, tried to hide her laughter behind a hand. “Last night, you had qualms about eating meat. Look at yourself now!”

Starlight then looked at that glasses-wearing ruffian. She dropped her fork in a little shock. Then, she shrugged her shoulders, effecting a nervous smile. “Eh-heh-heh. Those pigs don’t think, right?”

“Starlight!” Rarity yelled, shielding a cowering Fluttershy while still sitting down. “Be considerate of others, will you?!”

Starlight threw her hand off in a spin. “Oh. Sorry, Fluttershy.”

Fluttershy gulped. “O-OK. Y-You’re f-forgiven, but—“ standing up from her chair and picking up her plate and utensils “—I’ll just move to the living room and...let you eat as you please.”

Starlight held up her hand, trying to block her. “No! I’ll eat the bacon, uh, like a pony—uh, a person with manners!”

Fluttershy gave her a thoughtful look and then put the plate and cutlery back down. “Alright, then.”

Starlight then turned to Rarity, putting on a smile for her. “Sorry for the scare, Rarity, but...who knew bacon tasted so delicious?”

Then, Twilight’s phone rumbled and she picked it up, saw Shining’s reply: OK. Celestia told Cady about the disturbance last night. Just checking if you’re OK.

Twilight made a fake smile for him despite Shining being a kilometer or so away. Thanks for checking up on me, BBBFF! She turned the phone off and continued with her breakfast.

“So, what’re you gonna do?” Sunset then asked Starlight while flipping another pancake for Fluttershy. “You can’t just barge into classes and stay with us since you can’t just sneak into school like I did way back when.”

Starlight chuckled. “I think I can handle going around on my own.”

“Promise us you won’t walk around on all fours again?” Sunset asked with a taunting chuckle.

Starlight snickered back, trying to play along. “I basically mastered the art of using two feet. Don’t ask me to dance, though.”

Rarity’s phone rang and she brought it up, dropping her fork. “Yes, Sweetie Belle?….Uh-huh.” A sigh. “As long as you’re not late to school, you’re fine by my book….No, I’m not writing a book!….Wait, you stayed up until when?!….I told you you shouldn’t be watching trilogies past ten in the evening unless it’s a weekend, movie club or no...Sweetie Belle!”

Applejack laughed. “What’s she gotten into now?”

Rarity covered her phone with a hand. “They’re off watching Earthquake: The Complete Trilogy for the third time in a row.” She shook her head, looking like she was giving Sweetie herself a stare down. “I don’t know what’s good in those disaster movies, but it seems to work with young kids these days.” Hearing mumbling through the phone again, she resumed talking with her sister: “Sweetie Belle, you have to listen to me very carefully. I know you’re having fun, and it’s nice you’re having sleepovers, but you can’t just sleep at one A.M. and expect to have a mind ready for classes the next day!….No, you’re not borrowing any of our cameras to make your own films, either!”

Twilight looked at Applejack. “What an ambitious trio!”

Without looking back, the cowgirl responded, “Too ambitious for their own good, I might add.”

Twilight smiled, turning to Rarity who had not touched her breakfast since the call began.

“No, you can’t ask from Sunset for her camera, either!” Rarity said, almost shouting. “Don’t tell me that phones are too low-quality for your taste! That’s why I labored hard and late at Carousel Boutique to give you the latest model!….Of course, actual cameras are better, but that’s because the only thing they do is take pictures! You expect phone companies to dedicate all their resources to taking pretty pictures?!”

“And there she goes,” Applejack remarked, taking out a couple pieces of bacon and putting them on a plate which Starlight grabbed and put beside her own plate. The cowgirl glanced at her, that lady ready to wipe out whole servings of bacon in minutes.

The first half of classes came, the first half of classes went. Now, it was lunchtime in Canterlot High. Columns mixed with brick and wood dotted the checkered floors of the cafeteria. A lot of chairs were occupied by students and teachers eating whatever was on the menu which, for a cafeteria, was moot since there was no menu to read from.

Anyway: Not all of them were there, but Starlight and her friends resumed their eating habits at the table with bread, fruits, vegetables, and—most importantly—more pizza. As expected, Fluttershy got the veggie pizza all for herself.

Sunset had her camera around her neck again, browsing through the photos and leaving her food out to cool as she went down memory lane, seeing photos of her time at Pinkie’s, and then those of her time at the kite competition back in Ponyville. She closed her camera and faced Twilight who was drinking the canteen’s apple juice. “I heard you’re working on a cell made out of fuel. Wouldn’t that be...kinda’ small?”

Twi laughed. “It’s not a cell, per se.” She adjusted her glasses a bit. “To put it in simple terms,” putting her hands up and moving them around to illustrate, “it’s like a battery but better. You know how a battery ends up dying after a long time?”

Sunset nodded. Applejack, Fluttershy, and Rarity looked their way at her. Then, Fluttershy raised a finger. “Actually, why do they die after some time? Is it the rust?”

Twi shook her head. “Technically, it’s not rust; what you see when it dies is potassium carbonate which looks like white fluff.”

Rarity’s eyes began to droop at that.

“Batteries have chemicals inside themselves and they use that to make electricity. However, when it’s all used up, the battery’s worthless...which is why fuel cells are better,” with Twilight perking up, “because they don’t use the chemicals inside themselves to make electricity; they use the chemicals outside themselves!”

“Like a reverse battery?” Applejack asked, narrowing a brow a bit, trying to understand.

Twi twirled her finger around. “Sort of, but that’s not the best part. The magic happens with what it really uses to make electricity.”

“Didn’t you say it was the chemicals outside the cell?” Rarity asked, flourishing the question with a half-crossed arm.

“And, what would those chemicals be?” Twi shot back.

Rarity tapped her chin, thinking hard on it as if it was a test. “Air…?”

“Specifically, the oxygen part of air, but that’s good enough!” Twi then spread her arms out. “The other thing you need is fuel, which is why the most famous use of fuel cells is as an alternative to ordinary cars...but, don’t you see?” She looked at her five friends at the table, Starlight staving off a yawn. “Since the only other thing you need is gas without the other chemicals, you won’t breathe noxious molecules in, you can merge it with other alternative sources of energy like wind turbines, and they’re good for the environment—“ pointed at a passing Wallflower Blush with food in tray “—which I’m sure Wallflower will like.”

Wallflower herself turned around, froze on the spot. “Huh? Me?”

“Yeah, you!” Twi said, beckoning her to sit down on the table.

So she did, putting her food down which consisted of a salad, some dressing, and a glass of water alongside an equally tall glass of vinegar.

Applejack and Rarity resumed their lunches; Fluttershy, pleased to have Wallflower sit beside her as well looked at her bag where Angel poked her head out of.

Sunset gave Twi a strange look, but otherwise returned a good smile. “I guess you’re quite enthusiastic about fuel cells.”

Twi smiled back. “Well, when smartphones came along, most of us just took them without really studying what was going on behind them—and, I admit, I didn’t give smartphones much serious thought at first.”

“Uh, what’re you talking about again?” Wallflower asked, utterly confused at this point.

“Oh, the exciting and fascinating and upcoming technology of fuel cells!”

Wallflower pursed her lips. In an innocent-sounding voice: “Why should I care?”

Twi eyed her. “It’s better for the environment than the batteries we know because they only need fuel and air to generate electricity. No need to put yourself at risk with chemical leaks!”

Wallflower then nodded, remembering something. “Oh. Isn’t that the thing they’re trying to use for cars?”

“Yeah,” Twi nodded back, grinning. “They’re replacing—“

Thud!

And everyone stood up from their chairs, then looked around, trying to see what was going on. Some went over to the windows but only saw their own schoolmates looking around, too.

Twilight and the others went up, left their food. They went to the glass doors and saw Rainbow hiding beside one of the lockers while holding a soccer ball. She was throwing up in the air nervously.

“What’s going on, Dash?” Applejack asked, giving her a mean look. “Broke a trophy or somethin’?”

“Hah-hah.” She poked her head past the locker, seeing only other students at the hallway. “I may have...uh, broke the statue’s horse with this thing,” holding up the ball.

Sunset scratched her head, puzzled. “Just the horse, right?”

Rainbow poked her head out again, trying to see if a teacher was there. “Yeah. Just the horse.”

Sunset wiped the sweat off of her forehead, relieved. “Looks like the principals will have to pay for another marble horse...again.”

Wallflower looked at Rainbow, who was wearing a grin that would pass off as genuine on other days.

Lunch was gone and, other than some detention for Rainbow Dash, the day went on as usual. Before everyone knew it, classes were over for the entire week as students piled out of the school in droves, most of them wearing exhausted smiles as they talked fast to each other, made on-the-spot plans for what to do this Friday night. Some wanted sleepovers by a friend’s house, others wanted a night out in a restaurant or a coffee shop, still others wanted to push further and have a drive out of the city. There were also those who intended to stay home tonight with either a good book or a good game.

But, there were others who were more committed to the school’s cause than most, and Wallflower Blush was one of them, hanging up baskets of flowers in between the school’s windows along with a few others like Derpy, Roseluck, and Bon Bon who had their own baskets of flowers to put up.

“Excellent!” Principal Celestia said while standing by them, seeing the natural adornments on the walls as they glowed a little orange under the sunset sky. “And...Rose, is that lavender? I’m sure my sister would love to have that this upcoming Floral Week.”

Wallflower looked at her and made a blushing smile. “I’m honored, miss, about you giving our club a chance to shine.”

Celestia nodded, beholding the vibrant flowers grooming the dull brick walls. “Every club deserves their chance to shine, and yours is no exception, though you are also tasked with the burden of making sure the boys will not puke on Monday at the smell. They were already surprised enough with the announcement.”

Wallflower giggled as Celestia waved them all goodbye before going back inside.

But, racing past Celestia and into the outside was Lyra Heartstrings, ruffling her spiky green hair in the wind of her pace, whizzing past Wallflower and almost made her trip, and went up to Bon Bon, holding up flower baskets of her own. “I was going to meet up with Pon-3 at the music shop to try to sort things out, but she said she won’t be having her night shift this time, so I thought this up last minute.”

Bon Bon looked surprised, examining the flowers and seeing that there were some forget-me-nots nested in those baskets. “You’re really gonna stay until nine to help us for Floral Week?”

Lyra nodded, shaking her head up and down vigorously. “Of course! It’s even better when you do it with your best friend, eh?”

Bon Bon smiled as they traded flower baskets. “You stored everything in your locker, remember?”

“Yeah, I won’t forget! Forget-I-not!”

Bon Bon and Wallflower groaned at such a good pun.

Nighttime came. After hours of strenuous work, of trimming bushes and vines, of placing flowers and shrubs at just the right places, of debating on whether plastic plants would add to or subtract from the spirit of Floral Week, everyone was done and the school was now decked with flowers and potted greenery, decorating the pavement to the school as they were lined up with different colors of tulips, lavenders, sunflowers, roses, and the like.

Wallflower and her group stood at the entrance of the school, standing at the top of the steps. “Girls? I think you’ve all done a great job sprucing up Canterlot High.”

“Does that mean we get to go to Sweet Snacks to celebrate?” Lyra asked with a wide grin.

Wallflower looked at her weird. “Uh...yeah?”

Bon Bon raised her wallet. “I’ll pay for Lyra, so don’t you worry.”

And so, the Gardening Club—plus Lyra—walked down the fresh-scented pavement to the sidewalk, passing by the statue which was now missing its iconic rearing horse, leaving only the base.

Then, Lyra placed her hand on her back and—

“Wait! I forgot my bag!”

Bon Bon shook her head. “You told me you wouldn’t forget!”

Lyra laughed. “Mistakes happen all the time!” Then, she looked at the doors of the school; she saw some lights on through some windows.

“Just run and be back,” Rose said casually. “You know the route, right? It’s rush hour, so we won’t stop for you; it’ll get full if we wait.”

Without saying anything, Lyra ran back to school, leaving her friends to journey to Sweet Snacks Café by themselves.

Inside the dark hallway, Lyra’s steps reverberated as she ran over to a locker that was hers. She rotated the knob on the lock, inserted the correct combination, and opened her locker. She grabbed the backpack and slung it round her back. She closed the locker, secured it by fastening the lock, and ran here and there through more main hallways and then the foyer and then outside, down the steps, tried to run to the grass—

“Agh!” as she saw the flowers over there, still running straight though leaning a bit to the left, eye on the sidewalk. Between gasps for breath, “No stepping on the plants…no stepping on the—“

Foot misplaced.

Lyra tripped, screaming and falling headlong to smack her head on the base of the statue.

Except she didn’t, for she disappeared into the base of the statue in a bright white flash.

Now, no one was outside. Only flowers and shrubs bending under the breeze.

“...and, how may I take your order?” Pinkie asked, decked out in her waitress uniform once again in Sweet Snacks Café, as all the tables were filled with not-so-busy teenagers enjoying the start of the weekend, buzzing with talk and phone beeps.

Bon Bon looked at the empty spot on their cushion seats. “Uh, we’re actually five, but Lyra’s late.” Sitting beside the wall, she looked out the window and saw no sign of her friend despite the sidewalks being packed with people walking up and down under the streetlights.

“I’ll just have fries and a milkshake,” Wallflower spoke up.

“I and Derpy will both have the Four-Layer Monster,” Rose ordered.

Bon Bon tapped the table, staring with a tired look at Pinkie. “What do you recommend?”

“Ooh! Chef’s recommendations!” Pinkie wrote a few words on her notepad. “Or, waiter’s recommendations, ‘cause, you know, I’m not a chef—“

“I get it!” Bon Bon cut in, sounding irritated. “What do you think’s best for me?”

Pinkie tapped her chin with a pencil. “Cherry burgers with egg!”

And everyone at the table looked at each other, confused.

Bon Bon sighed, giving up on making sense of the dish. “One of that for me, one for Lyra.”

Pinkie grinned. “Okie-dokie!” She scribbled all of that done in illegible shapes and read, “Fries and milkshake for Wallflower, Four-Layer Monsters for Rose and Derpy—with softdrinks?”

Rose nodded.

“...with softdrinks, and two cherry burgers and eggs for Bon Bon and Lyra. Correct?”

“Correct,” Wallflower replied.

“Good! It’ll be here in a minute!” She rolled away with her shoes-on-wheels, not forgetting to turn on the jukebox to usher in soothing vintage music throughout the whole café, making Rose bop her head to the beat.

Bon Bon looked out the window again. “Ugh. She’s still not there. Know what? I’m gonna call.”

Wallflower looked at her nervously as Bon Bon brought her phone up and heard the rings.

First ring.

Second ring.

Third ring.

“This is the first time I’ve heard of that,” said the chef behind the counter to Pinkie.

Fourth ring.

“Cherry burgers with eggs?” the chef continued. “But, alright.”

Fifth ring.

“Might be a surprise hit. I’d have you to thank for.”

Sixth ring.

“I’ll always be here!” Pinkie said, shaking her hand. “Don’t need to thank me!”

Seventh ring.

Then, a beep. A kind voice said, “Sorry, but the number you are calling is beyond—“

Bon Bon took her phone back inside her pocket. “That’s unusual. Lyra always keeps her phone charged at a hundred percent.”

“What’s the percentage last time you saw it?” Rose asked beside her.

“It was...five minutes before we were done. Caught a glimpse and it was at ninety.”

“Does her phone drain fast?” Wallflower asked.

“Not that I know of,” Bon Bon said. “It’s a juicy phone. She only charges it once every three days.”

Rose and Wallflower had wide eyes at that.

“What if she actually went out of range?” Rose suggested. “Like, she’s out of town?”

Bon Bon narrowed her brows. “She has no relatives nearby outside of Canterlot, and she’s not visiting her grandparents. She’d tell me well in advance if she was.”

“Then, where could she—“

Bon Bon gasped. “I have a really bad idea where she’s at!”

And everyone else at the table looked at her.

“Since she wanted to find her backpack, she went back to school. But, she also stores some of her excess stuff inside the maintenance room. What if...what if she locked herself inside?!”

“The phone would still work,” Rose said. “It’s within range.”

“No, it wouldn’t,” Bon Bon replied, sounding haggard. “I had to go there once to retrieve something for Miss Cheerilee, and there’s a warning sign about stray magnets…or something….”

And took Wallflower’s hand as she stood up.

“Rose! Stay where you are and don’t leave until I call back!” Turning to Wallflower, ignoring the curious looks she garnered from everyone else in the diner: “You’re coming with me to save Lyra from the maintenance room!”

“How could she lock herself inside if the knob’s broken?” Wallflower asked as she was pulled out of the diner.

“It’s because it’s broken! Now let’s go!”

Trying to Get Out

Crash! Thud! Crash!

And just black. Nothing to see with her closed eyes as the pain surged throughout her whole body.

“Uh...my head….”

She rubbed her head—

“Argh! What’s on it?! Hope it’s not one of those fake arrows from theater class....”

Tried to pull it out of her head.

No good. Even more pain.

“Ow! Ugh...first I slip and crack my head, and now someone’s put strong tape on an arrow I didn’t even see! I don’t remember making a spy play in medieval times!”

She slowly opened her eyes, though blurry, seeing purple and green around her with a hint of brown there, head still aching.

Massaged her eyes, blinked rapid.

Clearer now, she saw a table before her.

Or the broken fragments of what used to be a table, now that it was smashed in half.

“Woah!” Lyra blurted out, seeing the splinters before her. “Did I go into a coma or something? ‘Cause I don’t remember going here!” She looked to her left and right, seeing crystal walls and bookshelves. “OK, maybe it’s the other theater class. Don’t know, but...whatever. Better than being stuck in maintenance.” She sighed. “How c-come I don’t remember getting here?” She shook her head. “I’ll find my w-way out.” She took one leg on the floor. “Gotta stand—“

And flopped to the floor.

“Ouch!” She looked at her arms. “My head hurts, my legs don’t work, and now—“

Didn’t see her hands. Just hooves.

Her eyes opened wide. “What?! What’s going on?!”

Lyra turned them around, turning her left hoof around and then turning her right hoof around, seeing those green hooves move right before her eyes.

“No...no way! Don’t tell me I stumbled into the magic world!”

Then, she looked behind her, seeing her hindhooves. She looked at her forehooves again, seeing her green coat of hair all around.

She breathed heavy, faster and faster as she struggled to get up on her four legs.

Then, she was standing on her four hooves, biting her lips in terror.

“OK, L-Lyra,” she muttered to herself, mouth trembling, “you’re officially a pony now. Too much pain in a dream, worse than a pinch!” Took a huge breath in. “How do I get out?!”

She turned her head around, seeing the strange portal contraption.

“Didn’t Sunset say i-it had something to do with mirrors?” she said to herself as she took one step forward.

And tripped.

She groaned, standing back up again. “Why...why didn’t I pay attention to Fluttershy when she told me how horses move?! Could’ve been the most useful conversation in my life!” She examined all four of her hooves as she stood still. “OK...OK...let’s see...front right hoof….”

And she put her right forehoof in front, stretching a bit.

“Next…back right hoof?”

Lifted her right hindhoof forward, only to feel a bit squished on her right side. Moved it back.

“No, no...can’t use my left forehoof...so….”

Lifted her left hindhoof. Put it down forward.

“OK,” she said, her voice shaky as she looked at her hooves. “What’s next?...wait, don’t wanna trip again...so, front left hoof?”

She moved it, but felt her right hindhoof sagged behind.

“Agh!”

Put it back to where it was.

Lyra analyzed where her hooves were on the floor. “I-I think I got it. Right hoof front, left hoof back, left hoof front...uh, right hoof back.”

She moved her left forehoof and then her right hindhoof forward.

Raising her head, she noticed that the portal was closer now.

“Yeah!” she said, smiling and tried to raise a fist, but instead raised a hoof. Then, sighing, she repeated the tedious process of walking at a slow pace, trying not to trip again and taste the floor. Right forehoof, left hindhoof, left forehoof, right hindhoof….

Though she stumbled, she did not trip, and she finally reached the steps of the mirror.

There, she saw a reflection of herself: a green unicorn with spiky green-white mane and similarly spiky tail. She saw her cutie mark which was a lyre, and the horn on her head, too.

She gasped at the sight of herself. “OK, Lyra, stay calm!” She breathed in, breathed out, trying to look away from herself. “All you gotta do is get through the portal. Easy-peasy, right?”

Then, she trotted into the mirror.

Bumped into the reflection.

Then, she looked at the mirror again, seeing herself.

Seeing her face morph into an expression of dread.

She touched the mirror, then banged on it. “No, no, no! This...this can’t be happening...stuck in ponyland with no way out...no, no!” She placed a hoof on her cheek. “How’re they supposed to know I’m all the way over here?”

She placed a hoof to her neck, trying to calm herself down.

Looked up, saw the horn on her head. “Don’t know how you’re gonna kick in, but I got self-defense on me...somehow.”

She turned around and saw the big library doors at the other side.

And gulped. “You’re in big trouble, Lyra, but you need help. Serious help. I can’t do anything unless I reach out!”

With a slow and clumsy gait, she clambered her way to the doors and wrapped her hoof around the door handle. Pushed it, almost pulled herself forward into another stumble, but regained herself as she opened her way into a crystal hall with lots of other identical doors.

Lyra gulped again. “Gotta find my way out of this place first.”

She passed by the doors, hearing nothing but her hoofsteps as she looked here and there, expecting that voices would appear, but they did not. She gave herself a breather as she went by another corner and saw a foyer, an intersection of sorts with bigger double doors at the end.

And she hid back behind the wall when she saw another pony there, seeing that other unicorn float her hat around and pulling a few cards from the headwear.

“Let’s see if the Great and Powerful Trixie has all her fifty-two cards,” Trixie said, her voice echoing all the way down to Lyra’s triangular ears.

“Trixie?!” Lyra whispered to herself. Then, she smacked herself on the hoof. “Right, Sunset said a thing about other selves...” and a smile formed. “Then, that means there has to be a pony version of myself living in town, and they wouldn’t know the difference!” Then, her smile vanished. “But, that does mean I shouldn’t run into myself...they’ll find out, and...what will they do with me?!”

“Hm?”

Lyra covered a would-be scream with her hoof as she crouched down behind the wall.

“Who’s there?” Trixie asked by the front doors, turning around. “Spike? Yes, Trixie would like your help in finding my missing card! It’s a ten of clubs!” She pulled her hat around, but the elusive card was still missing along with the dragon himself. “Spike, don’t tell me you stole my card—oh, found it!” She floated it up from the floor.

Lyra’s eyes dilated at the sight of Trixie levitating the card, seeing the card covered in a pink aura as it went up in the air and into a floating stack of cards which Trixie straightened up with no solid surface.

“Nevermind!” Trixie yelled, swinging the doors open with her magic and feeling the brisk evening air. “The Great and Powerful Trixie has found her card with her amazing finding abilities!” She pointed straight outside. “Onward, everyone, to one last show in Ponyville before Manehattan!”

This supposedly great and powerful magician galloped out of the castle, letting the doors swing close.

Lyra held her breath, then stepped out into the main corridor. “Guess that’s my way out.”

Lyra felt the chill breeze as she sluggishly trotted down the path, looking here and there for anyone who might see her. She heard the rushing of waterfalls; sure enough, she turned her head farther to the left and saw the School of Friendship. All the lights were off though she could hear loud snoring from inside. Then, she caught a glimpse of something shiny, so she turned around and saw the castle in all its size and crystal radiance, seeing the great star structure on top and another familiar six-pointed star on a purple banner.

“This can’t be real,” she murmured, quivering. “It can’t be real, but it’s too real!”

Then, tons of laughter.

She leaped to a nearby bush, tumbling around in its branches and feeling them prick her coat and horn and her snout. “Ow, ow, ow!”

More laughter.

She poked her head up, saw the building before her.

It looked like a burger bar, resting by a streetlight. However, she saw the billboard on top which depicted two ponies’ heads laughing at a microphone. The curtains were closed and she could see nothing past them.

Lyra’s eyes half-closed in confusion. “They have...comedy clubs?”

Then, the doors opened.

She poked her head down, though she brought it a little forward so she could see who it was.

There, a gray pony wearing a blue shirt trotting out, showered with applause from inside as she left.

Lyra blinked in more surprise. “Maud Pie? She’s actually funny?!” Breathing slowly: “OK...you got this, Lyra. All you gotta do is find someone who knows something about Sunset’s portal, and you’re home free...you’ll b-be home free soon….”

The doors closed.

After waiting several seconds, she tip-hoofed her way out of the bush and to the comedy club. She plastered herself onto the wall, doing her best to flatten herself there as she poked her head out once again.

Saw no one there but some ponies in Ponyville proper. She took a few moments to take in the architecture of the town: cottages with thatched walls and hay roofs, appropriate for a small hamlet.

She gulped again, feeling her legs shake in fear. “Stay cool, Lyra; stay cool. All I have to do is act normal. Blend in, act like I have some business.” Breathed in, breathed out. Breathed in, breathed out.

Breathed in a lot, breathed out a lot.

Breathed in once more.

“Now or never, Lyra!”

And she trotted almost to the doors. She poked her head out yet another time though just enough so she could see what was happening inside the club.

Past the ponies seated on the tables in the dimmed lights and candles, she saw Pinkie—not exactly the Pinkie she knew, though, even with the bow tie and top hat. She could hear muffled words but her lips moved so fast, the poor mare found it impossible to decipher the joke.

Which made the laughter from the audience feel sudden to her, enough to almost make her trip backwards.

Then, after getting her stance back, she trotted past the comedy club, whispering to herself, “Please don’t spot me, please don’t spot me, please don’t spot me, please don’t spot me!…”

The street network of Ponyville, to the untrained pony, was an issue. It was not the network itself that caused a lot of tourists to become lost for the third time in a row despite the aid of a map. It was the fact that many of the structures there looked pretty much the same. Sure, there were landmarks like the gingerbread-house bakery known as Sugarcube Corner or the carousel-inspired boutique which was aptly named Carousel Boutique; however, if one did not pay attention, it would be too easy to go astray.

Sadly, Lyra suffered the same fate. She kept up a smile as she passed by ponies walking in the night, some giving her a wave with her reply being an awkward wave back. She also saw a couple of familiar faces in an unfamiliar light: There was Trixie, of course, who was setting up her stage and her stage equipment in some open space, levitating things here and there; there was Cheerilee, who bought a couple of flowers from Rose by a flower stall, and—

“Oh, uh, evening, Lyra!”

“Ah!”

Lyra jumped in surprise and then tumbled to the ground.

A hoof helped her up. “Are you alright?”

Lyra nodded, looking at her hurt hoof. “Yeah, I think I’ll be fine.” She then faced her helper.

A unicorn mare of a darker pink and a curly mane with a concerned bigger stallion of red coat; she noticed the yoke around his neck.

“Oh, uh...hi, Sugar Belle,” she managed to say as a greeting. Faced the stallion. “H-Hi, Big Mac!”

Big Mac’s “Hi” back was not verbal; it was a simple smile and a longer blink.

Sugar nodded, extending a hoof to her. “Nice to meet you, Lyra! I’m still getting used to Ponyville, really, so Big Mac here’s helping me out by meeting the locals.”

Lyra put on a wide grin as she extended her own hoof for the hoofshake, then felt the loose yet workable grip on it. “Yeah, th-that’s...great!” She tried to give Big Mac a thumbs up, but, with the lack of thumbs whatsoever, that proved to be a challenge. “Um...uh, I see you’re treating her right, w-which is always a good thing.”

Big Mac grinned, unable to contain his romantic feelings. “Heh-heh. Eeyup!”

Sugar gave her boyfriend a lovely grin. Then, turning back to Lyra: “So, what do you do around here? Like, your job, your hobbies...you know, uh, everything?”

Lyra’s first response was darting her eyes all around. “Uh, I...I...knit?”

Sugar smiled. “Like scarves?” She glanced at her boyfriend, and then back at Lyra. She held up a hoof to indicate a piece of cloth. “Well, winter’s still far away, but would it be nice if you were to make us a love scarf? You know, a scarf long enough to hold the both of us together?”

Lyra almost belched at that mushy question, but she kept up the smiling facade. “I don’t know since...we’ll have...lots of orders from other ponies l-like you! Hah, uh...yeah!”

Sugar Belle and Big Mac then gave other strange looks, nudging them towards Lyra.

“B-But,” Lyra cut in, becoming more nervous, “I’ll be sure to...give you two l-lovebirds something by the holidays!”

“You mean by Hearth’s Warming?” Sugar asked. “Sure! I understand; lots of workload and demand for scarves and beanies. Don’t wanna stress you out.”

Lyra smiled, raising a hoof to wave at them. “Yeah. I’d love to ch-chat, but I gotta go somewhere really important.”

Sugar nodded, and held Big Mac’s hoof. “Alright. It’s nice knowing you!”

And the two lovebirds trotted out of her way, walking under a streetlight as they nuzzled each other on their snouts.

Lyra gritted her teeth. “Can’t believe I escaped that one!”

After more stumbling around and greeting various ponies she thought she knew but really did not, she finally encountered something more than just a cottage.

A lit-up boutique as if it came out of a pink circus. Carousel Boutique.

She gulped, standing before the establishment’s door. She heard the humming of a seamstress from inside, perhaps humming to herself as she worked. Then, Lyra looked through the window.

She saw the very pink and very purple interior of the boutique. While the gaudy columns and decor were par for the course for a clothes store, what took her back was the sight of the mannequins; they were that of ponies, wearing dresses and suits that looked like dresses and suits but somehow modified to fit an equine.

But, more than that, she saw two white unicorns. She could see Rarity and Sweetie Belle with their distinctive hairstyles but as manes instead, knowing that they were not the Rarity and Sweetie Belle she knew as well.

“I still can’t believe you want salad for breakfast,” Rarity said as she inspected her broken sewing glasses. “But, if you insist, Sweetie….”

“Applejack grows carrots, too,” Sweetie stated. “I’ll help you cook!”

Rarity frowned, putting the glasses into a teeny-tiny felt box. “I still have nightmares about your utter undoing of a toast.”

Sweetie laughed at herself. “I learned a few things from Apple Bloom through the years. I’m sure I’m at least qualified to make a daisy sandwich!”

Rarity spat on the floor. “Everypony knows how to make a daisy sandwich. Real cooking involves a skill often unheard of—“

“I’m not into gourmet stuff, Rarity,” Sweetie whined, stretching a hoof to make a point. “I’m just asking for a salad, or if you don’t like that, an omelet.”

“You do know the stove isn’t working, right?” she asked. “I did tell you before, right?”

“Uh, you did...a few times already, actually.”

Rarity gasped dramatically, straining her throat as she lengthened the gasp over the course of five seconds. “Am I growing old?!”

Lyra snickered. “Still overemotional!”

The sisters’ heads turned towards the window.

“Eep!”

And Lyra ducked down.

She looked to her left, saw the door, heard the hoofsteps. “Is there anyone outside?” Rarity asked.

The door opened.

Lyra shot back to her four hooves, standing for Rarity who then spotted her.

“Ah, it’s you, Lyra!” Rarity said, smiling. “Your dress for the Grand Galloping Gala is going on quite nicely, though my glasses aren’t in good condition; it might get delayed by a day or two.”

Lyra kept smiling, doing her best to hold back any sweat on her face. “Y-Yeah...the Grand Galloping Gala!”

Rarity frowned. “Darling, you sound like you don’t even know the Grand Galloping Gala is!”

Lyra’s heart skipped a beat. “Uh, of course, I know what it is!”

Rarity made a little knowing giggle. “Well, of course, you do! Don’t you remember the few times we met last year and the year before that?”

Lyra nodded, trying to make her trembling lips unnoticed by this Rarity. “Yeah...with those, uh, red carpets—“

“And how I was able to sew an emergency dress out of those carpets!” Rarity interrupted, adding in a posh laughter worthy of her status. “Ha-ha, if only Fancy Pants would’ve seen that!”

“F-Fancy Pants?” Lyra repeated, thoughts now wondering about her world’s Fancy Pants.

“Who else, darling?” Rarity asked. “Just because I continue to accept my place here doesn’t mean I wholly abandon my high-life aspirations—I chase after them from time to time, which is a consequence of owning a boutique in Canterlot.”

Lyra then stopped herself from asking why she owns a boutique in some place called Canterlot.

Rarity blinked pretty and fast, her long eyelashes making even her blinks more beautiful. “So, what can I do for you? I could give you a nice chapeau—oh, wait right here! I know one that fits you so well!” She turned around and ran back inside. “Sweetie Belle! Can you be a dear and fetch me the yellow cloche hat?”

Now back alone, she craned her head backwards and saw few other ponies milling around. “She’s...sh-she’s a friend of the Twilight Sparkle here, if S-Sunset’s right. All I have to do is a-ask where Twilight is, then I’ll go explain e-everything to h-her,” as sweat poured down on her face.

Then, Rarity was back, levitating a yellow hat that looked like a bell and putting it on her head.

Lyra looked up, seeing her hat sit on both her horn and the top of her head.

“Not exactly fancy,” Rarity commented, walking a circle around her client, “but it does accentuate your eyes.”

Lyra did her best to look straight at Rarity’s eyes, to maintain eye contact. “Uh, th-thank you! I wasn’t expecting this from you!”

Rarity smiled, stopping right in front of her. “Always willing to help others shine, that’s all.”

Lyra was at a loss for words, crossing her hooves in anxiety. “Uh, how much do I pay you?”

Rarity gasped, almost punching her own cheeks. “Darling, that’s a gift! You must keep it gratis!”

Lyra took the hat with her hoof, tried to hold it.

No good as it fell to the ground.

Rarity looked awkwardly at the fallen hat. “Is there a problem, Lyra?”

Lyra smiled though that was faltering. “Um, I-I’m very t-tired from my...knitting…?”

Then, the hat glowed blue and it was put back on her head; Lyra saw Rarity’s horn glowing blue, too. “At least it’s not crochet, so you’ve made a good choice in that regard.”

After a gentle nod, Lyra backed away, nervously looking back at the cottages there. “Uh, th-thank you for picking it up for—uh, well, thank you, Rarity for your, um, being so generous!”

Rarity gave her an odd look but waved at her regardless. “You’re welcome!”

Lyra got out of her sight, trotting back towards the main parts of town. “I need to get to Twilight—wait!” and turned around and yelled, “Where’s Twilight?!”

“Oh, she’s attending Trixie’s show along with everyone else but me and Applejack,” was her shouted answer from afar. “I got some orders to fill and Applejack...actually, she might be there, too, but only as a vendor!”

“Thanks!”

“You’re wel—“

But Lyra trotted as fast as she could without tripping.

Lyra trotted about, trying to search for the rumble of a gathering crowd. Having gotten that, she got closer, hearing it louder with each turn of the road as she passed by sleepy houses and closed or close-to-being-closed shops. She then saw more and more ponies going around, chatting to each other, until she finally turned one more corner and saw, by the river, a huge stage and a modest crowd with all standing. The lights were blinding, the speakers were ginormous, and the atmosphere was as palpable as could be with the small number of ponies fielded.

The mare held her breath at the sight of two other ponies—one with curled mane that looked like candy and another with green hair.

Spiky green hair that looked just like hers. She even had a horn on her head.

Lyra bit her nails, but since she did not have nails, she bit her hoof instead. Biting too much of it, she tasted dirt and spat it out. “Eww!”

Those familiar two disappeared into the crowd.

“My other self’s there!” Lyra whispered to herself in a frightened tone, clattering her teeth. “And Bon Bon, too! H-How am I supposed to get to Twilight without—“

Ring!

As microphone feedback blasted throughout, causing everyone, including Lyra, to cover their ears, though Lyra then lost balance and fell to the ground.

She got back up quick, and trotted towards the crowd but did not enter it. Keeping her distance, standing by a closed stall of vegetables, she watched Trixie jump up to the stage, dressed in her wizard’s hat and cape.

“Yes, it is I, the Great and Powerful Trixie!”

She let her cape flow as fireworks spread from the floorboards and exploded in the sky. The crowd erupted into applause, with even Rainbow Dash, hovering over the rest of the audience, clapping her hooves at the spectacle.

“Now, Trixie is feeling a little different today,” she said in her haughty voice, pacing the stage. “For her opening act, she shall perform card magic upon every single pony she can see!”

And the crowd went with their “Ooh!”’s.

With Lyra whispering, “Twilight, please do something!”

Trixie cleared her throat, looking down on her audience like a queen. “I shall first select...hah, Lyra Heartstrings!”

Her eyes dilated. Her ears drooped. Any semblance of a smile melted away.

As she saw her other self walk through the crowd and up to the stage, she then breathed a sigh of relief.

Pony Lyra smiled, feeling perky as she stood on stage and against the scrutiny of the not-so-massive masses.

Trixie levitated a table from the backstage and then a full set of cards from her hat. “So, Lyra—“ spread the cards face-down on the table. “Pick a card.”

She took one out, saw what was on it.

“Alright, since you cannot normally show the cards to such a huge audience fitting for the Great and Powerful Trixie, she shall put on her total-deaf earmuffs as you shout your card.” With that, she put on her earmuffs which contained Trixie’s face on each cup.

Twilight, who was part of the audience and standing beside a pie-eating Pinkie, rolled her eyes and smiled. “Classic Trixie!”

“Trixie shall not even look at you!” the magician then said, pointing at Lyra the volunteer—not Lyra the pony-in-hiding, not Lyra the pony trying to escape notice, not Lyra the pony who wanted to talk Twilight in a quiet place.

As for that pony-in-hiding, she grabbed a cabbage from the stall and held it up to her face.

“Just face everypony else and shout your card!” yelled Trixie as she turned her back to the crowd.

Pony Lyra turned to the audience, seeing them all and also the stragglers there, too, the ponies that were past the group and watching Trixie’s great and powerful magic show from a distance.

Including another Lyra though trying to hide behind a cabbage.

Then, Pony Lyra gulped, catching sight of her, pointing at her. “Wait...is th-that...me?!”

And everyone except Trixie looked at this poor other Lyra, who was shivering and trembling with all eyes on her.

She fell to the ground, hit her head on the dirt along with her cabbage. Her vision dimmed to black once again.

Fainted.

Strike #2

Instead of just the moon and the stars, the night sky was also joined by some kites with lights attached to them. These little makeshift aircraft flew around, the lights moving about in smooth and flowing fashion with their kites.

Starlight and Sunset were sitting on a bench in a park, seeing some people fly kites around in the evening. Amid the laughter and the small comments from the kite fliers, they did not see much. The fresh pond had a few ducks swimming around and there were other passers-by who did not mind the kites, but the two ladies kept watching.

Sunset had a smile. Starlight had a grin so wide, she was testing the limits of her face with how far she stretched her lips and dimples, her eyes glittering under the dancing colors above.

“And now you know,” Sunset remarked, giving Starlight a light punch on the elbow. “We got kites, too.”

Starlight snickered. “Not bad for a species with hands instead of hooves.”

Sunset crossed her arms and made a smug smirk. Then, she stood up, checking the phone from her jacket. “It’s almost nine forty-five. Ready to go?”

Starlight stood up, too, and checked the watch on her wrist. “Uh...yeah. Let me say goodbye—“

“You already said goodbye to everyone else,” Sunset said as they walked out of the park and crossed the street. “It’s about time you got—“

Her bag rumbled and rang.

She ran to the other side, pulled Starlight and almost making her trip onto asphalt. She then opened her bag, got out her ringing phone and answered the call. “Hello, Vice Principal Luna?...Yes?...What?! Alright, we’re on our way!”

Starlight eyed Sunset who was stuffing her phone back in her jacket. “What’s the problem now?”

“We’re getting Fluttershy!” she yelled, pulling Starlight along for a sprint through the city. “Magical emergency!”

While that was happening, Wallflower and Bon Bon were pacing around the statue under the moonlight, with the latter incessantly trying to call Lyra on the phone but to no avail. Wallflower, leaning on the base of the statue, examined each window from afar but saw nothing suspicious.

“Luna should be done any moment now,” Wallflower said without looking at her companion.

Bon Bon, however, was not levelheaded if her going back and forth between the phone and the school entrance meant anything. “What’s she gonna do? Call her parents?!”

“Isn’t that the first thing they do?” Wallflower asked nervously, tapping the statue with her fingers. “Staying home isn’t that far-fetched.”

“But her phone, Wallflower!” Bon Bon insisted, stomping up to her not in anger but in fear. “If calling her phone isn’t gonna make anything turn up, then she’s not with her parents!”

Wallflower raised a brow in confusion. “And that’s so because…?”

Bon Bon sighed and leaned beside her on the statue as a car whizzed by on the road. “Isn’t it obvious?!”

Wallflower turned her eyes to the right. “No.”

Bon Bon smacked herself on the head. “They have spare phones and—“

Felt the statue give way.

As they both screamed and fell into the statue.

“Ugh…not again….”

Lyra’s eyes slowly opened, seeing the glare of white lights and the green ceiling—also, that intense smell of medicine and sanitizer above the slow beeping of medical equipment.

She breathed a sigh of relief, feeling well-rested. “Phew! It’s just a horrible nightmare!” Then, she looked down on her medical clothes, though her vision was still blurry. “I’m sure Bon Bon got me straight to the hospital—how does she do it?”

“Uh, no, she didn’t,” came Twilight’s voice as her head poked in.

Lyra looked surprised, seeing a purple blob in her vision. “Twilight Sparkle? I thought you were in...ow!...were in that...baseball game….”

“Baseball?” Twilight asked, voice rising as she was puzzled. “I may be a princess, but I’m not up to bat on—“

“Princess?!”

Lyra shook her head, cleared her vision, and saw Twilight’s face.

Twilight’s pony face, to be exact, complete with snout, horn, and mane.

“Wuh-agh!” and Lyra pressed her head to the back of the bed. “Don’t tell me I’m still a pony!”

Twilight shook her head. “No. You still are.”

“Aah!”

“Would you stop screaming?” Twilight pleaded, pressing her ear with a hoof.

Lyra breathed in and out, heaving and recovering from her screaming fit. “I’m...I’m sorry, Tw-Twilight, but...I miss my friends, I miss my old self, I miss my world!”

“Yeah, tell me about it,” another voice came up.

She raised her brow and saw Trixie to her left raising a brow at her look.

“Agh!” Lyra shouted, flailing her hooves about. “Don’t attack me! I didn’t mean to ruin your show and—“

“Hi!” came the voice of a Pinkie Pie jumping into view.

“Agh! Not again!” Lyra kept screaming, holding the sheets to her mouth, though struggling to do so without fingers, seeing those ponies that looked and sounded like her friends. “Girls!—or mares!—I just wanna go home! I was planning to have a night out with Bon Bon, Wallflower, and the rest of the gardening club. I didn’t want to wind up here!”

Twilight nodded, her face becoming pensive. “I know. However, we need to get you fixed up before we can send you off. Fainting and hitting your head like that made you tough to wake up.”

Lyra shuddered, biting her lips. “I don’t know how long I can stand being here! I can take my Twilight and pals ponying up and using magic once in a while, but...here, everything’s magic and I...and I—“

A tear went down her cheek.

Twilight made a sympathetic smile, wiped that tear away. “You’re not stuck here, Lyra. All we gotta do is send you back through the portal and—“

“It’s not working!” she yelled before breaking down into sobs, covering her crying face with her hooves as the tears streamed.

Trixie opened her mouth to say something snarky, but a glare from Twilight cut that one short.

“Aww!” Pinkie blurted out as she zipped over and gave Lyra a box of tissues and a kiwi cake topped with candles. She patted the crying mare on the head as she lay on the bed. “Don’t you worry! On the bright side, you can have an impromptu ‘Welcome to Ponyville’ party!”

Lyra sniffed as she opened her eyes again and saw the cake, colored just like her coat. “I...I….”

Twilight gave Pinkie a strange look. “I don’t know, Pinkie, but isn’t this the worst time to throw a party like this?”

Pinkie scratched her own chin. “Didn’t Lyra say the portal’s broken? Might as well make the best of her time here!”

Twilight rolled her eyes, trying to keep up a smile for the party planner. Then, whispering to Pinkie: “I think she’s exaggerating. Maybe the journal fell off its place; that’s all.”

The both of them looked at Lyra who was opening her mouth and stretching her head to eat the cake. She took a bite off the cake—no utensils, not even holding a hoof to hold the chunk in; just her mouth and the cake which now dirtied her mouth in frosting and crumbs.

Pinkie smiled. “You know you can use your horn, right?”

Lyra chuckled, then turned back to a sour frown. “How am I supposed to know? I don’t even know what magic is!”

Trixie stepped in. “Ah! The Great and Powerful Trixie shall—“

“I think she’s been overwhelmed enough times tonight,” Twilight said, holding a hoof at Trixie the would-be teacher.

Trixie rolled her eyes and trotted her way out of the room through the door, glowing the doorknob with a raised head. “If you need Trixie, she is waiting outside!”

And she slammed the door shut.

Lyra moaned as she faced Pinkie and Twilight. “So, the other ponies don’t wanna beat me to death?”

Pinkie snorted a giggle. “Silly you! Why would we beat you to death?”

Lyra gulped. “Because...there’s two of the s-same person—uh, I mean, pony!—and...wh-what if...they c-call me an imposter and try to dr-drag me away?”

Twilight cocked her head to the side. “You weren’t listening to Sunset a lot about this, were you?”

“Cut her some slack,” Pinkie interrupted. “I mean, we were the ponies who shut Zecora out before we came along, and also threatened to tear down Flim and Flam, and were unwilling to accept Princess Luna for a while ‘cause she was too scary, and did not trust Discord when he was probably trying to be good, and also did not like Thorax because he was a changeling, and kicked out Trixie not once but twice and would’ve done it a third time—“

“Trixie heard that!” the mentioned magician shouted through the walls.

And a bit of silence as they turned their heads around.

Twilight sighed, turned to face a Lyra who was trembling even more at Trixie’s words. “What Pinkie is trying to say is that we ponies have had our share of incidents like this, so this isn’t new to us. Besides, we’ve learned from our mistakes and we’re all willing to help you get back to your world.”

Lyra smiled, then tears came down her face again. “Yes, please! I want to be back!”

Twilight nodded, then turned to Pinkie. “You go and get Doctor Horse. Tell him that she needs to be out straight away.”

“Okie-dokie-lokie!” Pinkie yelled before zooming out of the room.

Sunset, Starlight, and Fluttershy were running down the sidewalk, staying on one side of the road, and dashed past streetlights and partying houses to reach the school once more. Seeing some of the same windows with their lights on, they also saw the horseless statue but with no one there.

Sunset’s eyes darted frantically, trying to keep a focus on the statue. “All we have to do is wait until Twilight brings the book back to where it’s supposed to be. It’ll turn the portal back on and then we help Lyra back on her feet.”

Fluttershy and Starlight nodded, with the former raising a finger. “B-But...what exactly are we gonna do?”

“Stand guard,” Sunset said ordered. “Even if the portal’s deactivated for now, anything can happen.”

Fluttershy stood scared. “Anything? Like a big m-monster could just come out of nowhere?””

Sunset put her hands on her hips, partly looking at Fluttershy and partly looking at the statue. “Back in Equestria, there’s this thing called ‘stray magic’. Even when a magical item is not in use, the magic in there could still be active, and, if the conditions are right—or wrong—it could turn itself on without any apparent reason or rhyme.”

Starlight looked at her funny. “Are you saying that the portal could be on now?”

“Or it may not,” Sunset said.

“But only for less than a second,” Starlight added with her own raised finger, “because we’re dealing with a whole other level of magic here. The connections between the two dimensions would require a huge level of stray magic to turn on for even a fraction of a millisecond!”

Fluttershy rubbed her head. “I’m still somewhat new to all of this, so I-I’m sorry if I’m not c-contributing anything...or understanding a-anything….”

Sunset smiled and rubbed her on the shoulder. “You’re doing more than enough by being here, Flutter—“

The entrance doors opened, revealing Vice Principal Luna once again, this time with a laptop bag slung around her. “Wallflower and Bon—huh?”

Sunset gulped, catching those names. “You know we’re not Wallflower and Bon Bon, right?”

Luna nodded, looking over the different set of students before her. “Yes, but they were here only five minutes ago, hanging around...” pointed at the statue, “there.” And it clicked in her head as she pulled her phone out from the bag. “I’m notifying Celestia about three students in Equestria!”

“Wait, what?!”

Fluttershy, realizing that she was leaning on the statue, screamed and ran away to Starlight’s side who received the hug on her arm with a shrug of her shoulders.

Luna nodded again, this time firmer. “Yes, Sunset. I’ve done the same process that I performed for Trixie last night, and I have gotten the same results. With the timing of Lyra’s last appearance and the next time Bon Bon called her, she would not have sufficient time to get out of range.”

Sunset placed a worried hand on her cheek. “And that’s when Lyra got through the portal!”

“And Bon Bon and Wallflower as well,” Luna added, walking past Sunset as she stood a good distance away from the statue. “They traveled here to follow up on Lyra’s absence from their hang-out, but it appears that they may have fallen into the portal, too.”

“Let me check,” Sunset blurted out as she took out her phone once again, dialed Bon Bon’s number, and waited.

First and second rings, no answer as she tapped her foot impatiently.

For Lyra, the trip from the hospital to the castle was a dark and quiet one as she was accompanied by Princess Twilight and Pinkie Pie who was bouncing around throughout the entire excursion. The ponies who were still outside had gone back to Trixie’s show as she continued her first card trick with another volunteer.

As they neared the sparkly crystal castle, Lyra could see and hear again the school’s waterfalls along with the incessant snoring from inside.

“Oh, that’s one of our students!” Twilight said, cheerfully. “I’m not a master at identifying snores, but, oh well!...”

Lyra’s neutral face gave way to another frown, her lips still shuddering as she walked on her four hooves.

Twilight noticed, looking her way as Pinkie kept bouncing. “Anything wrong?”

Lyra sighed. “I...m-maybe it’s just nothing.” She looked at Twilight. “You look—“

“Familiar?” the princess asked. She smiled. “I know. I’m Twilight Sparkle, but not the same Twilight Sparkle—but technically the first Twilight Sparkle you met back with the Fall Formal and the Battle of the Bands. That’s how you’re seeing it, aren’t you?”

Lyra nodded. “Y-Yeah. I guess you handle things like this all the time, you being a princess and all.”

“It’s not that bad,” she replied, glowing the doors open as they entered into the foyer of crystal walls and green stained glass windows.

Lyra looked terrified. “But...there were sirens, enchanted stones and phones and mirrors...I don’t wanna know what you do here!“

“Magic monsters and friendship problems are what we deal with almost every week!” Pinkie chimed in, her cheery voice echoing through the hallways.

Twilight chuckled. “Yeah, that’s what we deal with.” Then, turning serious: “Right, I almost forgot: We need to get you home soon. Don’t want to see your friends getting too worried about you!”

And the seventh ring for Wallflower Blush came and was followed by a kind voice telling Sunset that the person she was calling was—

But Sunset put the phone away. “Did anyone else go missing?”

Luna shook her head. “Those were the only ones I’ve seen or have heard mentioned by the statue.”

Fluttershy and Starlight looked at the statue, seeing if it would do anything strange.

Sunset then took out her journal and scribbled something, saying, “If they’re over there, there’s only one way to talk.”

Lyra sighed a breath of relief as they neared the library doors, Pinkie still bouncing her way to the room. Lyra let out, “Finally! I’m going home to—“

Crash!

And a table came flying out of the library, swinging the doors open and almost crushing Pinkie. Twilight flapped her wings in shock, and Lyra tumbled to the ground in surprise.

When the dust was settled, Twilight took a look inside the library.

Two Earth ponies, a Bon Bon-lookalike helping up a pale green mare who was wearing a striped sweater.

Twilight combed her mane with her hoof. “Oh, no...what happened this time?”

And those two visitors looked at the princess, stood as straight as they could with their hooves, and stared at royalty with a wavering salute with their right forehooves, all while putting on smiles too big to be real.

“We’re so dead, Wallflower,” this Bon Bon whispered to her sweater-wearing friend.

“Aren’t we alive?” Wallflower asked, still keeping her hoof on her forehead in that respectful salute.

Twilight tried to stifle a chuckle. “You don’t have to do that anymore, girls. Lyra’s in safe hooves.”

As if on cue, Lyra tip-hoofed into the library, grinning at her familiar friends.

Bon Bon gasped. “Lyra!”

Lyra smiled. “Bon Bon!”

Wallflower turned a hoof around and said to Twilight, “Uh, can you get us back?”

“Mm-hmm!” Twilight then nodded and looked at the portal, the mirror back to its normal reflective state. “Just as I thought! The portal must’ve been hit by something—maybe when you hit the floor, the book wobbled out!”

“What book?”

Then, she heard a faint rumbling beep. “Oh, there it is!”

Twilight trotted behind the portal then trotted back, levitating a journal with a stylized sun symbol on it.

The three visitors smiled at the sight of it, Lyra and Bon Bon leaving Pinkie who was offering them kiwi cupcakes and kiwi muffins. “So, we’re really going back?” Lyra asked with a tinge of hope in her words.

“Yup!” was Twilight’s swift reply as she floated the book to the contraption’s top right in between two coils. She raised her brow and then asked, “But, what happened, you two? We noticed a table...not fixed on the ground.”

Wallflower’s ears drooped as Bon Bon stepped in and explained, “When we realized where we were and what happened to us, we had to stop panicking and find a way to adapt immediately. Unlike Lyra here—“ giving her friend a mean glare and Lyra shied away from that “—I’d paid attention to Fluttershy’s little lecture on horses a few weeks ago while we were at her house, so we had no time in getting used to pony movement.”

Twilight smiled. “That’s really great! I like how you’re prepared for even the strangest of situations!” Then, she frowned. “That still doesn’t explain the table.”

Wallflower blushed. “I, uh, may have practiced galloping in case we needed a quick escape….”

Everyone, even Vice Principal Luna, sat on the pavement, sitting by the statue but never placing their backs on it while they endured the long night of waiting. Starlight yawned, playing around with her phone as she saw her virtual character defeat a dragon on the screen. Fluttershy and Sunset played a couple rounds of fast-paced rock-paper-scissors, with Sunset sporting her Rock-Paper-Scissors Back-to-Back Champ! badge on her jacket, and Luna herself was gazing at the stars.

Then, a bright white flash as, all at once, Wallflower and Bon Bon and Lyra stumbled onto the pavement, landing on the ground with thuds. The rest stood up and helped pulled them back on their two feet amid groans and moans.

Luna sighed, picking up Wallflower. “At least you’re all back here safe and sound.”

Wallflower scratched her arms in a little shock while Bon Bon and Lyra looked at their hands and their feet, happy that they were not magical horses.

Then, another white flash of light and out came Princess Twilight Sparkle with her bangs and her thick boots.

Everyone else looked at her and opened their mouths in shock.

“Princess Twilight?” Luna blurted out.

Twilight nodded, blushing in embarrassment as she faced Sunset. “Yeah. We’re going to have to talk.” She turned to Luna, scratching the back of her head. “Can we use one of the classrooms? I promise we won’t be long!”

Getting Caution Back from the Winds

The classroom was pretty normal. The polished tiles gave off a nice sheen as Sunset Shimmer and Princess Twilight closed the door behind them and locked it. They drew the curtain over the door’s window, and went past the bare chairs and desks to close the windows to the outside.

With all of that done, they stood around, facing each other, footsteps the only sounds they made.

“So, what made you come over here?” Sunset asked, curious. “Though I already have some good guesses.”

Twilight nodded. “I’m sure you got them right.”

Sunset smiled. “What to do with the portal?”

“Yeah.”

A bit of silence between them as Twilight twirled her hair around in anxiety.

“Let’s cut straight to the chase,” she began: “We’re not keeping the portal on like this forever. At this rate, I’d have a ton of ponies asking me the same questions about Equestria being a dream.”

Sunset chuckled at that.

Twilight sighed, fidgeting with her hair. “I can’t just have guards in the library. That’d ruin the purpose of being quietly concentrated while you’re reading and it would also drain precious pony resources when they should be doing actual guard duty. I don’t know if I and Spike can handle brewing them coffee during their patrols!”

Sunset chuckled even more.

“Why are you laughing?!”

Sunset crossed her arms and made another smug smile. “That you’re freaking out a little too much?”

Twilight then caught herself and scratched her arm in embarrassment, blushing a bit.

“So, what’re we gonna do about it?”

“I’m glad you asked,” Twilight said, pointing at her as she ran over to the chalkboard and grabbed some chalk, Sunset following her. “My first thought was taking my journal off the portal and only put it on when you ask, but then I realized I wouldn’t always be there.”

“Then, what’s your next thought?”

Twilight nervously drew a few lines on the chalkboard, letting her anxiety loose. “A guard at the portal who’d be given permission to read the journal for requests to open the portal...but, that’s too risky. What if our guard’s snoopy?”

Sunset nodded. “Yeah, you’re right. What else?”

Twilight put the chalk back to its place, looking down on the table as if something important lay there. “I could perform a forwarding spell which would send a signal to my brain that someone wants to go through the portal, and I’ll send a signal back telling you to wait because I’m going over there!”

Sunset was now bewildered by the idea. “Uh, is that safe?”

Twilight nodded. “We turned ourselves into breezies one time, so a simple signal spell—to be renewed per week—couldn’t be that hard!”

Sunset looked at her weird. “O...K….As long as you don’t hurt yourself, then I’m fine with it.”

“Which means,” Twilight continued on past Sunset’s words, raising a finger and looking at her straight in the eye, “that we’ll be putting my journal down after staying there for...years?”

Sunset laughed a bit at that. “I just found out it’s been quite a while since we first met!”

Twilight chuckled, too, remembering those first few days with each other. Then, in a not-so-serious manner coupled with a manufactured grin: “Sorry for getting off on the wrong hoof so long ago!”

“You mean, ‘on the wrong foot’,” Sunset corrected, putting back a familiar evil smirk. “Better be careful; don’t want them to know you don’t belong here!”

The two of them laughed at that, bringing to mind those less-than-cordial memories of the Fall Formal.

And they were silent for a while again, basking in the awkwardness settling in.

“...anything else, Twilight?” Sunset asked, taking her phone out and checking the time.

Twilight’s nice smile disappeared as she slouched her shoulders. “There is one more thing we got to talk about, and I think we should talk about it as soon as possible unless we have situations like this happen again.”

Sunset’s eyes went wide at that. “I thought we just talked about it.”

Twilight tried to put on a genial smile, becoming jumpy. “That’s to make sure no one accidentally falls into Equestria while they go do their texting and phoning,” imitating the swipes and slides one would do with a phone. “This one is about...”

Sunset’s eye twitched a bit, now impatience settling in for her. “About what?”

Twilight made a small snicker, putting both her hands behind her back. “About my other self and our friends here.”

Sunset took a step back, staring at her. “A-Are you—“

Twilight smiled. “I was able to reschedule lots of things and I was able to land an early meeting with Dragon Lord Ember just this morning so we won’t have to do it tomorrow, which means that the stuff I was supposed to do the day after that I can do tomorrow.”

Sunset pointed at her, trying to form the answer with her tied tongue. “You’re gonna...I’m gonna...we’re gonna—“

“Sleepover!” Twilight yelled.

Then promptly covered her mouth, then laughed to herself at how loud she was.

Sunset crossed her arms again. “Good news, huh?”

Twilight sat on the table, leaving Sunset to stand on the floor. “It’ll only last until Monday, but I’m surprised you’re starting your Floral Week with half a day off.”

“Guess it’s perfect timing?”

“Good thing I won’t be there!” replied Twilight, brandishing a thumbs-up. “I might eat all the flowers!”

And they laughed at that little absurdity.

Twilight hopped out of the table and headed for the door, leading Sunset along. “Oh, and it won’t just be my other self. If you can, bring everyone else—and, maybe next weekend, we’ll all sleepover here.”

“But your classes with your friendship school!” Sunset reminded, unease in her voice.

Twilight giggled. “I have my ways. You’ll find out how good I can re-arrange things on the fly—and if not, there’s always another week.”

“Their education, Twilight,” Sunset said in a condescending accent, “their education….”

Twilight creaked the door open. “I’m their principal! I know what to do with their education!”

“...so, the same rules?” Starlight asked as she and Fluttershy sat on the pavement with Luna, all of them holding cards and hiding their values and suits from each other, resting under the night sky. They were all sitting around a bag of candy which substituted for money.

Fluttershy scratched her head as she racked her thoughts. “Uh...maybe? I mean, how do you even hold cards with hooves?”

“With magic!” Starlight said, pointing to the horn on her head.

Except there was none.

“Whoops! Almost forgot that I’m here.”

Luna made a small smile at that, remembering where Starlight was really from.

Starlight inhaled much of the cold fresh air which was helped by the flowers present by the path. “It’s just...I didn’t know you like gambling, Fluttershy. Yeah, I kinda’ guess Luna does that because, you know, nightlife kind of pony—“

“Do you presume that the night is of a less upright standing than the day?” Luna cut in, feeling insulted.

“Uh, n-no!” Starlight said, backing away a bit. “I was, just...um, the night is very beautiful, Princess—ah, Vice Principal Luna, and I’m just saying that poker fits your, uh, personality very well!”

Luna raised a brow, not amused.

In an attempt to deflect the attention away from her, Starlight turned to Fluttershy. “But, Fluttershy, you’re the kindest person I’ve ever met here because...well, Element of Kindness and all, and yet you play poker?”

“It’s not for big money,” Fluttershy answered, checking her own cards again. “Only penny ante, and some of my winnings go to the animal shelter.”

“You even know the lingo!” Starlight remarked. “Our Fluttershy knows nothing about gambling!”

“Or does she?” Luna asked, looking intently at Starlight and then at the statue. “Since both Fluttershies are quite similar with their hobbies and in how they act, it is not a far cry to assume that your Fluttershy also plays poker but in secret.”

Starlight’s eye twitched at that. “Uh….”

“I and Luna are regular players,” Fluttershy spoke up, “though we only use chips, never our real money...and we never cash in the chips. That’s one of our rules in The Canterlot Society of Poker.”

“The Canterlot Society of Poker?!” Starlight repeated in more shock. “But, you’re a student, Luna’s a principal—“

“Vice Principal,” Luna corrected.

Starlight smacked herself on the head. “Who else is in the club?”

Fluttershy smiled, enumerating the following with her fingers: “There’s Cut Card, Post Oak, Snowsnap...Juniper Montage as well plus Sugarcoat and Sunny Flare from Crystal Prep—Big Mac, too. He’s the most successful out of us all because he currently has ten thousand in chips.”

Starlight, unable to deal with this new information, dropped her cards and let them fall to the floor, some of them face-up. “That’s...nice to know…?”

The doors opened. Sunset and Twilight walked down the steps to the pavement, the former holding up her journal in the air.

“Hey, everyone!” Twilight said, almost shouting. “We found a way to prevent all these accidents!”

Then, those three swept their cards and candies back into Fluttershy’s bag and stood up.

Luna nodded, wearing her reserved composure. “That is good to hear. How will it be done?”

“We’re going to turn off the portal and only turn it on when absolutely necessary,” was Twilight’s response, looking up to Luna.

Sunset nudged Twilight on the shoulder, giving her a knowing smirk.

Twilight chuckled, having caught the signal. “Or, when there are, um, planned activities that span both worlds.”

Fluttershy shuddered in place. “I-I’m not coming along, am I?”

“That depends,” Sunset answered, walking to Fluttershy. “If we’re having a sleepover in Equestria, then that can be arranged.”

“Oh, I d-don’t know about that.” Fluttershy stretched her hair gently as she let the thought sink in. “Mom and Dad—and Zephyr, hopefully—can handle the animals since they’re so well-behaved, but I don’t know about actually being a pony.”

“I’ll teach if you’re going,” Sunset said, encouraging her with some pats on the shoulder. “You already know how to use your wings; what’s left is...everything else!”

She nodded, not wanting to think about “everything else” just yet.

Starlight went to Fluttershy, too, and added her hand to the shoulder. “Yeah! That sounds like a good idea! You should totally come over soon!”

Twilight adjusted her thick bow tie. “You mean the sleepover?”

“Pfft!” Starlight threw her hand about in disdain. “The sleepover’s fine, but I was thinking about how we are going to be hosts, teaching them how life in Equestria goes.”

The princess groaned.

Luna looked upon all of them, sporting a firm expression like before. “Will you assure us that you will not miss your classes in the event of such inter-dimensional visits?”

“Don’t worry about us!” Sunset said, pointing at herself. “We know how to take care of yourselves!”

Luna pursed her lips. “Taking care of yourselves in a world filled with strange magic does not bode well to my ears.”

Twilight smiled and stepped in for Sunset. “We’ll all take care of them!” Then, turning to Starlight: “Come with me; I think you’ve had more than a welcoming stay here.”

Starlight smiled at that, then looked at everyone else. “So, this is farewell!”

And so everyone said their goodbyes as Twilight and Starlight walked through the portal in a white flash and disappeared.

Sunset opened her journal as she walked, trying to see if Twilight wrote anything to her since she went back.

Nothing new.

She put the journal in her bag as she walked down the busy streets of Friday night. Several cars lie stuck in heavy traffic as young pedestrians walked or ran around to the next relevant place to celebrate the fresh weekend in. Sunset then passed by the newly-built karaoke bar from which she heard the horrible off-key attempts at singing. She covered her ears, though that did not prevail. She considered putting her headphones on, but with her house quite near, she decided to block the sounds with her hands until she entered her home.

With that done, she opened the door and closed it. The lock gave a weird jangle, but she shrugged her shoulders, dismissing it. Not bothering to turn on the lights and only relying on the moonlight from the open windows, she walked through her living room, up the stairs without falling to a painful injury, and reached her bed. She sat down on it and checked her phone.

First, she checked her normal messages. There, she read Pinkie’s request for teaching lessons on how to make green tea cake. Sunset, it’ll be a treat to teach you how to be teariffic!

Sunset chuckled at that. Let’s see. Aren’t we going to the observatory tomorrow?

She set that thread aside and went on to the next person to address which was, surprisingly enough, Sugarcoat who, according to her picture, wore a pair of glasses and a cynical scowl. I’ve heard Fluttershy spilled the beans on our secret society to some pony folk.

Sunset gulped. You mean Starlight?

A few seconds, waiting a bit. Then: Yes, whatever beanie-girl’s name is.

Sunset rolled her eyes. What about it?

A few more seconds. That’s good. If she is decent enough to compete with us, she can come over. You know the time and place.

Sunset smiled. Good. Thanks!

Finally, she smiled even more at who was next to talk to: Lyra. Sunset, I can’t thank you enough with how you and Twilight saved us from Equestria! I thought we were doomed to stay there forever!

Sunset tapped her response: It’s no big deal. You weren’t targeted by a manticore, so there’s that. :)

With that, she checked the rest of her apps. Her SnapGap feed was overloaded with Pinkie’s overwhelming number of photos of her making green tea cake while having Twilight Sparkle assisting in a baseball uniform. In one of those pictures, Rainbow Dash was pouring iced coffee over Pinkie’s head as she was mixing the batter.

“Wish I could go, too,” she whispered to herself, wondering what kind of mischief they’ve gotten themselves into.

Then, she glanced at her cabinet. “Oh. Gotta make sure my camera’s charged up for Sunday.”

Sunset got up from her bed and went there, opened the cabinet and took out the camera’s plastic bag.

The empty plastic bag.

Sunset’s expression was that of dread taking over her, sweat on her forehead and blood pressure rising. “Where’s my camera?!”

A Picture's Worth

The Canterlot Movie Club, meanwhile, were huddled up inside an arcade of pews! and bangs! as patrons lined up for a chance at entertainment—and, for the unfortunate people who were waiting for their turn at the claw machine, their chance at either heart-breaking loss or heart-rending fury. Standing at the corner where no one would notice them behind some cabinets, Apple Bloom and Scootaloo stretched their necks to see Sweetie Belle navigating through the camera’s screen menu.

“This isn’t gonna end up like last time, is it?” Scootaloo asked, fearful about what might come.

Sweetie shook her head, confident all around. “If we’re going to expand our secret society, we’ve got to invest in skills everyone will find helpful.”

“Everyone needs to have their locks picked an’ their houses broken in?” Apple Bloom asked.

“And, we’re not exactly secret,” Scootaloo said as she shot a thumb at Silver Spoon who was busy wowing her onlookers by getting awfully close to a high score at Ladders and Plumbers.

“I already told you,” Sweetie began, “I’ve practiced a dozen times. Remember when I had to pay fifty bits for my own personal lock picking kit?”

“You sure this ain’t gonna end badly?” Apple Bloom asked as she ignored what her friend just said, tightening the bow on her hair.

“We’re not gonna hide from her or anything.” Sweetie tilted the camera around to check how much battery was left. “We’ll tell her in the morning that her front door is susceptible to bumper keys so she should buy a new lock...and also that everyone else was busy with their cameras tonight.” She paused, letting her friends think through the information. “We get a bonus for being able to break in—seeing what pictures are in here—and Sunset gets the memo to protect herself against actual criminals.”

“Aren’t we criminals because we didn’t ask Sunset permission?” Scootaloo asked, pointing to herself.

“Askin’ permission to breach her house?” Apple Bloom said sarcastically.

“We’ll be fine!” Sweetie reassured in a sing-song voice, smiling at the both of them. “We’ll just sneak back in and put the camera in its proper place while she’s sleeping! We’ve done it once, we can do it again!”

Apple Bloom and Scootaloo then leaned their heads closer as Sweetie scrolled through the pictures, seeing photos of Sunset and her friends hanging out with a familiar pink lady with a beanie.

“That’s Starlight!” Apple Bloom yelled, pointing at her. “That weirdo girl from some time back!”

“At least she’s getting used to how we live,” Scootaloo commented. “Wonder what hands must’ve felt like for the first time.”

“She’s probably gone now,” Sweetie said as she kept on scrolling. “Maybe there’s—“

Stopped.

As all three of them gazed upon photos of ponies in Ponyville, most of them flying kites and watching the competition unfold.

They stared at those photos in awe, unable to say anything for a while.

Apple Bloom raised a finger. “I-Is that who I think it is?!”

Sweetie nodded, jaw still hanging. “Th-That’s Sunset’s home home!”

“A-And look!” Scootaloo exclaimed, pointing at a smaller photo in the menu. “That’s Sunset!”

Sweetie turned to it and, sure enough, the photo showed a unicorn with Sunset’s color scheme along with some other ponies by a booth.

“Tw-Twilight?!” Sweetie blabbed, seeing the alicorn princess smiling for the picture.

“I c-could see Tr-Trixie and Pinkie’s sister, too!” Apple Bloom exclaimed though muffled by the crowd.

Then, she saw a button beside the picture with the words, Do you want to share?

Sweetie then tapped on it, seeing a couple of options for sharing the picture. One of them was labeled, Send to CHS LAN.

Apple Bloom tapped her on the shoulder. “Uh, Sweetie Belle? I’m beginnin’ to not like this idea.”

Sweetie rolled her eyes. “They’ll think that we’re just really good at making fake videos if they find out.”

“But we can’t even afford the programs!” Scootaloo said, putting her hands to her hair. “They’ll know!”

Sweetie gave her an odd look. “We’re only sending it to the school’s local network so we’ll pick it up tomorrow morning.”

“But what if Miss Cheerilee’s there and she receives it out o’ nowhere?” Apple Bloom pointed out.

“It’s Friday,” Sweetie said, brushing her hair with her hand. Then, looking at the camera once more: “As they say—“ tapped on the button “—paralysis by analysis!”

A loading bar appeared and then disappeared, with the message Photo Uploaded! in its place.

Then, the doors swung open, revealing a haggard Sunset with frazzled hair as she strode through the lines and crowds, garnering attention by her sudden arrival. “Hey, have you seen a lost camera?! Anyone with a camera that has short lens—you know, the small ones!” People looked her way, with only a few giving her a simple “No.”

The trio gulped at the sound of her voice.

“Scram?” Apple Bloom suggested.

Sweetie glanced at the backdoor. “It’s locked. I tried it.”

Her friends then gave her a strange look.

Sweetie understood the silent request. “Are you telling me I should lock pick this fine establishment?!”

“CMC!” said Sunset as she ran up to them, finally stopping her frenzied running. “H-Have you seen my—“

And she did see her camera.

Sunset gasped, a hand instinctively inching towards the device. “Why did you steal my camera?!”

“We were gonna return it!” Sweetie said, holding the camera up as cover. “Honest!”

Sunset placed her hands on her hips, gave the club a stare down. “Give it back to me this instant!”

Sweetie turned the camera off and gave it to Sunset, the three of them trying to hide behind each other from a potential angry outburst.

Sunset inspected the camera, seeing the menu and the Equestrian photos. “You know it’s wrong to snoop on other people’s stuff!”

The club collectively looked down, feeling the shame and guilt of the accusation.

Sunset sighed, trying to soften her voice as she gave the three of them a sweet smile despite her irritation heating up. “OK, let’s be honest here: What did you see and what did you do?”

Apple Bloom cleared her throat. “We...s-s-saw your pictures from across the magic portal.”

Sunset opened her mouth, then stopped. Then: “What did you do with that?”

Sweetie eyed Scootaloo who was now given the pressure to answer. “Uh, we...saved it on our phones!”

Apple Bloom shook her head in surprise, mouthed a “What?!”

Sweetie nodded and rolled with it. “Yeah! We, uh, decided to take pictures of your pictures because your camera wasn’t entirely compatible with our phones. They’re...really great, considering our sisters—“

“And sister figure!” Scootaloo added, pointing to herself and showing off a blue flag of a rainbow-colored lightning bolt.

“—have magic from your world!” Sweetie finished, shifting her eyes here and there to see if anyone else was listening. “Yeah...that’s how it went down...with your camera...and us...knowing and seeing...the photos in your camera…yeah….”

The arcade’s pews and bangs continued as Silver Spoon’s crowd erupted into stomping applause, the girl having just broken a record in her game.

Apple Bloom smacked herself on the face.

Back in the now darkened and almost empty library, Cheerilee and Luna were beside each other, using adjacent computers as the teacher browsed online resources for the next math lesson while the vice principal browsed ways to make the best out of her coffee grounds, having just found the tip that chewing them outright would make her awake faster than sipping the brewed beverage. At the other side of the round computer table around the horse bust was Diamond Tiara, switching between a tab on the history of the Everfree Forest and a tab on MyStable.

“How are the students using the computers, Cheerilee?” Luna asked without looking away from the certainly helpful tips.

Cheerilee wrote a few things down on her notepad beside the keyboard. “It’s as if they don’t listen. When I enforce the rules to their fullest extent, they take it as a challenge to try harder. When I act lenient and tell them to just use their common sense, they abuse their freedom and use the computers for hours on end without doing anything meaningful.” She gave an exasperated sigh, reaching her hand out to grab a cup of tea—but it was not there. “No matter how I do it, I just don’t get kids these days.”

Luna chuckled. “Times do not change much. Do you remember how we used to cut classes back in elementary school no matter how the teacher enforced her rules?”

Cheerilee then reminisced on the memory, remembering something about using paper planes as a distraction. “Y-Yeah, I suppose.”

“The only thing that truly changes is why they do it,” Luna added, “which, when one boils it down, is the very same ‘why’ passed down from generation to generation.” She chewed on imaginary coffee grounds as if to practice for the next time she could get her hands on them, making Cheerilee weird out at that. “We cut classes, they use MyStable and SnapGap. Their methods are different, but what we all want is to shirk from our duties and responsibilities as growing teenagers.”

Cheerilee smiled, doing her best to ignore Luna chewing on nothing. “Huh. Didn’t expect you to keep pumping out sage advice every night.”

“Believe me,” Luna said with a small smile, hearing a beep from their computers as she tried to see what it was about. “Past sunset, there are times when I feel like I possess the knowledge of a thousand years.”

Cheerilee then peered her head over Luna’s shoulder to see her screen as the vice principal selected the notification icon. “What’s going on?”

Luna raised a brow, reading the message on the computer: New file uploaded: Ponyville 53.photo.

Then, she clicked on it and saw the picture.

Cheerilee laid her eyes on it, seeing those ponies smiling for the camera. “Wow! I didn’t know we had such a talented artist in our school!”

Luna did not smile. “Cheerilee, this is not the work of an artist.”

The teacher looked away from the photo. “Are you saying that’s...real?”

Luna turned her head to Cheerilee. “This is a picture from Sunset’s little trip to Equestria this Wednesday night. I do not know the wisdom—or the foolishness—behind sending such a picture here to our network, but—“

“Hm….” they heard.

Cheerilee and Luna then craned their heads at Diamond Tiara.

“Diamond?” Cheerilee asked, putting on a rigid attitude. “What are you doing?”

She bit her lips. “Uh, n-nothing, Miss Cheerilee! Just brushing up on history...really brushing up ‘cause there’s no tomorrow!”

Cheerilee then mellowed out a smile. “I see.”

Luna stood up, pushed her own chair out, and stomped over to Diamond.

“Wait!” Cheerilee cried out in a whisper, reaching out to her. “What’re you—“

And then Luna was standing over Tiara’s shoulder, seeing the detailed history of the Everfree Forest along with illustrations of each individual river it contained.

“What were you really doing, Diamond?” Luna asked, overbearing.

Diamond felt a bead of sweat break out, moving her cursor through the page’s descriptive sentences. “N-Nothing much! Aren’t we supposed to pass our homework to—“

“What lies in that tab?” Luna said, pointing at the tab to the right.

It read, MyStable.

Diamond gulped. “Uh….”

“Give me the mouse.”

Diamond shuddered. With shivering hands, she let go of both mouse and keyboard, seated there in dread.

Luna took control of the computer as she clicked on the tab.

The screen switched from the forest’s history to Diamond Tiara’s feed on MyStable.

The first thing Luna saw was the picture of ponies with the added caption, Found this nice work of art in the internet! Can’t tell it’s not real! Must be from one of our art students which I’m sure isn’t Sweetie Belle!

Luna gasped, seeing the photo plastered in the news—or the social news, to be more accurate. “Do you know what you have just done?!”

Diamond rolled her eyes, being as composed as possible with her pompous style. “Sweetie Belle isn’t an art student, so I’m not wrong—unless I’m not updated.”

“First, you are not to disparage your fellow classmates like that,” Luna scolded, still focused on the photo, “but, more importantly, do you even know where that image came from?”

Tiara shrugged her shoulders. “All I could tell is that it was uploaded from someone’s camera to here...but, hey, it’s not everyday I get to post pictures like this, right?”

Luna glared at her, her face contorted by wrath. “Delete it!”

“Eep!” She held her hands up, holding the mouse in the air. “O-OK, Vice Pr-Principal L-Luna!”

And, taking over the mouse, she deleted the picture from her feed.

“Phew!” Diamond wiped the sweat off of her face, seeing other photos and posts on her feed which included Silver Spoon celebrating a high score in the arcade. “Problem solved!” Then, turning to Luna with a self-satisfied tone: “Now, what was the problem?”

Luna’s phone beeped and she picked it up, Tiara and Cheerilee watching with curiosity. In her messages, she saw a text from Principal Cadance. Luna, a Crystal student told me about a photo of ponies circulating on MyStable, and they look a lot like some of your students. Someone’s already copied it in case Diamond Tiara took it out, and we’re trying to figure out who it is. What’s going on?

Luna lifted her head from the phone, muttering, “No...it will blow up by morning….”

Diamond made a nervous laugh, the magnitude of sharing the photo dawning on her. “So...does this mean detention?”

Then, Cheerilee walked into the scene. “Uh, what’s happening?”

Luna gave her a frightened glare. “Nothing good if we do not act quickly.”

Sunset sighed with her back turned to the Canterlot Movie Club as they stood outside the arcade, the trio of girls sitting by the tree as people passed them on the sidewalk. Cars sped by, the night rolled on.

“What’s she gonna do?” asked Scootaloo to her friends in a cupped whisper.

“I told ya’ it’s a huge mistake!” Apple Bloom lashed out at Sweetie, also in a whisper. “What if we caused some kind of disaster an’ it’s all our fault?”

“Calm down, girls!” Sweetie said, repeatedly lowering her hands. “She’s gonna forgive us, no doubt about it! It’s not gonna make her look good if she stays angry.”

“But...she has to do something!” Apple Bloom reacted, flailing her arms about. “We’re not gettin’ off easy!”

Then, Sunset sighed again.

The three straightened themselves up, trying to look best for the confrontation’s continuation.

Sunset turned around, camera hanging from her neck again. Then, she frowned. “What you did was wrong—no, it wasn’t just wrong. It was illegal and you could go to jail for that, or at least opt in for fifty hours of community service.”

The club hung their heads in sorrow. All together: “We’re sorry, Sunset.”

“We promise we won’t break in to your house again,” Sweetie added in as miserable a tone as she could make it.

Then, Sunset smiled which surprised them. “I’m impressed, though. You were willing to go through with lock picking my door and you were able to get away with it without anyone noticing—and it’s not even midnight yet! I’m both happy and scared for the three of you, really.”

The trio lightened up. “Does that mean you’ll let us go?” Sweetie asked.

Sunset shook her head. “I’ll let you go, but—“ brought up her phone “—I’m not sure if your sisters would when I tell them.”

Then, all dropped their jaws.

“I told ya’ we’re not gettin’ off easy!” Apple Bloom whispered to Sweetie as a car shot past them on the road.

Sunset sat on her bed in the dark, alone with her camera, her phone, and her journal. She texted a few things to this or that person, and then she turned it off.

Her journal beeped and rumbled.

Sunset raised a brow and opened the journal, using a nearby flashlight to see what the words were.

Sorry for being all so gung ho on you earlier. I was stressed out with all my royal duties these days; this weekend is the first real one I’ve had in a month. When you have to save Ponyville four times from the usual Everfree monsters, when you have to go with Rarity on a friendship mission to Seaddle over the owner of a successful coffee bar, and when you have to arbitrate over some disputes between the changelings and the dragons—which isn’t helped by both leaders being on opposite ends of the personality spectrum—then you’d want to relax with a bang and have everyone come over.

Sunset read them, thinking about the princess’s predicament.

Then, more words were scribbled on to it, fresh letters glowing with a tinge of purple.

You know, it’s funny what happened these past few nights with people falling into Equestria. If it weren’t for magic not always being fun and games, I’d happily bring them in for a chat. Concerns told me otherwise, but I know I can’t be cautious for long, especially knowing that you’ve already defeated a couple of magical threats yourselves.

Sunset sighed, smiling. She took up her ballpen and wrote in response: Yeah. I’m just wondering about what might happen while we’re gone.

She waited and got Twilight’s reply. I understand where you’re coming from. We should all stay rational and make sure everypony is accounted for. If one of us has to stay, then I’m more than fine with that.

“Heh. Twilight telling herself to stay rational. Like that’s gonna work out splendidly.” Sure. Field trips to the Everfree Forest?

She chuckled to herself as she watched Twilight’s reply form on her page: No way! Are you crazy?!

The chuckle morphed into a roaring laugh. You wrote to me about your school’s field trip; Rainbow and AJ almost got eaten by bite-acudas. This can’t get any worse than that, right?

As for how Twilight took that: Sunset, this is no laughing matter. I want to have fun with my friends from both worlds but not at the expense of their safety. Did Fluttershy and Applejack tell everyone else how to move like a pony, for instance, so they won’t trip and fall off a cliff?

“Uh….” That would be awkward to teach in this world, but I’ll see. Can’t I just tell them to put which hoof where first?

Sunset read Twilight’s next reply. You girls have two arms and two legs. Imitating horses can’t be that hard. Besides, if anyone looks at you funny, just say that you’re practicing for a play.

And Sunset wrote on the journal: What play? Our next play is about a bunch of spies in a fantasy kingdom.

Then came Twilight’s reply: Fantasy kingdom, huh? You know who you’re talking to? The princess of a “fantasy” kingdom!

Sunset could not help but hide a smile. Well, we’ll just think about it, but I still think it’s super weird.

But she was not prepared for what the princess had to say: The rest of the girls will think we’re all super weird by the time they go home.

After adding another bout of laughter to the list of laughs tonight, she wrote a simple goodbye to her and received one back.

She closed the journal and placed it inside her bag, closing it with a zip.

Then, her phone beeped. She got it out and saw a message from Luna. Sunset, this is urgent. Diamond Tiara has somehow gotten hold of one of your Ponyville photos, and it has now been leaked to MyStable.

She pressed the message and appearing below it was the photo itself.

Sunset saw herself in pony form, saw herself smiling.

She gulped. “And just when I got my camera….”

The living room in Applejack’s house was modest and rather country. A rocking chair beside a shelf of old and dated family photos, among them those of Applejack posing with her livestock and, yes, a couple of horses.

Sitting around on the floor, moving their pieces around, and throwing some dice at their board game were Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle. They all wore faces of resigned defeat even though Apple Bloom was winning the game.

“No movie outings for a week?” Scootaloo expressed with a long moan. “And fifty hours of community service on each of us? That means we’re only gonna be together as city-wide janitors for a long time.”

Sweetie glowered at her. “Metropolitan street-sweepers, Scoot.”

Apple Bloom pushed her piece closer to the winning square, avoiding pitfalls and traps along the way. “By the time we’re done, they’re going to release The Stray Pup and Lighthouse Nine, and we’re gonna miss the premieres!”

Scootaloo sighed, resting a heavy head on her hand. “Yeah, Sweetie Belle. Who told you that lock picking random people’s homes for practice was a good idea?”

“Didn’t I tell you guys?” Sweetie replied in rage. “It’s a sport these days! They have it in Manehattan, they have it in Vanhoover, and they have it in Fillydelphia! There’s a national tournament and everything!”

“Duelin’ to be criminals, I’m sure,” Apple Bloom remarked in snark.

“Hey!” Sweetie pointed at her as she grabbed her dice for her turn. “What if we got trapped in this house? My lock picking skills will come in handy and you have me to thank for!”

Then, the front door swung open, revealing a sweating and panting Sunset.

They all looked at her, surprised at a second appearance from Shimmer.

“CMC!” Sunset shouted, not angry but desperate. “What did you do with the photos in my camera?”

And Sweetie dropped her dice. “Alright, I confess!” She stood up, bracing whatever would come as she covered Scootaloo’s mouth. “We uploaded it to the school’s LAN and we thought it’d be nice to get it the next morning because your camera’s not compatible with our phones and we don’t just feel like taking pictures of pictures tonight!”

Scootaloo then wrested herself from Sweetie’s hand.

Sunset sighed, taking a second to rest form the long-winded reply. “Do you realize that there are people in the library right now, doing whatever teacher stuff they do?”

Scootaloo groaned and rolled her eyes. “But it was her fault—“

Sunset grumbled, covering her face with her hands to muffle out a louder sigh. Then, she opened her face and saw the three girls trembling, hugging each other in fear.

She frowned as she walked closer to them, remorse surfacing. “Sorry for acting like that. I...I let it get to me and—“ pushed that line of thought aside as she sat down with them, being on their level. “Nevermind. It’d do us more harm than good to scold you right now. What we need is to minimize the damage this leak can do.”

“How?” Apple Bloom asked.

Sunset smirked. “I have an idea!”

With that, she stood up and ran out of the house, going into the night once more.

Then, the club looked at each other.

“So, why did she go here again?” Sweetie asked.

“Maybe just to tell us that we’re not in big trouble,” Apple Bloom suggested though sounding unsure herself.

After a while of considering that idea, they returned to their board game as they sat on the floor, the roll of dice popping every now and then.

Diamond Tiara sat in front of her computer, awaiting further instructions as Luna and Cheerilee kept watch over her. Tiara’s superiors could see her mouse hand shaking from time to time as she tried to jot down notes from the history websites.

Cheerilee, sitting on the computer beside Diamond’s, was monitoring the situation at MyStable. The photo was on her screen, posted under the name of Pithy Sport with the caption: Got this one from somewhere. Leave a like if you like, and comment your thoughts so I can get your feedback, ‘kay? As for the comments themselves, there were plenty piling up already, with one from Sugarcoat saying, That’s clearly not real. Ponies can’t hold cameras with their hooves, and do you expect me to be fooled by those quills?

Luna, sitting on the computer beside Cheerilee’s, was furiously writing down something with her ballpen, having broken the previous two by snapping them in half. She wrote ahead of herself, racing her finger back to cross out a needless embellishment or insert a better word in place of an ambiguous one.

“Are you done?” Cheerilee asked, turning to Luna.

And the vice principal threw her ball pen to the desk, bouncing it around. She held the paper up to the light of her screen, and crumpled it.

Cheerilee glanced away from the sight.

“If all else fails,” Luna began, her sanguine frame of mind failing, “then an official statement is necessary.” Then, pointing at Cheerilee’s screen and grabbing her attention with her hand, “However, it is best to let them be confused as to the origin and the true nature of this mysterious picture. Let them speculate and, in the end, befuddle themselves so that the truth will be hidden by their action and not by our inaction.”

Cheerilee did her best to hide her snicker at that. “Wow, Luna. I know you’re quite...antiquated, but I didn’t know you sound like you lived as far as possible from society…”

And giggled.

“...like the moon!”

Luna squinted at her. “Do thou call me old?! I am well under fifty and you know it!”

Cheerilee heard Tiara giggle before the latter returned to history. “Well, your plan is...nice.” Then, her smile disappeared as she shifted her focus to the screen. “A lot of people are on the trail, though. We’ve got Juniper Montage asking about Sunset’s pony appearance.” Furrowing her brows and focusing on another comment: “There’s Gloriosa Daisy pitching in with her two cents about how familiar they look with those pony ears and their tails, and there’s Bon Bon—“

Luna’s eye twitched. “Bon Bon?”

“Oh, and Lyra’s there, too,” said Cheerilee as she directed Luna towards Lyra’s comment.

Her comment read: Yup! To all who are wondering whether this is real or not, this is certainly and definitely real! I’ve been there myself but it was on accident! Princess Twilight and her friends brought me, Bon Bon, and Wallflower back home!

There were dozens of comments underneath: Where are your pictures, then? and, I knew it! Lyra’s the artist! I thought she wasn’t a good painter, though, and, Trying to cop the trend? Lame move.

“This is getting out of hand!” Luna said to herself. “We need a distraction and—“

Cheerilee’s phone beeped and she picked it up. She saw a message from a certain Octavia Melody. Scratch is going to have the week off to help out with Floral Week.

Then, they looked at the computer screen.

Moop!

The photo and its comments moved down a couple notches, giving way to the next thing on Cheerilee’s feed: A status update from Octavia herself saying, DJ Pon-3 is going to work day in-day out for the school’s upcoming Floral Week. There will be a music competition, but stay tuned for further updates on that.

And already, the likes and shares of that status were rising fast, with comments piling up underneath as they mostly showed confusion and bewilderment united by one question: Was Vinyl Scratch leaving her job?

Luna shrugged her shoulders at that, breathing a sigh of relief. “I am glad that we have received a satisfactory distraction—“

Then the doors swung open, showing a tired Sunset shouting, “Do you have a distraction?!”

All three of those present looked at her with odd looks.

Sunset’s eyes were wide open, she was seething with tiredness, and her hair was more frazzled than ever. The poor lady was holding the doors open with her outstretched arms.

Cheerilee stood up, facing her. “Uh, yes. Octavia just posted something about her music friend and now everyone is abuzz on Vinyl’s job.”

Sunset sighed, putting on a sheepish smile as she waved them farewell. “Well, uh, that’s gr-great! I’ll just, um, leave you be and hope it all blows over when we wake up!”

And she walked back into the halls and made her exit, her footsteps fast and light as she ran.

Gallo-away

Saturday morning came and, for Canterlot, it was the true start of the weekend, with last night considered as a warm-up. The hype and buzz from a rambunctious Friday night was gone, now replaced with more definite plans and cooler heads—well, cooler when it came to celebrating two more days of no school, that was.

For one, Sunset heard no more horrendous mockeries that somehow passed for singing from the karaoke bar. In fact, she saw that it was closed with a sign stating, The Perfect Cadence is closed by the Canterlot City Authority due to facilitating civil disorder.

She kept that in mind as she crossed the streets, encountering familiar faces and greeting them before they vanished from her sight. Getting closer to downtown with its tall skyscrapers and its rush of cars, she could then see the tips of Crystal Prep with its shiny and icy-looking towers gleaming under the sun—maybe gleaming too much since she blinded herself with the wrong angle.

Getting past that little setback, she walked towards a large purple mansion with at least three floors. It looked more like a regal castle than a house, what with its columns and its stained glass windows. On the outside, it had all the furnishings one could dream of from a wealthy family—including an antenna of some sort—and there was that familiar six-pointed star, too, prominent on the windows and the front door.

Sunset took a deep breath and went up the stairs to ring the doorbell.

She waited, looking up and inspecting the details of this manor. “What do her parents do in their spare time?” she wondered out loud to herself. “Must be inherited.”

Then, some fast footsteps and the doors swung open to reveal Twilight Sparkle still wearing a baseball uniform and now wearing a matching glove on one hand, her pinstriped shirt and pants true to the sport. “Sunset! You made it!”

Sunset did a double take at Twilight’s unchanging set of clothes, and then burst into laughter.

Twilight then frowned, growing a bit bothered. “What’s your deal?”

Sunset wiped the tears off her face, trying to get a hold of herself as she bent to slap her own knees, almost rolling on to the ground. “Y-You...d-did you sleep with those on? D-Did you make a home run to get down here or what?”

Twilight adjusted her glasses. “Ha-ha, very funny, Sunset. I lost a bet to Rainbow Dash and Applejack; now I’m forced to wear this for twenty-four hours!”

Sunset sighed, finally wearing off her laughter. “Alright, alright...sorry, Twi, but...wow, you lost a bet to them? I thought you knew better!”

Twilight beckoned her to come inside with a gesture and so she did, Sunset stepping into the house with its spacious halls. “Well, Shimmer, maybe I wasn’t thinking straight, but having a chance at seeing them watch a documentary about P versus NP was too good to pass up!”

The kitchen was full of neatly organized shelves and cabinets, each labeled with something that would clarify all newcomers as to the contents inside. This one here at the top had herbs, that one by the sink contained the baking pans, and way out there near the main counter was where the vegetables lay—the ones fresh from the supermarket.

Despite the constant pleas of Twilight and the rest of her friends, Pinkie continued with her cooking lesson in a messy fashion, spilling butter and milk from the bowl with her rapid-fire beater as it whirred.

Pinkie was also wearing goggles and a safety helmet.

“And then,” she went on, “the next thing you do is get the cake from the oven—“ put on mitts and retrieved the hot cake from the oven “—put it down on the counter—“ did just that “—ooh, don’t forget to put your frosting into pastry bags!—“ she poured it all down into three of those, Rarity busy wiping up the thick frosting off the counter while trying not to stain her dress with it “—and I guess you know how the next step goes!”

Everyone else looked at Pinkie with dread as she held up those bags full of frosting, primed to fire.

“That’s right! Time to frost the cake!”

The green tea cake turned out quite nicely. It was not flashy or showy, it did not have multiple layers, and there were no other flavors to vie for attention. It was a simple cake with a dull shade of green and some frosting that was green, too. There was some green tea powder as well, which would add some variety to the cake’s otherwise spongy texture.

Of course, in order to taste it, one must first finish cleaning up the dirty kitchen which was now brimming with frosting on the floor and on the counter along with spilled milk and vegetable oil. That was what everyone busied themselves with as Applejack and Fluttershy took on mop duty, as Rarity and Twilight wiped the counters and the cabinets with rags, as Sunset and Rainbow Dash sprayed the whole room with fragrances to hide the cake’s sweet smell, and as Pinkie jumped from one job to the next to give her friends an extra helping hand.

There was no ill will against Pinkie if their warm laughs were any proof. Talks about exploding frosting went about in a light tone. When all was said and done—with the kitchen becoming squeaky clean—those seven friends hugged each other.

And then Pinkie wiped her forehead clean from sweat. “Boy, am I tired! Time to eat the fruits of my labor!”

“Don’t you mean the cakes of your labor?” Fluttershy added, trying to be funny.

Pinkie smiled and pinched Fluttershy on the cheek. “Aww! You made a joke!” Then, rallying the rest while avoiding Fluttershy’s dagger eyes, “Uh, tell me where are the knives and forks?”

“Got it!” yelled Twilight before she rushed to the cabinet labeled Silverware.

She pulled it open.

She saw the knives and the forks, all arranged in order from biggest to smallest, but there was nothing where the spoons had been.

“Huh?” She looked at her friends with that dumbfounded gaze. “We don’t have any spoons!”

“Duh!” Pinkie rolled her eyes, twirling a finger around. “That’s why I said ‘knives and forks’!”

Twilight nodded, biting her lip as she eyed the problem in the cabinet. “Uh, yeah, but our spoons are missing. All of them.”

Everyone else gathered around the cabinet, seeing the space where the spoons used to be.

“I reckon somethin’ fishy’s going on,” Applejack said, rubbing her chin like a detective would. “Does your brother need spoons today?”

“No…?” Twi scratched her head, focusing on the absent spoons and then the present forks and knives. “From the looks of it, it’s a very unusual disappearance.”

Sunset then ran over to the dryer and saw a few plates and other kitchenware but only two spoons, the ones used by Pinkie during her cake making. She took them out and held them up for her friends to see. “We got these!”

Everyone else looked her way. “Is that all?” Twi asked.

Sunset nodded then shrugged. “Nothing else.”

Pinkie put on her detective cap and blew some bubbles which popped on Rarity’s face, slightly ruining her make-up. “What if the mysterious and deceptive Spoon Stealer is out to get us?!” The wanna-be detective gasped and hid herself behind a counter, then raised her head up to scan the entire room. “She’s very sneaky! Did you know that she won’t stop at anything to get her grubby hands on spoons?”

“Uh, Pinkie?” Sunset spoke up.

“And,” she went on, putting a finger to her mouth to shush everyone else, “do you want to know what she will do when she has all her spoons in her collection? She’ll use all the spoons and use tem to conquer the world! But,” pointing at her geode, “we got the magic to take her down! So, what do you say, girls?! Ready for another adven—“

Applejack pulled Pinkie out of her hiding spot, yanking her detective hat away. “No, we’re not ready for another adventure—and, sorry for statin’ the obvious, but why would anyone steal spoons?”

“It could be Sweetie Belle’s doing!” Rarity suggested, wagging her finger as if to reprimand her sister for doing something without any evidence of it.

And then everyone looked at Rarity.

She looked back at them odd, blowing some of her hair out of the way. “What? If they broke into Sunset’s house and stole her camera, then surely stealing spoons is not out of the question, those deplorable felons!”

“Why would they need spoons?” Rainbow asked. “I know they’ll use whatever for their movie project, but don’t you think spoons are...amateurish?”

Sunset placed a hand on her hip, facing Rarity. “She’s right. After what they pulled last night, I think they’re smart enough to stay away from breaking into people’s houses and taking their stuff.”

“Besides,” Twi spoke up, voice filled with confidence, “we have security cameras in all the main rooms and hallways, and the CMC already took note of them the first time they came over.”

Sunset tapped her chin. “But there was no alarm?”

Everyone looked at everyone else, speaking a word or two but then stopping to see what someone else had to say.

Nothing, really, as they let the cake sit on the counter.

Pinkie then swiped the cake and inhaled its calming scent. She picked up a knife and fork with her other hand and said, “All this investigating is making me hungry! What about we talk about it over snacks?”

The cake tasted like a cup of solid yet soft and creamy green tea. With their “Mm!”’s, everyone at the dining table agreed that the cake was not bad, that it was another one of Pinkie’s successes in baking.

Sunset was almost done with her slice when she spoke up again: “So, Twi, you never heard your alarm go off last night?”

She nodded. “I’m sure Mom and Dad didn’t hear it. So did Shiny before he left, for that matter.”

Pinkie took a sip of water. “Maybe the alarm isn’t working!”

“Calm down!” Rarity said, talking to her with a gentle voice. “No need to get worked up about it; nothing is definitive yet.”

“Uh, why are we stressing over spoons?” Rainbow asked, scratching her head in confusion. “It’s not like they ran away.”

Sunset glanced at Twilight. “Did Spike misplace them?”

“Spike never even entered the kitchen since the last time I checked our silverware,” Twilight replied, now glancing at the cabinet.

“You check your spoons and forks on a regular basis?” Rainbow said to rib on her, about to make a teasing laugh.

Twi groaned. “We need to keep an inventory on everything...though my Mom usually does that for the family.” She put on a nervous smile.

Sunset rested a shoulder on the table, racking her head about the issue. “Uh, would they sell a lot at an auction?”

Twilight made another frown. “Just because I live in a mansion doesn’t mean I eat with diamond-studded spoons.”

Upon hearing that, Rarity smiled as she imagined what diamond-studded spoons would be like as she tasted the sweetness of gold-garnished caramel ice cream in some far-flung five-star luxury restaurant.

And Applejack tugged her back to reality. “We got more important business than fancy spoons, ya’ know.”

Rarity made a little posh giggle. “Why, yes, Applejack, which is why—“

She put on a feathered hat.

“—Detective Rarity is on the case!”

Sunset looked at her watch, then tapped on it for everyone to notice the time. “Uh, why don’t we just save this for later? We’re gonna eat out for both lunch and dinner anyway, Twi’s parents are out on a date in Equestria Land, and Shining Armor’s helping Crystal Prep students with their balloon parade. I’m sure those spoons were just misplaced and they’re hiding in another cabinet.”

Twilight shivered, her teeth clattering. “The longer they remain in hiding, the more likely they’ll get even more lost!”

Rainbow laughed as she crossed her arms and closed her eyes. “Come on, Twi! Those spoons don’t have legs...right, girls?” She opened her eyes to see her friends looking at her strange. “They could grow legs if they have magic!”

Sunset had an irked face as she stood up from her chair, turning her head all the way down so everyone could see her look at her watch. “So, anyone ready to go out or what?”

“Darling,” Rarity said, holding up a fork and putting down her hat, “you’re not even done with your food!”

The day had passed splendidly for those seven girls.

It started off with Applejack and Rainbow Dash continuing their historic rivalry by outscoring each other in all the games at the arcade; needless to say, their wallets were a tad emptier after that fun excursion, which soured everyone else’s mood since they were waiting to play the rest of the morning, too.

After that came lunch at Sweet Snacks Café where Pinkie, now just a regular citizen and not a rollerskating waiter, paid for everything her friends wanted—yes, even cherry burgers with egg.

“Is that a real option or is she joking?” Sunset whispered to Fluttershy’s ear.

“It’s real!” Pinkie shouted before taking a selfie with Sunset and a very terrified Fluttershy.

Once they were done with their meal, they moved on to the mall beside it where Rarity was, par for the course, obsessing herself over everything she deemed fashionable—and flying off the handle against anything beneath her good taste.

“Ugh!” she gabbed as they passed by a blue and bluer dress beset with buttons. The only thing that stood between her and the fashion monstrosity was a window. “Is that a sight for sore eyes?! More like...more like….”

“You know ya’ don’t have to come up with something witty every time ya’ see a bad dress like that,” Applejack said.

“But, the world, Applejack!” Rarity said, crazing over the poor subject of her anger as she shook Applejack’s shoulders in fury. “The world must not see the likes of this in all of its days!”

It took a massive effort to drag Rarity away from the shop. Good thing it was also closed so there were no staff to see their wares berated by a fashionista.

Hours later, they found themselves in an antique shop where Twilight and Applejack geeked out over the retro, the old, and the ancient.

“Lookie’ here!” Applejack said, holding up a small trombone, rotating it and seeing its brass surface shine under the lights. “If ya’ ever need some class in the band, now’s the time!”

The clerk perked up from his counter and declared, “That would be two hundred dollars, ma’am.”

“Are ya’ kiddin’ me?!”

“It is an antique shop, darling,” Rarity said, coming to her side. “A trombone like that should be that expensive because it’s...a rarity.” She winked, brought out a toothy smile.

Applejack groaned. “Really?”

With the day winding down more hours later, they traveled out of the mall and on to Sweet Shoppe where Mr. and Mrs. Cake gave them not just pies and muffins but also some tacos and burritos to balance the sweetness of their desserts.

As Sunset received her burrito-taco pair, she inspected those two foods with their lush vegetables cabbages and tomatoes drizzled with cheese both in sauce and in grated form.

And the brown, luscious meat inside.

Sunset gulped.

Rainbow nudged her on the shoulder. “What’s the hold-up, Sunny?”

Sunset let out a sigh. “Oh, nothing much.”

Twilight looked at her, her mouth filled with savory delight. She gulped it down, wiped her mouth, and said, “You don’t look so good.”

Sunset waved it off with her hand. “It’s alright. Just...thinking about a few things, really.”

“Like what?” Fluttershy asked from her right.

Sunset smiled. “Random stuff. Like…” eyed the married couple handing out food to the customers in line, “since when did the Cakes make tacos?”

“It’s called expandin’,” Applejack answered, holding up a hand. “You know how they al’ernate between meat and sweets in those buffets so they don’t get tuckered out fast? That’s the idea here.”

Sunset nodded. “Oh, OK. That’s good to know.” Then, she pointed at her. “So, you’re saying they’re going to have another Sweet Shoppe?”

“I overheard them talkin’ about settin’ up a franchise over at Neighagra Falls, see if they can cash in on the tourists.”

Sunset smiled as first Twilight and then Pinkie asked Applejack more questions, contenting herself with being left out for the moment as she chewed on her juicy burrito.

And then, it was night.

Specifically, very late at night.

The windows were closed, the door was locked, and almost everyone was asleep in their sleeping bags at Sunset’s house, slumbering in the cold. Rainbow Dash and Applejack slept right before the television, Rainbow’s face covered by a drool-ridden controller. Fluttershy cuddled her sleeping bunny close to her while Pinkie snored long and loud though she was not able to wake anyone up yet. Rarity was the only one sleeping on the couch; she even brought her own custom-made pillow which contained her signature three diamond-mark. Snoozing right in front of the couch was Twilight who had set her glasses in her backpack.

Sunset Shimmer, on the other hand, sat on the chair before her computer, scrolling her phone to see stuff from her other friends and classmates, trying to distract herself.

Blood racing through her veins, she checked the time.

One fifty-nine A.M. Sunday.

She took a look at her geode, that necklace around her neck.

Sunset took out her journal. She flipped the pages through and went to the last page with words.

Nothing had been written after last time.

She closed the journal shut and put it inside her bag again.

Sunset looked upon her sleeping friends by the living room, their bodies and pillows and blankets sprawled all over the floor.

Sighed again. “This is it. Less than five hours to go before the big trip. I hope you girls are ready...especially you, Twi.”

She looked at her computer, the monitor off.

Got the journal again, flipped through the pages as she used her phone’s flashlight to see the words.

One entry caught her attention:

….Except I can’t seem to keep my mind on anything other than our new powers, and the rogue magic that’s loose in this world, and how scary but exhilarating it all is.

Her eyes went wide at that. “Magic ought to work well in Equestria since it’s just full of it; it’s not rogue if it’s at home. Besides, we know how to handle magic responsibly.”

She looked back at the girls sleeping there.

“But...they’re just teenagers. Part-time working teenagers...but still teenagers. Even the air is magic; how will they not be overwhelmed by magic when they’ll get soaked by it for a full day?”

Then, turning her head round: “Sunset, remember that they—no, we have experience with magic before. They took me down, they took the sirens down, they took Midnight Sparkle down, they took Gaea Everfree down...all while handling magic that doesn’t belong here. Going to Equestria can’t be that bad...it’s just a different body, a different culture, a different level of magic, highly different levels of magic—“

Then turned her head round again, fighting herself mentally. “No! They’ll be f-fine. Princess Twilight must have a spell somewhere that’ll help them cope with everything. They know how to obey rules...who am I kidding?” Putting her hands on her head, “They’re high school students! Rules are meant to be broken!” Turning back to the monitor: “They’re more responsible than the average high school student, that’s for sure. Having the weight of the world because you have magic while everyone else doesn’t—not the best feeling in the world, but it teaches them, it changes them….”

She turned back to her sleeping friends.

“But, doesn’t she realize?” she asked herself. “Her curiosity about magic...wh-what if that causes her to crumble? What if...what if that triggers something in her mind...what if it brings Midnight Sparkle back? She’s all curious now...what’s stopping her from getting corrupted and become a reality-destroying monster again?!”

“Huh?”

Sunset almost jumped at that, then saw Pinkie turn her head around. “Uh, Pinkie?”

Pinkie gave her a thumbs up. “Don’t worry! Twi’s still sleeping! She still doesn’t know about the surprise!”

Sunset gave her a thumbs up back. “Thanks, Pinkie.”

And then Pinkie went back to a snoring sleep.

Sunset then swiveled around on her chair in an attempt to dizzy herself into sleep.

Under a blue sky awaiting sunrise, Sunset parked Applejack’s pick-up truck inside the school’s parking lot. After everyone else got off, Applejack and Rarity carried a sleeping Twilight off the truck and laid her down by the statue’s base.

All the while, Luna watched them from beside the statue, offering to help carry Twilight but then retracting when she saw that they had no trouble with her. Tapping her foot in some imaginary rhythm, “Promise me that you will be safe and not bring any magical threat to this world.”

Sunset nodded. “Don’t you worry, Luna. We’ll be back tomorrow before you know it!”

“Hmm.” Luna narrowed her eyes at everyone there. “I shall know for I will pass by the statue from time to time during my evening walks.”

Then, Sunset gave Luna the keys to the truck. “Is it OK if you drive it back? You know, to ward off any any nosy people?”

Luna smiled. “It is not much of a hassle,” then dropped the smile, “though next time, you are to realize that I am far superior than a mere butler.”

“So, we should treat you like a...Princess?” and Sunset smiled at that.

Luna groaned. “You win this time.”

After truly winning that time, Sunset then looked back at everyone else, silent as they did their best to make not a single sound to disturb the only one sleeping. “Princess Twilight is on the other side. On the count to three, we bring her through.”

“Ya’ sure this is safe?” Applejack asked, raising a brow over Twi’s head she was carrying.

“Of course, it is! The portal’s gone through worse, I’m sure.”

Applejack and Rarity gave each other a look and then positioned themselves before the statue’s base, the farmgirl standing by the base with Twi’s head and Rarity standing a bit farther away with Twi’s feet.

Everyone watched Sunset scribble a few words on her journal.

Then, she held her hand up, eyes on the space beneath her words. “Wait for it….”

Seconds passed by. Birds chirped as they flew overhead.

Words glowed on to her pages.

“Three!”

And the two slowly pushed snoring Twilight through the statue as she disappeared into the portal.

Off the Pace

“Ugh….”

Twilight stroked her head, feeling a headache coming on.

“Wh-What happened?” she moaned, then closed her eyes at how bright it was. “Is it n-noon alrea—wait a minute...is that…?”

She sniffed.

“Coffee?”

A worn-out groan.

“Sunset!” she shouted, fumbling around for her glasses. “This is torture! Just when I had my mind off of my number one favorite drink in the whole world, you had to bring it all over with well-roasted—woah!”

Fell off the bed with a thump.

Then, steps from outside and the door swung open. “Twilight! Oh, I’m sorry! I...I should’ve—“

“No, no!” Twilight said from the floor, waving a leg about. “I’m fine, Sunset! Y-You’re fine, but...” fumbling around again, “have you seen where my glasses are? I can’t seem to find them!”

Then, without seeing Sunset’s figure put out her arms to her face, Twilight felt the glasses fit right in front her eyes.

She blinked and saw Sunset standing before her.

As a yellow unicorn. “Uh, good morning!”

Twilight waved a hoof at her. “Oh! Good morning, Sunset!”

And then, Twilight’s smile broke.

“Sunset?!” Twilight screamed, scrambling to get on her two feet except she had four hooves so she fell to the ground again. She looked up at her, blinking but still seeing that pony in front of her.

Sunset offered a helping hoof. “Yup! It’s me!”

“It’s you!” Twilight said, pointing a hoof at her, and then she looked at that pointed purple hoof. “Agh! Why am I a pony again?!”

Sunset smirked. “I did tell you no caffeine until you go to Equestria.”

Twilight looked down on the carpeted floor as she got up with Sunset’s help. “But, it’s not even next week! But, then...if that’s the case...” and then it dawned on her. A smile grew on her face. In a quiet voice that was barely able to contain her excitement: “Tell me where I am now!”

Sunset chuckled. “Princess Twilight’s castle, Ponyville, Equestria.”

Twilight scrunched up her cheek with a squeezing hoof. “Eee!”

And Sunset hugged her, her two forehooves embracing her while standing on her hindhooves.

Twilight looked surprised under the pressure. “Uh, I-I didn’t know you ponies could hug like...that….”

“Just don’t fall, OK?” Sunset said, still hugging.

“Heh-heh...eee!”

And Twilight returned the hug with her two forehooves.

The two ponies then went back to their four legs.

Twilight then whirled her head as she inspected the room, turning around in place as she opened and closed her mouth like a goldfish in awe. She saw the details of the guest bedroom which looked ripped out of a fairy tale: huge bed, various portraits, warm fireplace, and crystal walls everywhere.

Twilight then stomped the floor in her glee, using all four hooves to do so. “Eee! This is amazing! We get to stay in a royal castle, see how the weather’s done here, study how magic works up close and personal, and see how the sun and moon act out!”

Sunset gave her a glare. “I wouldn’t call that acting out if the princesses were here.”

Twi then zipped her mouth. “A-heh-heh! Heh...I apologize for...this,” pointing at herself with a hoof, “but we’re right here! Right where everything started, where all the magic comes from!” Then, pointing at Sunset, “I know you felt weirded out and curious about our world when you came over. Now, it’s my turn to go through the same thing and experience it with you!”

Sunset made another smirk. “Don’t you mean, ‘our turn’?”

Twi flinched. “You mean the both of us?”

Sunset nodded. “Maybe? But, it’s not just the two of us who crossed the portal….”

Twi then tapped her chin with her hoof. She gasped. “Everyone’s here!”

Sunset gave her a smile.

“Eee!” She jumped in place, then almost stumbled as she landed on her four hooves. “We get to meet our other selves together! Applejack’s going to find it strange because she rides horses a lot and now she’s a horse! Rarity’s going to talk about fashion with a creature that normally doesn’t wear clothes, and I—“

Her joy disappeared as her eyes dilated.

“—will meet...myself….”

Sunset arched a brow. “What’s wrong?”

Twi sat down, all four hooves on the floor. She looked at her sitting stance, looked at Sunset who also sat down that way, and pleased herself that she was sitting correctly. Then, after a sigh: “I don’t know, Sunset. It’s like...I’m meeting a better version of myself. A better me.”

Sunset rolled her eyes. “Come on, Twi. She’s older than you, so she has a head start. You might finish college in half the time with your know—“

“That’s the thing,” Twi said as if the wind was knocked out of her. “I feel like a copy of someone else.”

Sunset gave her a sympathizing look, pursing her lips.

“I...I don’t know if you can really relate,” Twi went on, her voice starting to crack, “because...you know, you haven’t met your other self yet...but look at me and then look at my princess self.” Another sigh, eyes half-open in sadness past those glasses: “I talked this out with Starlight while she was there and she told me that I’m already different from her. We have our own d-destinies, we have our own situations, and we can make our own decisions...that I have the rest of my life to control and m-make my own.”

Sunset smiled. “Aww! I’ve heard from Twilight that Starlight’s improving her friendship skills everyday—just like Twilight herself, too—but I wasn’t expecting her to handle grievances like that!”

Twi made a weak smile as a tear streamed down her hairy cheek. “Yeah...but, what if my destiny is her destiny? Starlight pointed out how Princess Twilight’s years older than me!”

“Pfft! So?”

Twi wiped another tear away from her eyes. “I’m pretty sure my parents named me out of their free will...and their parents before them. It’s not like some magical creature came over and forced them to call me Twilight Sparkle!”

Sunset wanted to say something contrary, but decided against it.

“But, then...going to a prestigious school growing up, then having a friendless background, and then moving to another place to meet my best friends and learn what friendship really is...that’s too many coincidences to chalk up to chance!” She flailed her forehooves about like she was a sinking pony.

Sunset leaned her back, seeing Twilight cough and choke, about to burst.

“What if the princess makes a mistake?” Twi asked, her voice deeper due to a lumped throat. “Am I doomed to copy that, too? What if I change my wants...but, maybe that’s because she changed her wants first? I don’t think I’ll be a princess back home, but that’s not stopping me from suddenly getting promoted as...what, mayor of Canterlot?” She sighed. “I’m not even pursuing government studies!”

Sunset then blinked, and smiled. “There you go!” She scooted closer to her and gave her a pat. “Our Twilight had to go through government studies...well, the Equestrian equivalent of it, at least...and, without the studying part….”

Then, Twi sniffed, rubbing her nose and pulling the locks of her mane—or tried to but failed to with her lack of fingers. “But...what if I change my dream job to run for mayor or even president because my other self is now a princess? I-I want to be a leading researcher, work for a scientific institution, but if Princess Twilight’s not going that w-way….”

Sunset opened her mouth to say something.

Instead, she hugged Twilight as she finally burst into tears. The mare cried on her shoulder and embraced her with her forehooves.

“It’s gonna be OK, Twi,” Sunset reassured, hearing the sobs too well. She hoofed out a box of tissues. “It’s gonna be OK. Remember everything else Starlight told you...’cause I’m sure she told you other stuff, too, right?”

Twi got some of the tissue. She wiped her face and blew her nose. Sunset stuck out her tongue as she levitated the wet tissue out into the trashcan at the corner. Then, looking at her pony friend, she managed, “Yeah...gotta thank her...and you….”

Sunset patted her on the back, then pulled her back up on her four hooves. Now, they both stood. “Moral of the story? You can still live out a life different from hers. Similar, but still different.”

Twi rubbed her head, the smile returning to her tear-drenched face. “I’ll...I may have to get used to that.”

Sunset smiled. “You’re not the only one. Since almost everybody back in your world has an Equestrian self here, it’s safe to assume that they’re also experiencing the same situation you have. They’re just not aware of it.”

Twilight chuckled. Then, she spotted the cup of coffee standing on a desk beside the door. She watched it glow red as Sunset floated it right before Twi’s mouth.

“One advantage of magic?” Sunset asked. “You don’t have to wait for the cup to cool.”

Then, they walked out of the room and into the hallway, laughing with the floating cup of coffee.

Twilight carried her saddle bag with her as Sunset walked about, seeing and admiring the crystal corridors and their timber, glass doors.

“So, where did you keep your journal, Sunset?” Twi asked, still having the coffee cup float beside her.

“With Vice Principal Luna,” she replied, her horn still glowing red with active magic. “She has it in her office during school hours, and she brings it back home when she’s off. That way, if there’s any magical emergency, she can contact Princess Twilight and we’ll be notified.”

Twi nodded. “That’s great!” Then, looking back to her front: “Where’s everyone else again?”

“Oh, Twilight, Fluttershy, and Starlight’s teaching them how to move around and use their pony abilities in the library” Sunset made a sinister smirk. “It’s going to feel so good being the ones to help you out in our world.”

“Not in a bad way, right?” Twi said.

Sunset glanced away from her. “We’ll see about that!”

A minute or so after walking through more corridors, Twi noticed the horn on her head. “So, do I get a free pass on magic lessons since I can already do telekinesis?”

Sunset shifted the cup closer to her horn. “Getting help from your geode is one thing. Using something that’s actually a part of your body is another.”

Twi rolled her eyes. “So, we’ll have to wait and see—“

And her bag opened, revealing a small dragon breathing in the fresh air. “Huh?! Where am I? Where’s Twilight? Where’s the girls?”

Sunset looked at Spike poking out of the bag. “Should’ve known! He’s no longer a dog here!”

Twi gasped as she stopped and spun her head back. “Really?!”

Sunset floated Spike out of the bag and plopped him down on the ground, seeing him stand on four legs...and then Spike saw that his forelegs were arms and claws.

“Agh!” he shouted, yanking himself up to a standing position. “I’ve got...fingers?” He wiggled them about. Then, he looked at Twilight behind him; she gave him a tender smile. “Twi...light?”

Twi laughed, lowering her head to be at Spike’s level “None other than me, Spike!”

Spike whirled his head around to see Sunset. “What’s going on?”

“Visiting Equestria, “Sunset replied, seeing Spike’s surprised reaction on his face. “That’s all there is to it.”

Spike then rattled his head, taking it all in. “Uh...what?”

Twilight then snuggled Spike with her nuzzle. “At least you came over with us, Spike!”

Sunset then smiled at the scene before her: a pony Twilight adoring her dragon Spike. Then, flicking her head twice, “Come on! They don’t wanna leave you out for breakfast.”

Sunset used her magic to open the library’s double doors, glowing them red while doing so.

And was treated to wonderful chaos. Starlight, Fluttershy, and Princess Twilight had their hands—no, their hooves tied up with teaching their counterparts the way of being a pony.

“OK, Applejack,” the princess said to the farmpony who just fell down to the floor for the umpteenth time. “Let’s go through that again.” She raised her right forehoof. “You start with this, and then you go with your left hindhoof,” and she raised that part of her body. “You go with your left forehoof after that, and then end it with your right backhoof. Rinse and repeat!”

Applejack grumbled as she stood up, dusting her forelegs and then her cheeks which had her freckles right under her eyes. “I appreciate yer’ help an’ all, but I apologize for just not gettin’ it the first time...or the second time...or the third time….”

The princess made a smile and a chuckle. “It’s alright! Learning how to walk isn’t easy, though I was expecting you to have some know-how beforehoof.” She then pointed at her country hat.

Applejack glared at royalty. “Ya’ know I’m better at handlin’ a horse than bein’ a horse.”

The princess covered her face and, therefore, covered her sly laugh.

For Fluttershy, there was not much to work with. The Rainbow Dash from the other world was already zipping around with her wings, encouraging her Fluttershy to spread hers and fly around.

This other Fluttershy gulped and faced pony Fluttershy, straightening out her butterfly hair clip with her hooves. “Um…I-I’m still a-afraid that I m-might fall. What if I injure my wings?”

“Oh, don’t you worry!” assured pony Fluttershy, patting her other self on the back and then on her wings. “When I was your age...oh wait.” She pawed the ground, nervous at her other self who was gawking at her, both mentally considering their age differences.

Finally, there was Starlight who was dealing pretty poorly with a crazy Rarity trying to hold in her screams at being “a dirty, germ-filled equine! I can’t believe it took me more than a year to remember that horses move around with no shoes—and, no, horseshoes don’t count! I’m a unicorn now, yes, but what do other ponies do when they want to hold up their sheets of paper or their plates or their utensils?! With their mouths, you say?!”

“I didn’t say anything,” Starlight mumbled with an aside glance.

“No offense to you,” Rarity went on, twirling her hoof around and swinging her mane with her diamond-shaped hair clip unharmed, “but, pony custom or not, I shall not stoop down to such savage habits!” She planted her white and clean hoof on the floor.

Starlight sighed. “I don’t know about how your saliva works in your world, but here, our saliva’s actually pretty clean and dries up pretty fast. I mean, even I pull my furniture with my mouth from time to time—“

Rarity crossed her forehooves in disgust, almost fainting. “How dare you taint the work of interior designers!”

“You do realize that our interior designers are also ponies, right?” Starlight said. Then, pointing to her horn, “Now that I’ve hopefully pulled you away from being clean all the time, let’s get to the magic part.”

Rarity took a breath in, took a breath out. “Ready when you are, Miss Glimmer!”

Starlight smiled, then noticed Sunset and Twi just entering the library after a minute of them observing. She waved at them. “Oh, hey there!”

The unicorn duo waved back, Twi nervously so with a sheepish grin. “Uh, h-hi? A-And...I didn’t know…” as she looked at all her friends now ponies.

Who all looked back at her.

“Twilight!” they all shouted in unison as they ran—or, for Applejack’s case, stumbled—their way to her and gave her a group hug.

The princess shed a tear as she watched the hug unfold, noticing that Pinkie Pie came out of nowhere. “Aww!”

Starlight’s smile then disappeared. She poked Twilight on the cheek.“Uh, you’ve thought of a naming system for them, right?”

The princess nodded as she walked to the dispersing yet still tight group of friends. “Alright, everypony!” With all eyes on her: “Since you’ll be going out to Ponyville and possibly Canterlot later this—“

“There’s a Canterlot here, too?!” Rarity yelled, face distorted to exaggerated degrees.

“Duh!” Rainbow gave her a look. “It’s like you’re not even listening.”

“Well,” she began, “some of us are not in the right state of mind after being turned into a fantastical creature that I’ve always thought of as fictional until recently!” With a “Hmph!”, she turned away from her rainbow-maned friend.

Pinkie widened her eyes. “Wow! She’s even wordier than I am!”

The princess chuckled. “Yeah, we’re going to Canterlot barring any world-ending catastrophes which I’m assuming you’re getting used to by now.”

Applejack rolled her eyes. “Say no more, yer’ Highness.”

Sunset and Starlight gave a knowing look. “Looks like Applejack’s learning the ropes already,” Sunset remarked, garnering a snicker from Starlight.

“To make sure there’s no confusion and to not give our brains a beating,” the princess continued, eliciting a few laughs from her inter-dimensional buddies, “we’re going to give each of you nicknames!”

“Ooh! Ooh!” Pinkie Pie jumped up, raising her hoof in the air while not throwing off her own heart-shaped hair clip. “I’d like to be called...Cotton Candy!”

Everyone gave her stunned looks.

“Cotton...Candy?” Twi let out, almost dropping her glasses.

“Eh, let’s roll with that,” the princess said in a matter-of-fact way. “Cotton Candy it is!”

And so Pinkie Pie, temporarily Cotton Candy, jumped for joy. “It makes sense, doesn’t it? Like this!” She pulled out a coin from her mane. “Even I know my hair looks like cotton candy, and nobody’s called me Cotton Candy before, so here we go for Cotton Candy!” and dragged a cone of cotton candy out of her mane as well and took a bite of it.

The princess smiled then turned to Rarity, leaving Cotton Candy to her devices, or, more appropriately, her candy. “As for you...actually, you get off easy because Rarity is willing to defer to you and call herself Rare.”

Rarity placed a hoof to her chest. “Wh-What? That was unexpected!”

“She did say you were staying for a day, and she’ll still use her real name when it comes to her business, so it’s not that big of a deal. Plus, she is the Element of Generosity.”

Rarity gasped, raising a hoof to her chin, her eyes glistening.

The princess then faced Rainbow Dash and Applejack. “As for you two—“

“No way!” Rainbow said, raising her hoof and hovering to the air. “I know you’re the princess of a whole kingdom and you look and sound exactly like my friend, but, chances are, you’re going to give me a lame name.”

Twilight balked, then drooped her ears. “Fine. What do you have in mind?”

Rainbow pumped her chest, still flying. “Call me ‘Dash’! One syllable, just like the action heroes!”

“Isn’t ‘Daring Do’ three syllables?” Applejack asked.

“She’s the exception!” Dash said, landing on the ground and facing the farmpony down. She flipped her thick and cowlicked mane. “That’s because she’s exceptionally, excellently, exquisitely exceptional!”

Applejack snorted, shook her head, then turned to Twilight. “Eh, I’ll take Dash’s lead and call myself ‘AJ’, ‘cause other action heroes have initials for their superhero names.”

Then the other Fluttershy raised her hoof. “Is it OK if I can keep my name?”

The princess blinked. “Uh, sure, but what happens when we have to refer to one of you?”

“Oh.” Turning to pony Fluttershy: “Is it alright with you if you get the nickname?”

She made a wide smile, nodding as she trotted to her other self’s side and gave her a one-hoof hug. “I’ll take up ‘Flutters’. You’re visiting a foreign world, so you should feel right at home with your name.”

“We already use ‘Flutters’ for her,” Rarity pointed out.

“Just let me be hospitable for once!” Flutters growled.

Rarity then took a few steps back, terrified. “O...K?”

The princess then turned to Twi who followed her with her eyes behind those glasses. “And you...what do you think?”

Twi brightened up. “I know it’s sort of wrong and stereotypical for me to say this, but since you specialize in magic and I specialize in science...we should call each other Magic-Twi and Sci-Twi!”

The princess made an awkward grin. “’Sci-Twi’ is good for you, but...I’m not so sure about calling myself ‘Magic-Twi’.”

“Really?” Dash asked, gesturing at her. “Your full name is the longest out of all of us!”

Starlight raised her hoof. “She has fifteen letters. I got sixteen.”

“You don’t have another self to get confused with!” Cotton Candy shouted.

Starlight then rubbed her head, wiping the spit from her face and her mane. “Yeah, you’re right on that one.”

Twilight’s ears then wilted as she paced the floor. Then, they perked up. “What about I call myself just ‘Sparkle’?”

“So...Sci-Twi...Sparkle?” Fluttershy spoke up, warming up to those new names.

“Hey, that doesn’t sound so bad!” Sci-Twi said, adjusting her glasses up the bridge of her muzzle with her hoof.

Sunset smiled, having endured the naming process. “OK, we got everyone settled down?”

And all nodded their heads at her, with Cotton Candy yelling, “Settled down, we are!”

Sunset breathed a sigh of relief. “Gonna take a while for me to get the hang of it, but I will.”

Starlight raised her hoof and trotted over to Rarity. “Look, you’re staying for just a little over a day, so why not continue our brief magic lesson?”

“Sure!” Rarity said, grinning. “If only so I will not be infected by some disease from biting all those doorknobs!”

Starlight slouched her shoulders. “Why do you keep forgetting that our saliva’s clean?!”

And everyone else scattered around. Fluttershy went to Flutters as Dash sat by her and cheered the new pegasus on, Sparkle and AJ got back to walking lessons as the princess took her hat off, and Sci-Twi and Candy rested at a table as the latter picked up the cup of coffee and gulped down half of it.

Leaving Sci-Twi at a loss for words and an abundance of questions as her eyes twitched. Then: “H-How d-did you hold that with just hooves?!”

Pinkie smiled. “Easy-peasy lemon-squeezy! All you gotta do is place your hoof on the cup—“ she put it on the cup “—and lift it!” which she did so.

Sci-Twi looked unpleased. “It can’t be that simple.”

“It is that simple!” Pinkie said. “How come I was able to do it first try?” and winked as if telling her to give it a shot.

After an anxious gulp and a shudder of her lips, she wrapped her hoof around the cup. She lifted her hoof up.

Dropped the cup as it wobbled about, spilling a few drops of coffee.

As for Rarity and Starlight….

“Since you’ve already used magic before,” the latter went on, walking about, “I’m assuming you know the fundamentals.”

Rarity, smiling, shook her head vigorously. “Nope!”

Starlight dropped her jaw. “You’re telling me you’ve been using magic all this time and you don’t even know what it is?!”

Rarity scratched her mane. “Well, I do know the gist of it! It is this...ah, this force or energy...that you can use to do stuff…look, it works, adds to our lives, defeats freaky villains, and speeds up dress-making! It’s very practical!”

Starlight smacked herself on the head. “Nice try. I’m not saying you’re wrong, but—“

“It’s an inadequate description, I know,” Rarity interrupted. “But then again, do you expect our fantasy writers to know anything about real magic when they’ve never even met a magical creature from a magical land?”

Starlight sighed. “Ignoring that so we can get straight to the lesson—magic is a kind of force and energy; it’s inherent and ingrained in all creatures, not just ponies—every living thing has magic in some shape or form, not just levitating stuff and magical beams….”

Finally, Fluttershy, at Flutters’s instruction, spread her wings. Fluttershy looked at them, a bit scared at these new appendages with their feathers and all, but then she slowly flapped them. A steady rate at first, and then she began to feel less weight.

Ten more flaps and Fluttershy was floating several inches off the floor.

“That’s it!” Dash said, zipping around her hovering figure. “You’re a certified flier now!”

Fluttershy smiled, then blushed. “I already had wings before this, but...now, it feels much more natural.”

“Oh, just helping anypony in need!” Flutters said, closing her eyes and giving out a light and cute laugh.

Sunset smiled as she walked over to Sci-Twi to start up some chitchat, the zing of that coffee scent waking her up a little. “I sure hope nothing goes wrong while we’re away….”

Don't Bring Home the Bacon

Back in Canterlot City, it was a nice Sunday morning as people filled up Sweet Snacks Café. With Pinkie Pie absent, Sunny Sugarsocks and Free Sucrose took up her workload, skating around faster and carrying more orders in the breakfast rush. The sizzles continued in the kitchen, the doo-wop music played on from the jukebox, the smell of garlic and onion pervaded the area, and there were no service problems at all; the worst that came out of it were questions about Pinkie’s whereabouts.

Sugarsocks groaned at Lyra asking the question, the spiky-haired teenager tapping the table in waiting. “She said she’s out for a field trip with her friends. Don’t know where, but Everfree’s my best guess.”

“Yeah, but why do they have to keep it a secret?” Lyra said, raising a brow in suspicion. Then, smiling, “Unless they’re gonna surprise us when they come back and post all their Manehattan pictures tonight! I’d be mad if they actually did go to the city that stays awake all night!”

The waiter clucked her tongue in a whimsical way, gesturing about with her pink arms. “You wish!” and then she rolled away, having already served Lyra her order of bacon, eggs, and lettuce—actually, a mountain of bacon beside one sunny-side up egg and some lettuce leaves.

Seated behind her were Wallflower Blush and Juniper Montage, the gardener and the movie buff holding several cards as they waited for their order. Juniper placed a few cards on the right as she fixed her film reel-hair clips on one of her blue locks.

“If you want to play in The Canterlot Society of Poker,” she started, “you’ll have to start with the most basic of all poker games: the five-card draw.”

Wallflower nodded, holding up her one and only poker chip.

“The first thing you must learn when you play poker?” Juniper shook her head, letting her slim glasses bring out her serious expression. “It’s not really a game of chance.”

Wallflower hesitated as she looked on her five face-down cards. “Aren’t they random?”

Juniper crossed her arms and nodded. “Yes, they are. What’s not random is what you do with your cards—and what your opponents do with their cards isn’t random, either.” She pointed at her own deck of five cards. “How likely is your hand more valuable than mine, for example? You can’t read my mind, but you can narrow it down to a few choices.”

“Sunset can read minds,” Wallflower said.

“That’s why she’s never allowed in our club.”

Wallflower blinked. “Oh.”

Juniper glanced out the window. “It’s not easy to enter, anyway. Entry is invitation-only, which is why I’m training you to be worthy enough to get invited.”

Wallflower scratched her head.. “Then, what’s the difference? You said you’re not playing with real money, so I might as well make my own poker club and do my own thing.”

Juniper chuckled, gave a brief glimpse at the counter to see if the cooks were done with their order. “It’s an exclusive kind of hang-out. We’re not throwing random cards around. Our sessions are intense.” She leaned closer, lowering her voice but sounding sharper. “We may not be the best of friends, but all the guessing and counter-guessing and the counter-counter-guessing—bluff upon bluff, trying to throw each other off by deviating from our ‘usual’ strategies we’ve spent days to try to pin down…it’s not for the faint of heart, Wallflower. You can’t just barge in and say you’re ready.”

Then, Lyra waved her hand at Bon Bon who just entered the diner. “Finally! You’re here! I’ve been waiting for you so I can eat!”

Wallflower then turned back to Juniper. The freckled lady picked up one of her cards on the table, held its back to Juniper’s eyes and glasses. “So...can you get to the steps?”

Juniper smiled. “Sure, sure! Let’s get that out of the way before we move on to the complicated stuff!” She put her chip down on the table, making the pot worth two dollars. “Here, each player has five cards.” She pointed at the extra set of cards on her right. “It’s weird to do it with only two people, so I set this one up as a dummy.”

Wallflower nodded, following her so far.

“The first official thing that happens in a game of five-card draw is—“

“Blech!”

The two girls stood up, looking at Lyra rubbing her stomach, a piece of spit out bacon on her plate. More than a few had stood up to see the poor girl coughing out bits and crumbs of meat from her mouth. Bon Bon was asking her if she was OK as Sugarsocks rolled back to Lyra. “What’s wrong?”

Lyra pointed at the waiter, cheeks greener than could be. “I knew it was better when Pinkie’s around! Your veggies are way better, but your bacon tastes...horrible!”

“Huh?” Sunnysocks shifted her eyes left and right, looked back at the other waiter who replied with a shoulder shrug. “We’ve done the same thing to our bacon since we opened! A-And we never added anything to our lettuce other than salt!”

“You must’ve gotten the wrong pork for your bacon!” Lyra managed. “I feel like I have to wash my tongue with detergent thanks to you!”

Sugarsocks looked at the counter, saw both of the chefs looking back at her worried. The fry cook shrugged his shoulders, too, as he held a spatula and a deep fryer with both hands.

Bon Bon took her hamburger and Lyra, dragged them out of the table and sped past the waiters against their pleas to understand and stay. She swung the door open while biting some of her burger, then slammed it shut.

Wallflower and Juniper looked back at each other.

“That doesn’t look good,” Juniper began.

Wallflower smiled though that was hampered by her quivering lips. “Good thing we both ordered burgers, right?”

Only for them to hear awkward noises. They looked outside and saw Bon Bon shielding her face from sight as she vomited into a trash can.

As Sucrose rolled in and served the two poker-playing customers their burgers, fries, and soda. “Here’s your order!”

Wallflower and Juniper gave each other cringed looks. They both shook their heads at the waiter as they pushed their burgers away, keeping their fries and soda.

Sucrose sighed as she put them back on the tray, picking up the gloves from her apron pocket. “As much as we’re told to cater to our customers, this is getting ridiculous. Principal Celestia texted us about the indigestion spell going on in the city; must have something to do with the cold these days.” Then, she rolled back to the counter, getting into deep talks with her co-workers before they rushed back to wait on other tables.

The rest of the customers there had hushed whispers; some stood up and left, leaving their food unfinished. The waiters then returned to put the plates and the glasses back into the kitchen.

Juniper picked up a fry and looked at it, that simple little potato wedge. “I’ve heard of cross-contamination and stuff like that, but I don’t think they’d be so bad to ruin this.”

Wallflower nodded as she put a fry into her mouth.

And then her eyes widened as she let out a long “Mmm!”

“Uh, Wallflower?”

She gulped it down, saw Juniper’s reaction, and blushed. “Sorry, but...it’s so good!”

“Good how?”

“It’s..it’s just good!” Wallflower smiled, her teeth blemished by chewed bits of potato. “It’s crispy, it’s tender, it’s so delicious—it’s more than just salt, but it doesn’t look like there’s more to it than salt!” She handed a fry over to her. “Try it!”

Juniper then shook her head. “Uh, no thanks. I have my own.” And she picked one up and took a bite off it.

She smiled, closing her eyes in the bliss of a wonderful trip down flavor lane.

“Hey!”

And the both of them snapped out of it, perceiving Trixie who was standing by the table. The magician picked up one of the cards from the table. She studied it intently, turning it around, then tipped her hat to both of the ladies there.

Trixie put on a flashy smile, her teeth twinkling under the diner’s lights and the sun’s rays. “I’ll show you a magic trick so unbelievable, you won’t trust your eyes again!” And she spread confetti over the table.

Spoiling the fries and the soda in the celebration.

Juniper groaned, picking up her now useless bag of fries. “Alright, Trixie. Make it quick.”

Trixie wagged her finger, then made a “gimmie” gesture with her palm. “Place your phone on the table.”

Juniper flinched. Then, she took out her phone and put it screen-down on the table.

“OK!” Trixie tapped the back of the phone with the light touch of a finger. “There! Now, you may use it again. Go through your apps, your gallery—you’ll see that Trixie has changed nothing.”

Juniper did so and opened her phone, seeing the same apps, the same pictures—there were some new messages, but they were from familiar people including one from Canter Zoom saying, Can you buy some medicine when you go home? These reports are having me worried.

Wallflower then looked at Trixie who was gathering up all the cards and shuffling them. Then, she spread them face-down on the table, tapped on Juniper busy reading her messages, and said, “Pick your card!”

Juniper rolled her eyes and picked up one card, other hand on the phone as she replied on her messaging app.

“Show it to Wallflower!”

Juniper rolled her eyes again and showed the card to her, not even looking at the card or her.

A ten of spades.

Trixie then took a few steps and was now beside Wallflower. “Get your phone and open up the first photo in your pictures app.”

“What?!” Wallflower yelped. “What does that have to do with your card trick?”

“Trust me!” Trixie said, smirking still.

It was Wallflower’s turn to roll her eyes as she put out her phone, opened her pictures app, and tapped on the first picture there.

Which was a picture of a card.

A ten of spades, to be exact.

“Wh-What?!” Wallflower screamed, recoiling and then covering her mouth as others looked her way. She almost dropped her phone into her glass of confetti-contaminated soda.

Trixie nodded. She yanked the phone out of her grasp and showed the picture to Juniper. “Is this your card?!”

Juniper looked up from her own phone. She gasped. “H-How?! Wallflower never took a photo—I didn’t hear the snap!”

Trixie chuckled and tipped her wizard’s hat. “A magician never reveals her secrets!” She returned the phone to Wallflower and bowed before them as she walked out of the diner.

Wallflower and Juniper looked at each other with bewildered expressions.

“What just happened?” Wallflower asked in a quiet and shaky voice.

Juniper saw her ruined meal again and got out of her seat. “We’re eating someplace else. I got a bunch of peanut butter praline crunch bars back home.”

Wallflower sighed as she stood up, too. “I’ll be on grocery duty again?”

Juniper rolled her eyes, walking beside her towards the exit. “Let me take care of the cooking. We already have a strange enough morning as it is.”

As they left the diner with its doo-wop music still playing, the waiters at the counter inspected the food before them, namely Lyra’s bacon, eggs, and lettuce.

“According to Haystem, this is from the same pig as Friday,” Sucrose said, putting down her phone from her ear, “and we made sure there were no rats or anything like that, so it can’t be due to lousy pest control—Hey! What’re you doing?”

Sugarsocks was holding up a piece of bacon. “What? I don’t have the cold. I’m not sick at all.”

“Lyra breathed on those things!” she yelled. “You’re gonna get sick after that!”

“What’s the worst that could happen?” Sugarsocks said, dangling a piece of bacon above her open mouth—

Got it yanked from her by Sucrose’s orange hand. She chomped on the bacon. “There! I’m not gonna let you suffer—“

And spat it out on a nearby garbage bin, as she wiped the bad taste off of her tongue.

“What?!” She coughed. “But, I-I saw th-them and—“

Sugarsocks rolled her eyes as she poured the batch of bacon down the same bin. “OK, I believe you now.”

Sucrose was about to punch her for what just happened, but she refrained. As she recovered, the fresh smell of lettuce brought her back to clearer senses and she resumed her waiting duties.

Not Just Desserts

Meanwhile, in Equestria….

“We’re watching it right here! I can’t believe we’re watching it right here!”

“But, how is it different from the sunrises back home again?”

“Shh! Shh! It’s starting!”

And everypony (and dragon) sat down silent on a field of grass right beside Ponyville proper. Feeling the cool air breeze by and smelling the crisp fragrance of green, they raised their heads high, looking at the pink sky above about to break into morning.

Then, the sun. In all its blazing radiance.

It steadily rose from behind the mountains, its rays piercing the town in their ethereal streams of gold, showering the entire village and much more under its soft warmth. They saw the celestial body inch upwards, the sky’s color shifting from its sweet pink to a bright blue that screamed, “Wake up! It’s morning!”

And if that did not do it, the roosters in Sweet Apple Acres would surely remind the rest of town that it was morning with their cock-a-doodle-do!’s.

The new ponies opened their mouths at the sight, some gasping at what they were witnessing. The new dragon did so, too.

“W-Wow!” blathered Sci-Twi, adjusting her glasses as she looked straight at the sun without having her eyes burned. “That’s...supposed to be impossible!”

“When you have a thousand-year-old Celestia who can control the sun,” Sparkle said, sitting beside her, “it’s normal.” Then, turning to Sci-Twi: “I was taken aback when I first realized your sunrises and sunsets were—“

“Ahem,” as Sunset cleared her throat, smirking at her name.

Sparkle chuckled, keeping her focus on Sci-Twi. “Well, your days are...gradual, to say the least.”

AJ frowned, worried. “What happens if Celestia wakes up late or somethin’?”

The princess laughed and threw her hoof about, causing almost everyone else to look at her odd. “Princess Celestia never wakes up late! Otherwise, we’d have a crisis in our hooves!”

Cotton Candy bounced up and down on the grass. “Ooh! Can we do it again?!”

“We’re not having Celestia raise the sun twice,” Starlight answered.

Then, Fluttershy and Dash looked up again and saw several pegasi flying around. They saw one in particular leaving behind a rainbow-colored trail as she kicked the clouds into oblivion, making way for open clear skies.

Dash pointed at her. “I-Is that...me?!”

“Sure is!” Sparkle said, nodding her head as she stood up under the morning sky.

Everyone else followed her lead and stood up with her.

“What about we show you around town now?” Sparkle suggested.

Rarity’s ears perked up. “Then I would be able to meet with the other Rarity as soon as possible! We could share ideas, make our own clotheslines based on the other’s world, and—”

“And I get to see Pinkie Pie work for the Cakes?!” Cotton Candy yelled, eyes swirling around. “I like them a lot, but I have no idea how I’d land a job at Sweet Shoppe!”

Everyone looked at her with strange looks.

Cotton raised her forehooves in a shrug. “What? Was it something I said?”

“You’re a bona fide baker, Pinkie,” Sunset said, smiling and patting her on the shoulder. “If you applied for a job with the Cakes, they’d have you promoted in no time!”

Cotton grinned. “Why didn’t you say so, silly?”

Sunset made a double take. “What?”

And all laughed as they trotted their way towards Ponyville, AJ visibly struggling to keep a consistent pace with her four hooves, having almost tripped thrice in a row before getting used to the walking cycle.

“And I get to meet my horse self,” AJ murmured under her breath. “A horse...running a farm. With livestock.” She shuddered. “Maybe it’s best I don’t think about it too much.”

As they entered the town and were well past the comedy club, there was a zap! from inside. A pony stumbled out the door, his mane burned and his face scorched in black. However, everyone else was too far away to hear or notice.

He was also unconscious before another pony took him back inside, mumbling something about batteries exploding.

Their first stop was Sugarcube Corner, the town’s local gingerbread bakery and not because it made gingerbread. It truly looked like a gingerbread house, complete with frosting-tipped roofs, cupcake-shaped bedroom on top, and a sign hanging it with a depiction of another cupcake. On the side, there was a water tank with a faucet over there, beautified by pink flowers.

Rarity stood there, examining the half-full tank. “I still can’t believe the number of things we have to stoop down to….”

Cotton Candy stood at the pink steps to the pink front door, beholding the delicious building which was not meant for personal consumption. “This Pinkie lives here? She takes pie-baking more seriously than me...and she’s me and I’m her!”

Sci-Twi chuckled. “Let’s get in?”

Starlight nodded. “Why not?”

Sunset lowered a brow, shrinking away. “I don’t know about letting two Pinkies meet in the same room.”

Starlight then took a step away from the bakery. “Yeah...you’re right.” She turned to the princess. “May I have permission to stay outside?”

Sparkle rolled her eyes, trying to hold in some laughter. “Alright! But, if you come across somepony while you’re here, tell them that our other selves are stopping by. They might think changelings are on the loose again.”

“They know they’re not evil anymore, right?” Starlight said, cringing a little.

“That doesn’t stop conspiracy theorists from theorizing,” replied Sparkle with a sigh.

With that, Starlight waved them a short farewell as the rest entered the bakery.

Inside, they were assaulted by an array of bright and cheery colors. Green floors, yellow walls, pink decor, and whatever color the display’s pastries were made of. Wafting through the confectionery were the sugary smells of sweets, making the ponies’ mouths water. A few other ponies were seated at one table and—

“What?!”

They all looked their way at those familiar few ponies sitting near the window.

Sparkle gasped and smiled, seeing Rainbow, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and Rarity—or Rare—gathered there, their cakes and pies and cakepies already on the table. The looks on their faces were of shock and surprise, mouths and eyes wide open.

Pinkie Pie then bounced off her chair and landed right in front of Cotton Candy. “Hi! You must be the Pinkie Pie from CHS, am I right?!”

Cotton Candy nodded, shaking her hoof. “Yeah! You can call me ‘Cotton Candy’ so we won’t have any issues with names and all!” Then, she furrowed her brows at Pinkie. “Wait...so, you’re the Pinkie Pie who grew up in a town in Western Equestria called Rockville, raised in a family of rock farmers, got your cutie mark and had your whole life change when Rainbow Dash did her sonic rainboom while you were all fillies, moved out of Rockville to Ponyville and got a job here, and definitely knows how to make cakepies even though I’ve never told anyone else the secret recipe before?!”

Pinkie grinned. “Yeah! You’re certainly more...let’s say, explosive with your being-able-to-turn-sweets-into-magical-bombs power—which also makes sense ‘cause you’re the drummer of the Rainbooms—ooh! You also work at Sweet Snacks Café as a rollerskating waiter...and I thought I only knew the secret recipe to cakepies since I never told anyone else, too!”

Cotton Candy raised both forehooves. “You know me so well, Pinkie Pie!”

Pinkie Pie raised her forehooves, too. “You also know me so well, Pinkie Pie!”

Both Pinkie Pies then hugged each other, giggling.

Everyone else stared at the two pink ponies in awe. And then at each other.

Rare chuckled, pushing her plate of cheesecake aside. “Uh, Twilight?”

Both Twilights looked at her, saying “Yes?” together.

Rare twitched her eye, clenched her jaw. “N-No...the one without the glasses, darling.”

Sparkle chuckled and took a step forward from the group. “What is it, Rarity?”

Rare gestured a hoof at the new ponies. “These are the guests you told us to expect?”

The princess nodded. “You’ve all heard of them for quite some time, and they’ve heard of you, too. It’s about time they came over.”

Rainbow smiled, flying from her seat and landing in front of Dash. “So, you’re me from across the mirror?”

Dash flared her wings up. “Yup! The one and only!”

Rainbow laughed, giving her an I’m-too-good-for-you kind of smile. “Nice try, buddy, but I bet you don’t even know how to fly!”

Dash stretched her head, touching Rainbow’s snout with hers as she arched her brows in arrogance. “Yeah? You think so? Watch this!”

With a great windy flap, she hovered over the floor, looking down on her other self. “See? I’m a fast learner!”

Sparkle smacked herself on the head. “First, two crazy creatures are here, and then we have two big-heads as well. What’s next?”

Dash then walked to AJ, and touched her hat, trying to hold in a bout of laughter as she watched Applejack sipping on a mug of apple cider. “Hey! You’ve handled horses before, right? Get ready to talk to a horse handling a farm!”

AJ rolled her eyes. “We’re not doin’ this again, Dash. I’ve come to accept that things are gonna be a bit backwards an’ forwards in Equestria.”

“It sure is backwards an’ forwards here,” Applejack said as she got out of her chair and walked over to AJ, looking at her up and down. “Wowie! Ya’ look jus’ like me!” She pointed at her cheeks: “Only the freckles are a bit off, but that’s better than bein’ completely iden’ical!”

The two Rarities then walked to each other, inspecting their faces, their manes, and their eye shadow.

“And how do you live without wearing clothes most of the time?” was Rarity’s first question.

Rare glanced a bit to the side, then back at Rarity. “And how do you live wearing clothes all the time? You must have at least half a dozen dresses for every possible occasion!”

Sunset chuckled. Turning to Sparkle: “The first thing they talk about isn’t even a ‘How are you?’ It’s gotta be fashion, huh?”

Then, Spike tugged on Sci-Twi’s tail. “Uh, this is where breakfast is, right?”

“Yeah!” was Sparkle’s answer for him, trotting to the dragon.

Spike scratched his chin. “Wait...where’s your Spike?”

The princess glanced out the window. “He’s staying with Big Mac and Discord at Sweet Apple Acres. They had their guys’ night yesterday playing Ogres & Oubliettes, and they even had King Thorax himself as a guest player.”

Sci-Twi’s ears perked up. “Ogres & Oubliettes? You mean th-the role-playing game Shining Armor used to play in his high school years?”

Sparkle’s eyes twinkled, ears perking up also. “Yeah! Although it was called Oubliettes & Ogres ‘till they swapped the words around for legal reasons or something along those lines.”

Sci-Twi’s eye twitched. “Me...too?”

“Huh?”

Some eyes were on her; others were busy talking with their other selves and passing the time that way, ignoring the food on the table. “The name used to be Oubliettes & Ogres, too, until they changed it because they thought it’d be cooler if the first word was Ogres to sound trendy.”

Spike almost jumped in place, though. “Hold on a minute! Are you saying that your Spike isn’t just a dragon but he also has guys’ nights?”

Sparkle nodded. “Uh-huh! On a regular basis, no less!”

Spike let out a half-groan, half-burp. “Why do I have to be a dog back there? They don’t allow pets in the club.” He paused for a bit. “Big Mac’s a nice guy, but...isn’t Discord one of those plushie villains you find in an amusement park?”

Flutters nodded, walking to his side with a bit of surprise in her face. “Then you have no idea who Discord is in our world!”

Fluttershy smiled. “Actually, we do. Sunset told us all about him way back when.”

Flutters raised a brow.

“I don’t!” Spike said, raising his hand and wiggling his fingers.

Flutters trotted over to him and bent down a little. “You see, in this world, Discord is a really powerful draconequus—that is, a dragon and a horse and some other animals mashed together. He once wrecked havoc on Equestria, and we did turn him back into stone, but when Princess Celestia told us to teach him the magic of friendship...it took us a while, but we got there.” She made a nervous smile.

Sci-Twi stepped in. “If someone told me those exact words before all this magic stuff happened, I’d tell them they were crazy!”

“But look at where you are now!” Sparkle said, winking at her. “You’re a unicorn talking to a pegasus who answered a dragon’s question about a millenia-old spirit of chaos who played a game with the king of the changelings last night under a moon magically controlled by the alicorn Princess of the Night!”

Sci-Twi looked up, thinking about what her princess self just said. Then, she laughed at herself.

Pinkie Pie zipped her way out of the talking group and into the kitchen. From inside, they could hear: “Look who we got here! Come quick! You might miss ‘em!”

Sparkle’s ears drooped. “Uh, Pinkie? I think you should explain—“

Lanky Mr. Cake and plump Mrs. Cake walked out of the kitchen, wearing their aprons.

“Aww, Pinkie!” Mrs. Cake said, looking up at the dining area. “I didn’t know you brought—“ and saw those ponies there “—guests from...some...where?”

Mr. Cake leaned close to Pinkie’s ear. “Um, are you giving changelings a tour?”

Pinkie snorted. “No, silly! They’re my friends but not really the friends I know but I still know stuff about them because they’re like us!”

In unison, the Cakes said, “Huh?”

“You’ll get the hang of it!” Pinkie said, hopping out of the counter. “Ooh! I’ll give each of them a pair of cakepies! They’re on me!”

It was an unusual breakfast. The dinky table was exchanged for a bigger one that could fit fourteen sweet-toothed customers. The food was served fast, so much of the talking was done after the desserts were hoofed out.

Even then, it was mostly quiet, the strangeness of the situation having finally settled in on everyone present. The “twins” gave each other glances as they ate. Of course, the new ponies did not have that easy of a time getting used to the pony way of eating.

“Uh…no forks, no knives, no spoons?” Fluttershy asked, seeing only a plate of chocolate cake before her.

Flutters nodded her head, sliding her chair closer to her. “You hold up the slice and eat it.” She took her own chocolate cake slice up and nibbled on it.

Fluttershy looked at her hoof. “But, I touched a lot of dirt. I walked on dirt with these hooves.”

“We eat with dirty hooves all the time,” Flutters said, nudging her on the shoulder. “It doesn’t really make us sick. It’s how we eat.” Then, gasping as an idea came to her: “But, if you’re not OK with that, you can always eat like this—“ and placed her slice on the plate, leaned her head towards it, and bent down to take a bite.

Fluttershy watched her eat in that sloppy yet familiar way. She turned her head to face her slice of cake. The cake sat still but, in her eyes, it was tempting her to just eat already.

She bent her head and took a bite, munching on the mushy, silky smooth chocolate running down her throat.

AJ smiled at Fluttershy’s attempt at Equestrian dining. “Why, if that’s how we’re gonna do it, I might as well dig in!” and gorged herself on the food without even touching it with her hooves, dirtying her mouth in chocolate, strawberries, vanilla, and crust.

Rarity stuck her tongue out. “How uncouth!”

Rare snickered. “Your kind must be even fancier than we are! Then again,” glowing her horn and taking up her slice of cherry pie, “you can bypass all of that.”

Rarity gulped, looking at her own horn. “A-Alright...what was it that Starlight said?” Then, focusing on the slice but trying to relax at the same time, her horn flickered and then glowed blue. Her own cherry pie then floated in the air, albeit a little wobbly.

AJ and Fluttershy stared at her in awe as Rarity ate with magically floating and glowing pie.

As for Dash, she was busy playfully poking her other self, threatening to escalate it into a food fight.

Rainbow crossed her forehooves and spread her wings. “Just because I’m cooler than you doesn’t mean you gotta be sour over it!”

“I’m not sour!” Dash said, sounding annoyed but not seriously so.

Rainbow ruffled her other self’s mane. “You’ve saved the world a couple times? Pfft! So what? I saved the world a couple times, too, not to mention being a part of the most elite flying squad in all of Equestria, going past the speed of sound some more times, overseeing the local weather, and—“

Placed a hoof on Dash’s snout.

“—I live in my home in the clouds. Independently.”

Dash’s cheeks fumed red, but then she swallowed down a gulp and her pride. “Alright, alright...probably because magic’s done all the dirty work for you.”

Rainbow flapped her wings and flew over her, staring at her with icy eyes. “Hey! I was born with magic! You wouldn’t be able to save your world without it!”

“Uh, girls?” Flutters spoke up with a wince.

Then, Sparkle levitated a slice of cakepie between the two Rainbow Dashes. “Enough bickering!”

Rainbow looked at her royal friend, surprised at this betrayal. “I haven’t even started!”

“I’m stopping this before it starts,” Sparkle said in a stern voice.

Then, both rainbow-haired pegasi sat back down.

Sparkle took a bite of her cakepie as it floated before her face. “So, what’s the itinerary for the morning? Split up and get to know each other on a more personal level?”

“Splittin’ up to know myself on a personal level?” Applejack asked with a raised hoof.

AJ stomped a hoof on the table with a thud, giving her other self a glare. “You know I’m not really you.”

Applejack sighed, pointing at Cotton Candy. “...and you?”

Cotton Candy was slurping on some ice cream. “What? Was it something I didn’t say?”

“It’s a good idea, actually” Rarity said, ignoring Cotton for the moment. “They’ll teach us more on blending in with Equestrian society, and we’ll become close friends with our pony selves over time.”

“Kinda’ short if you ask me,” Dash commented.

Sunset finally leaned her head over the table, chiming in, “It took you three days to become friends with Princess Twilight and a single night to become friends with me. Surely a day and a half wouldn’t be too hard—“ smirking “—considering you’re essentially talking to yourselves.”

Spike, meanwhile, did not have a hand in the conversation since he was busy licking sundaes as tall as half the room.

“She’s right,” Sci-Twi said, levitating a slice of cake though almost dropping it with a weak magical grip. “They shouldn’t be too hard to hang out with, right?”

And everyone nodded at that, agreeing on how to spend their morning time until lunch would bring them back together.

Except Spike because he was not paying attention to any of it. His sundae occupied his mind and his mouth. Soon, it would occupy his stomach, too.

After the breakfast of desserts, the Cakes waved them goodbye as those thirteen ponies and one dragon regrouped with Starlight who was busy talking to Bon Bon outside.

Mr. Cake then turned to Mrs. Cake as they stood behind the counter. “How’s the new spotlight for Zipporwhill’s party?”

Mrs. Cake scratched her head. “I got the order, but it just doesn’t seem to work!”

“What happened?” he said as they headed to the kitchen,

“Well, when I tried turning it on before you woke up, it just...fizzled out.” She stopped right before the kitchen doors. “I saw the electricity sucked out of it, like it was following somepony!”

Mr. Cake trotted back out the kitchen, wearing a worried face. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“’Cause then we’d have to pay for pest control to look for twittermites that aren’t actually there!”

He fixed his bow tie and headed for the front door. “I’ll give Meal Fabric a visit. If the taco pegasi arrive and I’m not here, tell them I got some errands.”

Before he was out, Mrs. Cake shouted, “Make sure ya’ don’t go to the Everfree!”

She was not sure if he heard her since, by the time she was finished with that, he was out of her sight.

Shadows

Things over at Crystal Prep Academy were going pretty smoothly, and by “pretty smoothly”, it’s meant that absolutely nothing was happening at the school since it was Sunday.

Well, except for the Shadowbolts having a trite picnic in front of the institution’s sparkly columns, sitting down on a plaid red-and-white mat to complete the stereotypical look, catching whiffs of whatever food was in their bags and baskets.

Sour Sweet chewed on her mayonnaise sandwich. After gulping it down, she said, “Mayonnaise is made out of non-meat stuff, right?”

Sugarcoat crossed her arms. “That depends on your definition of ‘egg yolk’. Some classify it as meat, others consider it as an animal product which is not on the same level as meat; think of dairy products like cheese, for example.”

Indigo Zap shrugged as she took out a multi-decker sandwich which consisted of pasta and ketchup.

Everyone else eyed her sandwich.

Indigo smiled. “Jealous?”

“I only packed some jellybeans,” Lemon Zest cut in, taking her headphones off. “Grass flavor.”

Sunny Flare arched a brow. “Why grass?”

Lemon Zest shot a smile at her. “I want to be as safe as possible!”

“You might as well eat real grass,” was Sugarcoat’s reply, staying deadpan. “Jellybeans contain gelatin which is composed of animal products, specifically beeswax or, worse, livestock tissue—which is contrary to your desire to be as safe as possible.”

Lemon then popped a few jellybeans in her mouth. “Mmm! Minty!”

“You were ignoring me this whole time, weren’t you?”

Sunny Flare rolled her eyes, picking up her energy gels from her bag. “This is what I had to resort to.”

Lemon smiled, detecting the rather flat food packs. “Does it come in lemon flavor, too?”

Sour Sweet put on a smile and stood up. “This picnic idea is going great!...” then, wearing a bitter pout, “if it had any real food.”

“Hey, don’t think like that!” Indigo said, standing up with her. “In the future, all those canned foods will be as healthy as the real thing! Cheap, affordable, delicious, and nutritious!”

Sour Sweet pulled on her pony tail hair. “You sound just like Mrs. Beta...” and then, smiling, “which should make you a good candidate for the play!”

“We’re not supposed to mock our teachers in the play,” Lemon reminded before blasting rock music into her ears with those headphones.

“Well, Zest, that’s—“ and saw Lemon banging her head. “Nevermind.”

The Shadowbolts walked as a cool and smug pack through downtown, desperately looking for a place to pass a free yet empty Sunday. Under the looming height of imposing skyscrapers, they passed by the supermarket. On the sliding doors was a notice scrawled with the following: In consideration of our customers’ health, we are not selling meat until the Canterlot City Authority deems it safe. In the meantime, if you need your protein fix, come buy our new protein mix! It contains peanuts, beans, seeds, peas, tofu, and broccoli!

Except it was on the sliding door itself, which gave Sugarcoat a headache trying to read it while people walked in and out of the establishment, the piece of paper swaying left and right.

Next, they went to the local jewelry shop.

“Seriously, Flare?” Indigo blurted out, putting her goggles on her face as they stood at the entrance. “You’re gonna waste money on those shiny things?”

“They are not just ‘shiny things’!” Flare snapped, arms stretched down in rage. “They are elegant, rare, and extremely valuable!”

Indigo put her goggles back on her hair. “If only they were extremely fragile….”

“I heard that!”

With that little squabble over, they opened the glass doors and stepped inside.

And were greeted to a chaotic scene as a horde of teenagers, among others, inspected the diamonds and other precious stones behind those glass displays. Several were busy asking—no, busy interrogating the jewelers on what type they were, how many karats were in this alexandrite cufflink, what the price of that was, and what the meaning of the words “karat” and “alexandrite” were. Coupled with the hum of air conditioning, the buzz of questions and answers made this refined shop less so in atmosphere.

Flare took a step back outside. “What’s this? Diamond day?”

Indigo closed her eyes. “The Canterlot Bruisers are going to be fighting the Baltimare—“

“I wasn’t talking about baseball!”

And she stormed out of the shop, her friends following her but not without taking glances at the impromptu crowd there.

Finally, they settled for a run-of-the-mill park. As to be expected from a park, there were flowers, benches, trees, fountains, buskers, grills, ponds, ducks, and breadcrumbs.

They also saw Trixie standing on a soapbox, wearing her full wizard costume of pointy hat and flowing cape; she was wielding a wand, too, waving it around before her somewhat interested audience. “Behold, the Great and Powerful Trixie shall perform feats of magic that you shall never comprehend!”

“I can comprehend them!” shouted a fancy-sounding student, lowering his round glasses.

Trixie gave him an evil look. “Jet Set? From Crystal Prep? Hah!” She raised her head in that snooty fashion. “As if you can know the secrets of the Great and Powerful Trixie!”

“Ugh.”

The Shadowbolts looked at each other.

“Do you think we should watch?” Indigo asked.

Sour Sweet rubbed her hands, wearing a devious grin. “With Jet Set on our side, it’ll be fun to watch Trixie try to defend herself in vain—“ and then turning her grin into a happy one, “but, of course, perhaps Trixie is prepared, or maybe she’s made a new magic trick no one’s ever seen before!”

Then, Trixie threw a smoke bomb to the ground, making her audience move back, some coughing as the smog reached them. When the smoke cleared, they saw two things behind her: a cage and a closed one-door booth.

The magician sneezed, coughing up some confetti. After daintily wiping her mouth with her hankerchief, she went on: “The Great and Powerful Trixie shall follow in the footsteps of her hero, Hoofdini! But, she shall soon eclipse even the great Hoofdini, for, after you have seen this daring escape with your own eyes, you shall chant about the magical prowess of the Greater and Powerfuler Trixie!”

Then, she noticed those prominent Shadowbolts, all five of them crossing their arms. “Brilliant! More hecklers to amaze! Victory is all the sweeter when you win against your enemies!”

“Who else are you going to fight?” Sugarcoat asked, looking at the rest of the crowd she was in. “It wouldn’t be a fight if you had no enemies to fight with.”

Some laughed at that.

Trixie wagged her wand around with her hand. “That is where you’re wrong!”

More laughter erupted from the crowd.

“You’re going to find a way to win a fight against nothing?” Sugarcoat asked.

Trixie groaned, then turned away from the inquisitive rival. “Do not mind such low-minded dissidents! Soon, even her skeptics shall wonder, ‘How did the Great and Powerful Trixie do such an impossible impossibility in the most impossible way impossibly imaginable?’”

“Redundancy.”

And yet more howling laughter.

Trixie, however, did not grumble. She kept her composure, dusted her shoulders. “Yes, yes...doubt Trixie all you want! In fact, she has expected this kind of mockery to arrive, which is why—“

Threw a smoke bomb, shrouding herself in mystery and her audience in more coughing fits.

When the smoke cleared again, they saw a little television screen hooked up to the booth, showing real-time footage of what was happening inside: nothing.

“Trixie shall demonstrate this trick to you!” she boasted, raising and lowering her arms like an out-of-control lever, then swished her cape around since there was no wind. After that, she pointed at the cage. “The Great and Powerful Trixie will trap herself in a compressing cage.” She took out a small remote control. “She will hand this device to one of you. When you press the button—which is the only button there, by the way—the cage will helplessly attempt to crush the Great and Undefeatable Trixie!”

Whatever teasing smiles were plastered on the audience’s faces disappeared. Instead, there were worrisome murmurs and whispers, hands covering their mouths; even the Shadowbolts creased their foreheads in concern, Sour Sweet’s devious grin giving way to a scared frown.

“Yes, you mere mortals!” The magician raised her hands to the air as if she was holding a big paper airplane. “Trixie shall indeed put herself in harm’s way, but she is not scared! Do you know why?”

“Because you’ll reappear in the booth?” Sugarcoat asked, making Jet Set glance at her for having stolen his words.

“Correct!” Trixie said, pointing a finger at such a worthy rival. She stepped down from her soapbox and handed her the remote control.

Sugarcoat received it, inspecting the simple device with its one and only button.

“If you are curious,” Trixie added, “press the button. Let everyone see for themselves the insurmountable odds the Great and Powerful Trixie shall put herself up against!”

Sugarcoat looked at her, then the cage, then back at her, then back at the cage.

She pressed the button.

And the cage’s thick ceiling fell down to the floor with a slam!, rumbling the ground and causing several leaves to fall from their branches.

The audience stepped back, a few even running away screaming before they returned in shivers and frightened glances at a magician who, surely, was at least a little insane at this point. Lemon Zest screamed and clung on to Sour Sweet who pushed her out of the way; Indigo Zap rubbed her hands and wore her goggles to watch a self-depreciating spectacle, Sunny Flare put her hands on her hips in both confusion and apprehension, and Sugarcoat herself raised a brow.

“What happens if you fail?” Jet Set asked, raising a finger to get Trixie’s attention.

She huffed. “Then, Trixie shall be crushed and suffer painful injuries...which shall not be the case, for she is not the Weak and Powerless Trixie!”

“Isn’t that a bit dangerous?” Flash Sentry asked, making himself known in the audience.

Trixie turned her head away. “The Great and Powerful Trixie scoffs in the face of danger!”

“Before getting crushed by said danger,” Sour Sweet mumbled to herself.

Trixie then hummed her way to the cage, tramping a nice path through the grass.

Everyone watched as she opened it, went inside, locked herself, and threw the key as far as she could, hitting Jet Set’s head and making him drop his glasses.

All eyes were on her, then at the screen.

Trixie smiled, raising a hand and pointing at herself. “Brace yourselves! When Sugarcoat presses the button, the cage shall indeed crush but it won’t crush Trixie, for she is Great and Powerful enough to make herself appear in the booth safe and sound!”

Lemon tapped Sugarcoat on the shoulder. “Uh, I don’t want you to go to jail for breaking her bones.”

Sugarcoat gave her a small smile. “She follows Hoofdini. If she isn’t petrified at all, then she has a trick up her sleeve we don’t know.”

Then, button pressed.

The ceiling fell.

And Trixie was gone.

A poof! from the booth.

On the screen, they saw Trixie appear out of thin air. She gave a thumbs up to the hidden camera inside, and then she walked out, stretching out one arm to drink in the applause.

Which has not started yet.

With closed eyes and pointing her wand at herself: “Behold, the Great and Powerful Trixie!”

Silence.

Flash Sentry clapped his hands slowly.

Then, everyone was clapping, bringing out a round of applause for Trixie. Some passers-by even stopped to give the amateur magician a clap or two, probably deducing the trick performed from seeing the cage and booth present.

Next, Trixie brought out a dozen coins, threw them into the air, and caught them.

But not with her hand.

Instead, they floated in the air, inches away from her open hand.

Everyone walked closer to give those levitating coins a closer look, seeing them go front, back, sideways, and even form a couple of simple shapes.

All without Trixie touching them.

“Strings!” Jet Set yelled, running to her side. “You are using invisible strings!”

Trixie chuckled. “Really, now? Well, disprove this!”

And a coin was levitated right before his eyes.

Everyone gasped.

Jet Set gulped, sweat pouring down his forehead. He moved his hand around the coin but felt nothing.

“Wha...what?!”

“Admit it, Jet Set!” Trixie said, voice getting cockier. “CHS has the best magician in the world!”

“That’s because we don’t have any magicians in Crystal Prep,” Sugarcoat said, still crossing her arms and holding the remote control. “Yet.”

Trixie snickered at that, then turned to the would-be naysayer. “Oh, so you think you can produce a magician that can match me? The Great and Powerful Trixie possesses knowledge you do not understand!”

“Because you can’t understand what you don’t know,” was Sugarcoat’s answer.

Lemon, however, had her mouth wide open the whole time. She walked up to Trixie and offered a handshake. “That’s some...cool stuff you got there!”

Trixie gave her a firm shake of the hand. Then, turning her eyes to her observers and her pointed finger to Lemon: “Even a Shadowbolt defers to Trixie, the magical magician of Canterlot High!”

Indigo then yanked Lemon away from the handshake. “Not today, magic girl!”

Trixie smiled, then looked around. “Has anyone recorded that? The Great and Powerful Trixie shall wow those who were not even present at this momentous occasion!”

Sunny Flare rolled her eyes. “You think we don’t know the internet is?”

Trixie giggled, then stared at her with half-closed eyes. “Maybe.”

Flare rolled up her sleeves. “Why, I oughta’—“

And Indigo and Sour Sweet held her back, holding one arm each as her feet scurried in place.

It was Trixie’s turn to cross her arms. “Well, well, well...too bad! If you want to fight me, you’d have to find your way around this!”

She jumped up into the air.

And stayed there.

Everyone looked at her in awe as she floated several inches above the ground, her boots clearly not even touching the grass.

Now more than a few screamed and ran away from Trixie.

“You can try throwing your punches at Trixie,” she said, accent haughtier than before. “However, can you defeat a wizard?!”

“Any magician who knows his salt can levitate like that!” Jet Set shouted.

Trixie smirked. “There are no strings, no stilts, and I’m not wearing a pants-length skirt!”

“Then, you are creative!” Jet Set conceded. “Creative, but you can’t possibly be really levitating!”

Indigo then gasped, taking out her goggles. “Unless she really is a wizard!”

“The only ones with real magic are Sunset Shimmer and her friends,” Flare said, “and they’re out of Canterlot. Even if they were here, why would they teach Trixie magic if it’s too dangerous for parlor tricks?”

Trixie laughed, sounding a tad bit unhinged. “The Great and Powerful Trixie shall say it again: A magician never reveals her secrets!”

She landed on the ground, threw a smoke bomb, and, after all was done, there was no trace of her, the cage, the booth, the screen. Only the soapbox remained.

Leaving the audience stunned, standing on the park with frozen feet for a good while.

“...as more reports of today’s sudden cold crop up in Canterlot City, the mayor has advised all citizens to wash their hands every hour, and to always bring hand sanitizers when going out.”

The radio continued outside Sweet Shoppe as the Shadowbolts sat around the table, concealing themselves from the rising sun under the umbrella though they still felt the heat. Lemon Zest was busy eating lemon cheesecake and drinking lemonade, helping herself to a lemon-themed snack.

Which was enough to raise Sour Sweet’s ire. “Do you really have to order everything with your name on it?!”

Lemon’s reply was nothing since she kept banging her head to whatever she was listening to on those headphones.

“Let her be,” Sunny Flare said as the reporter rambled on through the radio, cooling herself with a fan. “You get to eat tarts and cranberries, Sugarcoat could eat anything in a candy shop, and Zap can always order some zap apple jam from the Apples.”

“Which I don’t,” was Indigo’s adamant reply as she chewed on her cabbage, tomatoes, and mushroom taco with ketchup and mustard.

Flare looked back at Sour Sweet. “The point being: I can’t eat sunlight or solar flares.”

Sour Sweet rolled her eyes. “I guess you’re right on that one.”

Flare turned off the radio. She stared at it for a few seconds. Then: “Do you have it?”

“The cold?” Sour asked. She shook her head. “No. Doesn’t make me want to eat any beef for the moment.” She sighed, remembering something. “I don’t want a repeat of last year.”

“When everyone thought you had salmonella but Cadance and Sugarcoat were the only ones who knew the truth?” Indigo asked with a snicker. “Those were the days, girls! Those were the days!”

“Wasn’t for me!” yelled Sour, fuming as she held up the radio, about to smash Indigo’s head with it.

“Woah!” Flare half-raised herself from the chair and stole it away, put it back on the table. Cornering Sour with her fan: “Chill out, Sweet! We’re not targeting you!”

“You made me miss more than half a week of school and good grades!” Sour retaliated, counting those two items with her fingers.

“Psst!”

Then, all the Shadowbolts looked at the table next to them.

Bon Bon, Big Mac, and Octavia sat there, with Lyra in a hoodie and wearing some shades as she sipped on lukewarm coffee.

Lemon took out half of her headphones. “Uh, what’re you doing here?” Then, eyeing Lyra, “And why are you wearing that? It’s like thirty degrees out here!”

“Twenty-six, to be exact,” Bon Bon said, sipping on her milkshake as she looked at her phone for the temperature. “We’re here because we’re waiting.”

“Waiting for what?” Indigo asked, raising her shoulders and seeing no empty chairs at the other table.

“DJ Pon-3,” Octavia answered. “We’re all worried for her.”

Flare gulped. “Is she down with the cold, too?”

“Not as far as I know,” Octavia replied, stirring her cup of tea with a spoon. “However, she is beginning to become...hard to understand as of late.”

“Which means…?” Sour demanded with a, well, sour look on her face, tight lips and all.

Octavia sighed. “Canterlot High will be hosting Floral Week starting this Monday—“

“As we know,” Sugarcoat interrupted.

Bon Bon grumbled at that. “Along with all the other activities, there’s going to be a music competition revolving around flowers and the beauty of nature. We were expecting Octavia herself to get the most votes and what not—“

“But then,” Octavia continued, “out of nowhere, Vinyl joined in and everyone ended up clamoring for her in MyStable. Now, she’s become the head of Canterlot High’s Floral Week Music Tournament.”

Flare raised a brow. “Funny. An electro girl running a music battle about pretty flowers? I thought you’d be the one,” motioning a hand towards Octavia, “what with your classical niche.”

“It’s not a niche!” Octavia replied with some anger in her words. Then, calming down: “What makes it worse is that, since she has to be in school most of the day and night judging the participants plus volunteering to be a sound engineer, she won’t be able tend to her job for most of the week.” Exchanging glances with Bon Bon and Big Mac, “We’re all afraid that she’ll be fired or, at least, be given disciplinary measures for what amounts to insubordination or going absent without leave.”

“But why is Lyra wearing a hoodie and a pair of shades?” Sugarcoat inquired, ignoring the rest of Octavia’s words.

Bon Bon raised her hand, catching everyone else’s attention. “She’s down with the cold.”

“I don’t hear her nose running,” Indigo remarked, examining camouflaged Lyra from her table.

“That’s the thing,” Bon Bon said, gesturing to her spiky-haired friend. “All the people I’ve met who have the cold don’t have a cold’s symptoms at all. No runny noses, no constant sneezing or coughing, no sore throat or fever—they only get a fever after they eat meat—“

“So you’re saying all of us are infected but most of us aren’t showing the symptoms?” Flare suggested. “That’s an unconventional disease.”

“That’s great!” Sour shouted. Then, with a pout: “In a weird way.”

Octavia nodded, looking at Lyra who was shaking her cup of coffee without spilling any of it on her clothes. “We hoped it’s just bad meat, but it seems that there’s more to it than that.”

Sugarcoat crossed her arms. “How so?”

Bon Bon pointed a thumb at Lyra. “She tried to experiment by eating some canned pork she still has from last year. It wasn’t expired, and she just had that for dinner last night with no ill effects.”

Sugarcoat kept her arms crossed, though she fixed her bow tie a bit. “Well?”

Bon Bon’s eyes fluttered. “She burned the can less than five minutes in.”

Lyra sighed before silencing herself with her coffee.

As for Big Mac, he was helping himself to apple pie, listening to the whole conversation.

“So, no meat until they say yes meat?” Indigo asked.

“I’m afraid so,” Octavia replied, eyeing the radio on the table and then back at Indigo.

Then, silence between the two groups.

“OK, then!” Sour smiled, waving at them. “Have a good day!”

Crystal and Canterlot students then huddled together, going back to their own food, their own classmates, and their own tables.

Octavia massaged her temples. “First abandoning her shop, and then a missing guitar!” She sighed again. “She says it’s not her fault, and I see not a trace of it in her room, but...this won’t translate well when word spreads.”

Bon Bon picked on her waffle with her fork. “Yeah….” Then, eyeing Big Mac staring at the road, she looked at him odd. “Uh, Big Mac?”

As he stared there.

“Big Mac!”

He shook his head, getting himself out of it. With a raspy voice: “Wha-What? What’s the m-matter?”

“Uh, what’s the matter with you?” Lyra asked, looking smug with her shades and her cup of coffee.

Big Mac pursed his lips and went on with eating his apple pie.

“Must be about Sugar Belle,” Bon Bon mumbled as she went on eating her chocolate muffins beside the waffle

As they ate, Big Mac tried to distract himself with his apple pie, though prospects were less than ideal—the pie was almost finished, much of it having crumbled into crumbles. He took the final morsel with his hand, chewed on it, looked back to the road so he would not be bored by the table, and—

He stared.

Seeing a wide-eyed unicorn waving at him on the other side of the street.

“Hello?!”

And Bon Bon’s voice brought him back as his head rattled and reeled from the sight.

Big Mac blinked, rubbed his eyes.

“What’s gotten into you?” Bon Bon asked, holding up a fork like it was a big stick. “You look like you’ve seen some magical creature or something!”

“That’s normal,” Octavia commented as she eyed her cello bag under the table. “Besides, what are the chances a teenager like us gets corrupted by magic by the time Floral Week’s over?”

Big Mac gasped in lots of air, breathing slowly as he whirled his head back towards the street.

He saw nothing but a few cars waiting for the traffic light to turn green.

“Imagination,” was the only word he said to himself before grabbing one more bite from his pie.

He discovered too late that he had already eaten that one more bite.

While the Sun Shines

Back in the world of Canterlot High….

Inside her house, Bon Bon watched as Lyra helplessly forced corned beef into her mouth with her hands, ripping off the next packet or tearing open the next can whenever she spat her bite out. Precious food was wasted down the garbage bin.

As they sat at the table in the dining room, Lyra suffering and going through the lure of vomiting every half minute at the repulsive rancor of beef, even accidentally cutting her finger with the can opener—

“Enough!” Bon Bon shouted, gripping Lyra’s wrist before it could get another can of corned beef. “This needs to stop!”

“What?!” Lyra screamed, eyes widened at this supposed mistrust. “But...but I can’t let all this food rot! It needs to go somewhere and it’s going to my stomach, whatever it takes!”

“Face it, Lyra,” Bon Bon said, pushing the rest of the unopened packs and cans out of her reach; Lyra reached out for them as she mouthed her frustration. “You can’t eat meat.” Bon Bon pointed at herself. “I can’t eat meat. Just about everyone in Canterlot’s not eating meat until we all get well from this mystery sickness.”

Lyra sniffed, rubbing her nose. “B-But...what if this is some kind of pandemic?” She placed her open palms on the table. “A pandemic that’s turning all of us into leaf-eating savages?!”

Bon Bon held her snicker in at the thought of the phrase “leaf-eating savages”.

Lyra pounded her fists on the table, holding on to Bon Bon’s arm as if she’s about to faint. “Please, Bon Bon! Give me this one and only chance to brute force my way into getting better!”

Bon Bon put Lyra’s arm down on the table. “No. I’m not going to let you hurt yourself like this.”

“But, wh-what if it—“

“It won’t work,” Bon Bon answered. “It’ll aggravate your cold, and you’ll be better off hospitalized if you insist on your way!”

And then, Lyra turned to the cans of corned meat at the far end of the table, inviting her with their attractive displays, their nutritious value….

She cried on the table, covering her face with her arm. Then, raising her head to rest it on a hand: “I don’t wanna be a leaf-eating savage!”

Bon Bon rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. “Watch your words. Some vegetarians won’t like being called ‘leaf-eating savages’.”

Lyra plugged one ear with another hand, sobbing away at the table.

As Bon Bon walked up a road in downtown, she noticed the day was a bit shinier. She looked at the sky; sure, it was later in the morning, but the sun was still the same old sun from yesterday and the day before that.

Then, she saw a few glitters in the distance.

“Agh!”

She shielded her eyes from the glare.

Raised her arm.

Bon Bon saw that it was just a romantic couple’s necklaces, those two on a date. They were probably speaking sweet nothings that meant something somehow, if their locked gazes meant anything.

She scratched her head. “Gems can’t be that shiny…unless it’s the kind you use to blind attackers.” She smiled, rubbing her fingers on one hand.

“What?!” Bon Bon shouted in the supermarket, facing a plump jeweler with a great white beard and even greater white eyebrows as he stood behind the counter. “What do you mean you’ve never sold a single one yet?!”

“That’s just it, miss,” Caboche said in a gravelly voice, taking a few cabbages from the vegetable display behind him to juggle with. “I don’t know how those fancy gemmers got a hold of my patent, but those ‘Blinding Rings’ are mine! I made it up!”

She covered her eyes from the glare of his finger’s rings. “You’re sure you’re the first one who thought of it? Maybe someone else got there—”

“Oh, I’m sure!” he shouted, putting on a glove as if ready to fight the people who ruined his fortune before it even appeared. “I hired three lawyers in case anyone wanted to say otherwise, and so far, nobody’s said anything!”

Bon Bon wanted to raise a point about whether the average person would go against three lawyers, but she declined.

Then, she noticed Wallflower to her left, buying a couple seed packs.

“Where it stands,” Caboche went on, putting an elbow on his empty booth, “if I start selling them now, they’ll think I’m the imitator!” He shoved the imaginary for-sale rings away from his booth. “If anything, once I’m on their radar, they’ll either negotiate a deal with me to sell the patent off to them for big money or choke me out of the market if I keep resisting...and they’ll kick me out with my own creation, no less!”

Bon Bon sighed, seeing the man grumble and grouse about. “Then again, I’m just a high school student. I’ll...I’ll post your predicament on MyStable, see what I can do. OK?”

“I did that just a half hour ago!” he said, perking up. Then, pointing in the jewelry shop’s direction: “They’re onto me, but when they get to me, I’ll show them a thing or two! They think they can pay their way to success!” He threw his glove off. “I’ll take them down one-on-one and see how they like a taste of my knuckle sandwich!”

“Calm down there, big guy!” Bon Bon said, taking a few steps back, ready to defend herself with both arms. “What if it’s just an honest mistake?”

Caboche then slumped his shoulders, putting his cabbages back to the display. “Let’s see. I’ve already exhausted all legal options except actually talking to them—but...those fools...” and made two fists, “they’re sneaky!”

Bon Bon put on a smile for him. “Let’s see, indeed.”

She walked out of his sight and went up to Wallflower who was busy putting some pumpkin seed bags and snacks into her shopping cart.

“Oh!” Wallflower turned to notice her. “I didn’t know you were there.”

Bon Bon smiled. “So...saw the big ‘No Buy’ sign over there?”

Wallflower looked behind her and saw the meat section emptied and with lights out. A huge No Buy sign was smeared on the wall above it. “It’s sad. All those farmers and their families won’t be getting their money’s worth now.”

“Big losses,” Bon Bon remarked as she took a few vegetables of her own and put in her paper bag: lettuce, cornflower, spinach, turnips, and sorrel. Then, she noticed the white package in Wallflower’s cart. “Uh, what’s that?”

Wallflower smiled as she picked it up, turning it around so Bon Bon could see everything on it. “It’s the protein mix! Protein Pick-me-up!”

Bon Bon rolled her eyes. “So, what? Is it...trail mix?”

“Kinda.” She blushed, holding it up like a bedtime doll. “It’s like those crunchy peanut clusters...or something—except they’re as small as an actual peanut, so it’s a...kind of like a melt-in-your-mouth thing…?”

“Oh.” Bon Bon looked at it. “Just curious: Did you try eating meat today?”

Wallflower made a weak laugh as she put the protein mix back in her cart. “Tasted some beef jerky. Did not like it at all, but I was able to swallow it.”

“You’re better than Lyra,” Bon Bon said. She sighed, crossing her arms and tapping her foot out of pity. “Poor thing; she couldn’t even get a nibble down her throat! It’s as if she suddenly can’t eat meat against her will!”

Wallflower sighed as well, holding her arm and a part of her sweater’s sleeve. “Juniper, too.”

Bon Bon stepped closer. In a hushed voice: “What happened?”

“Tried to eat meatloaf after we left Sweet Snacks.” She closed her eyes and turned away for a bit. “Good thing she likes those peanut butter bars over everything; otherwise….”

Bon Bon did not want to hear the rest of it as she put one last bundle of sorrel into her bag. “Wanna go around with me while I get...uh, edible food?”

Wallflower giggled and, true to her name, blushed again. “Why not? It’s not like I have much to do here.”

With Wallflower’s groceries done, she parted ways with Bon Bon outside the supermarket.

It was a rather uneventful trip back to Juniper’s house which was a rather tall and lean two-story house, something that would not be out of place in a jam-packed borough like Bronclyn.

She knocked on the door.

“Coming!” she could hear from inside. Fast footfalls.

Then, the door opened, revealing a smiling Juniper wearing her work hat which looked like a bunch of film reels smashed together.

“Got the pumpkin seeds you asked,” Wallflower said, faintly smiling. “Also, some other seeds which aren’t for eating.”

Juniper gestured her inside with a spinning hand. “Come on in!”

And Wallflower went inside.

As was standard for a house like Juniper’s, the living room and the kitchen and the dining room and the lounge and the study were all on the same floor, separated only by the different furniture that signified which area was which. The television was switched on and was currently showing the movie Checkmate.

The scene? A man with gelled hair was floating along the river on a raft. A dog which was not his was wagging his tail as the man traveled through the forest, searching for his love from years ago.

“I can’t believe my uncle still lends me these early copies!” Juniper said, still smiling. Holding up a DVD case of the movie in question: “This one won’t hit theaters until next week!”

Wallflower nodded and sat down on the sofa, Juniper going next. “I-I’ve never heard of it before. Does that mean he doesn’t have high hopes for it?”

“After the Daring Do movie,” Juniper said but not without giggling at herself, “he wanted to take it slow by pursuing an indie film he wanted to make since he got in the industry. He told me that the story for it was never complete until about two years ago, and that’s when he greenlit everything else.”

Wallflower blinked at that, having put down her paper bag. “Wow. That’s some dedication...right?”

“Right you are!”

Wallflower then opened the bag of pumpkin seeds and let its mouth-watering scent permeate the house.

“Mmm! It must be good!”

Wallflower nodded as she picked up a handful of them. “Have you ever tried this at a movie night before?”

Juniper grabbed some and ate them. After a swallow: “Actually, no, but everything must have a first, right?”

“...right.”

The two girls chowed down on their pumpkin seeds and their pumpkin-flavored potato chips and their pumpkin-spiced seaweed as they watched the movie unfold.

Over the next hour, the story progressed. The journeyman got out of the forest, having found nothing and no one, most especially his love. A time skip happened which spanned several years, and the man, now reaching his forties, began his nomadic wandering across the country, which in itself spanned more than two decades. His roaming took him to Canterlot City, Manehattan, Seaddle, Hooveston, San Palomino Desert, Puerto Caballo, the Gallopinghost Islands, the Frozen North, Dodge Junction, Bone Dry Desert, Forgotten Hills….

By the end of it all, he was in his sixties, clearly wearing a wig out of fear of being bald. He had quit his quest to find his love, having resolved to live out the rest of his days in some old, isolated village in the heart of the nation.

When he arrived, the town’s local clown welcomed him with a song, complete with her home-made balloons and all, though the elderly man kept up his frown aged after an eon of disappointment and dashed dreams.

“I’ve never seen you before!” the clown asked.

“Kid,” the man said in his gruff voice, “you’re smarter than you look.”

Then, Wallflower, evidently a bit bored by the movie’s slow pace, drifted her eyes towards the flower pots beside the screen.

She gasped, surprised enough to knock Juniper’s remote out of her hand and onto the floor.

“Hey!” Juniper shouted, picking up the remote. “What gives?”

Wallflower opened and closed her mouth fast like a fish. “I-Is that...a-are those mine?!”

Juniper paused the movie while the clown was carrying a big check mark. “Of course, they are! Don’t you remember buying the seeds from the florist last night?”

Wallflower took no heed of her friend’s word and held up one of the pots which had a few little dandelions on it. “Yes...but...did you misplace them? Do you have flower pots lying around I somehow missed?”

“No,” was Juniper’s reply as she stood up looking worried at her friend. “What’s the matter?”

“Don’t you remember?!” Wallflower yelled, her voice betraying fear. “They were seeds yesterday! I remember planting the seeds in the pot! Now? They’re weeks old, and it’s only been a day!”

Juniper scratched her chin. “That’s odd. Did you get...fake flowers?”

“Why?!”

“Hey, I’m coming up short!” Juniper raised her shoulders and her hands in surrender. “You’re the gardening genius here!” Groaning, “Is it like one of those flytraps or something?”

“Flytraps don’t grow overnight!” Wallflower shouted.

Juniper fell back to the sofa, picking the remote back up, looking at her and then at the dandelions. “OK, what about we stop for a minute and try to think this through? Maybe you or I changed the pots around...or something.”

“There were no dandelions in your house until I bought some,” Wallflower said, walking up to her and looking down on Juniper. “I do my best to remember everything about this house’s plants and this is the first time I’ve seen a dandelion bloom here!”

Juniper gulped. “O...K?”

Then, her phone rang.

She picked it up, Wallflower watching her as she sat down. “Hello?”

“Dear? This is Canter Zoom.”

“We are missing a couple spotlights,” Canter said, wearing his signature vest and his signature glasses as he and a couple others were ransacking the set in the middle of downtown, holding up his phone. A couple of cars were detoured around the set as the actors practiced their lines to make the best use of the time.

“But, uncle!” Juniper’s voice shrilled through. “You think I could carry just one of those heavy things on my own?”

“Look, honey,” Canter continued, turning his head away from most of the staff opening and closing boxes in vain. “Maybe I misplaced them and they’re lying somewhere in the back.”

“There’s nothing in the closets! I checked it about a dozen times when I was thinking about what to wear tonight!”

“Maybe it’s under the sink!” Canter suggested, though he then gritted his teeth for being so desperate. “This rooftop scene needs special lighting!”

“They’re not here,” was Juniper’s firm reply.

“Ugh.” He looked around, seeing both regulars and volunteers still searching around, arguments getting heated. “Fine. I don’t know how we’ll wrap this one up before the holidays, but, as they say, ‘Improvise!’ Just...just call me if anything strange pops up, alright?” Then, one quick goodbye later, he hung up.

And was promptly bumped into by Big Mac, carrying a bushel of apples which then fell onto the floor.

Canter moaned, rubbing his head as Big Mac pulled him up. “What’s going on?” the director asked, throwing his hands up and down. “Getting distracted again?”

Big Mac nodded, refusing to say anything on the matter.

As a farmer, Big Mac did not get much out of Sundays—or weekends, for that matter. For him, the cows needed milking, the chickens needed tending to, the apple trees needed watering, and the horses needed caring.

When his volunteering work for the day was done and the missing spotlights were still not found, he drove his pick-up truck back to the Apple family house. After giving Granny Smith and Apple Bloom a hug, the first thing he did was go to the wide open pasture to see the horses grazing there.

Two horses stood around, one flicking its tail. The other was munching on some grass.

It was quite a windy day, the grass and trees swaying about. Big Mac inhaled the fresh air that only a picturesque landscape such as this could give off.

Next stop was the new small stable behind the garage, containing room for up to three horses with its three stalls. One of its stalls was occupied by the last horse feeding on her hay.

Big Mac went inside the stable, carrying a bucket of hay and another bucket of grain. He poured the food to the ground and saw the horse nicker as she finally registered the farmer inside.

With that little task done, he did some informal grooming for the mare. He combed her clean from dirt, checked her hooves for more dirt, and combed her mane a second time.

Done with the horse, he turned around—

Noticed the hay and the grain leftover on the ground.

Drawing him.

“Big Mac!” Apple Bloom called, shouting right outside the barn-like garage. “Big Mac!”

“Big Mac!” Scootaloo shouted beside her, hollering with her hands cupping her mouth. “Big McIntosh! Yoo-hoo!”

Apple Bloom and Scootaloo sighed, putting their brooms and plastic bags aside.

“Where could Big Mac be?” Apple Bloom asked as they went around the barn, scratching her head and fixing the bow on her hair. “He’s not in the garage, he’s not in the backyard, he’s not in the house—“

“Have you tried checking the stable?” Scootaloo asked back, pointing at the structure as it came into sight. “It’s the only place we haven’t looked.”

Apple Bloom blushed and covered her laughing mouth. “Eh-heh...must’ve slipped my mind!”

They reached the stable, went through the first two stalls but found not a trace of him nor of any horse. They reached the third and last one, seeing the horse resting there and—

“Big Mac?!” both girls screamed together, eyes wide. “You’re eating hay?!”

And Big Mac, mouth full of hay, looked down and saw what he was eating. He swallowed, gulped it down, and grinned, teeth somewhat stained. “Uh, e-eeyup…?”

Apple Bloom sighed and smacked herself on the forehead. “Applejack knew there was somethin’ fishy with those gourmet brands Sweetie bought us!” Turning to Scootaloo: “Now my brother’s eatin’ like a horse!”

Scootaloo raised a brow and smirked. “Must be tasty!”

“Are ya’ crazy?!” Apple Bloom shrieked, flailing her arms about.

“Didn’t Miss Cheerilee say that we’re capable of digesting hay?” Scootaloo shot back.

“That’s not permission to eat hay!” Apple Bloom yelled, flailing her arms again. Turning to Big Mac and pulling him up, “Come on, big brother! Let’s get out of here before Granny sees you like this!”

Scootaloo nodded as they left the stall with the brother in tow.

Walking their way around the garage, Apple Bloom asked, “What’s goin’ on, Big Mac?”

He replied with a gulp and a glance away.

“First, Sweetie texts me ‘bout how you’re hallucinatin’ unicorns an’ now you’re eating hay? Inside a stable? For horses?!”

“You could say he’s going for CHS team spirit!” Scootaloo joked.

“Scootaloo, this is serious!” Apple Bloom said, simmering down just a teeny bit. “He’s going to attend tomrrow’s openin’ ceremonies! What if he starts eatin’ flowers?! It’d be totally embarassin’!”

Big Mac nodded, regaining some composure. “Eeyup!”

Then, the girls picked up their brooms they left by the sidewalk, Big Mac standing by the grass. Apple Bloom prodded his shirt with her broom and said in a troubled tone, “Promise us you won’t go eatin’ hay again, alright?”

Big Mac scratched his head in return. “E-Eeyup!”

Triumphant with his resolve to never eat hay again, he looked at the street.

Staring there.

His triumphant, resolute smile gone.

Seeing another unicorn waving at him on the other side.

“Big Mac!”

Snapped out of it.

“There ya’ go again!” Apple Bloom said, sounding less angry and more concerned. “Is it another one of them unicorns in yer’ mind?”

“Uh...ah,...e-ee—“

Apple Bloom looked across the street. She made Scootaloo turn her head across the street. “This is gettin’ out of hand. Can’t eat the steak Granny prepared this mornin’, and now he’s seein’ imaginary ponies while eatin’ hay!”

Scootaloo scratched her chin. “Strange cold, huh?”

“But no one else’s been doin’ that!” Apple Bloom said. “I’m not eatin’ hay, that’s for sure! The only thing they’re gettin’ is the whole ‘no-meat’ thing!”

“Unless they’re too embarrassed to tell us!” Scootaloo suggested, pointing at her with a wink.

Apple Bloom crossed her arms. “Ya’ think this whole city can keep a thousand secrets?”

Scootaloo blushed. “Maybe…?”

Apple Bloom kept staring at her with that unimpressed stare.

“I’ll...just check on Sweetie Belle!” Scootaloo said sheepishly, picking up her phone to do that.

Whatever message Scootaloo had for Sweetie Belle was ignored since she was sweeping the streets clean from garbage, putting the biodegradables in the biodegradable bins and what not, all while wearing a badge that read, Happily Serving the Community! As she cleaned her way through the street, she saw Sunset’s house and sighed. “How did we get into this mess?”

She saw a couple of people leave Sweet Shoppe from a distance. She rubbed her eyes, noticing a bigger amount of green there then usual, mostly in the food.

“W-Wait...is that green spaghetti?”

“Out of the way!”

She whirled her head and saw, across the street, the Shadowbolts carrying an unconscious Sunny Flare out of a dark and bleak comedy club.

Sweetie checked the pulse on her wrist. “This is not good.”

“Ugh….”

Sunny Flare slowly opened her eyes, attacked by glaring white hospital lights.

“Is she OK?” she heard Sour’s voice ask.

“Sh!” That was Indigo. “She’s coming through!”

Flare blinked, then groaned as she rubbed her head, feeling the light as the pain quickly receded to be replaced by the acerbic smell of clinics. Then, she shot up, sat up on bed. “H-Huh?! What happened? Why am I here? Is everyone alright?!”

“You fainted,” came the voice of Principal Cadance as she entered into her vision; the other Shadowbolts sat back down on their chairs, all watching her in silence. Walking to the side of her head, “The doctor told us that he doesn’t know why it happened. From your previous check-ups, you were in tip-top shape and you certainly had no problem being in dark places before, especially with our field trip still in recent memory.” With a hand on her long pink hair, “With that, there’s no precedent for your darkness-induced fainting.”

Flare held up her hands in shock, finally seeing her bed. “Hold on...I fainted because it was dark?!”

Cadance nodded, lips tight. “It’s peculiar. It must have something to do with your eyes—“

“But my vision’s perfectly fine!” Flare protested.

“—or it must have something to do with the lighting of the comedy club,” Cadance said. “However, if that’s the case, then you shouldn’t have been the only one to faint.”

Flare slowed her breathing down, thinking through what she could remember—the announcer stepped onto the stage, Maud would be the first one to make people laugh, then the lights dimmed—

“What about we try again?” Indigo said and she flipped the light switch, plunging the whole room into darkness

“Ow!” Flare shouted. “Are you trying to burn me?!”

“OK, OK!”

Then, the lights turned back on.

Flare then sighed, rubbing her head and smiling a bit, the pain quickly receding again. “Much better….”

Cadance arched a brow and took a step back. “Further confirmation that lack of light must’ve had something to do with it.”

Flare rested her head on a raised hand. “First, this strange cold sweeps Canterlot, and now I faint when there’s no light.” She threw her hands down to the bed. “What happens when it’s nighttime? Will I go comatose?”

“Hopefully it’s just a freak accident,” Cadance assured or at least tried to.

“We all hope she’s right,” Lemon said, facing Flare.

With Sunny Flare cleared out of the hospital, the Shadowbolts went back to their normal selves as they trudged through town, avoiding the comedy club at the request of Cadance. They decided to go to the mall to see whatever they could there. Surely, with the nearly infinite amount of things to do in a mall, they could not go bored, right?

What they did not notice as they went past the entrance was Flare’s sun-shaped hair clip glowing for a few seconds.

Suit Yourself

Back in Ponyville….

“...and this is Carousel Boutique!” Rare exclaimed, motioning a flamboyant hoof towards it.

Rarity grinned, eyes sparkling as she beheld the structure before her.

There it was, the boutique, shining under the radiant sun.

“I...I’ve never dreamed I’d own a boutique like this someday!” Rarity yelled, putting a hoof to her cheek.

“Really, now?” Rare asked, a bit surprised.

Rarity flicked her head. “Well, if we’re being technical about, I have the ambition of owning a boutique, but it’s usually the kind of thing that you’d only be able to do down the line in life. I mean, I haven’t even graduated from high school yet...”, pawing on the ground, “then you have college after that; juggling between studies and the pressures of owning a business—nay, a fashion empire—would stress me to the extreme!”

Rare smiled, half-closing her eyes. “Then why not relax and step inside?” With her magic, she glowed the door open.

And Rarity was treated to a familiar yet unfamiliar sight. The pink walls and floor, the full-legnth mirrors, the mixture of perfumes pervading the air, the racks of dresses—

That’s what she took notice of. She did not smile, she did not frown. She just looked at it, coming closer to the racks to inspect the dresses, first with her hoof and then, a bit cautiously, with her magic as she glowed parts of the dress this way and that.

They were not tall. None of them were tall. Instead, they looked like elegant curved rectangles of fabric and beauty.

“These are dresses for ponies, huh?” Rarity blathered, tilting her head to the side as she held up a rather short sleeve—one of four sleeves.

Rare made a posh giggle and went to her side. “What do you think?”

Rarity turned to her other self and let go of the dress. “They look nice...for pony dresses.” Turning red at probably embarrassing herself in front of her self: “You’re the one who’s more knowledgeable here, so I completely have no idea what to say.”

“You don’t have to say anything about these dresses,” Rare replied, nudging her head towards the carousel-like platform sided by three mirrors, “when you can wear these dresses, hm?”

Rarity jumped in place. “That would be delightful!”

So, she walked up to the dressing platform and saw Rare levitate a dress from the rack. The latter trotted up to her side and, after a minute of fitting and telling her to stay still, it was done.

Rarity looked at herself in the mirror, regarding the dress donned on her form. The pink, purple and yellow on it; the scarf-like features around her neck; the separate tiara on her head and in front of her horn….

“Fits like a button, doesn’t it?” Rare said, batting her eyelashes.

Rarity, with jaw hanging, nodded her head. “Why, y-yes!”

“That’s because Fluttershy actually made that dress for me,” Rare said, receiving a look of surprise from Rarity. “Kind of. I started the dress, but she finished it. It’s a long story.”

“Really? How generous of her!”

Rarity laughed at that, making her other self confused. “Considering who we are….”

“What do you mean by—oh.” Then, she snickered along before turning back to the mirror to adore herself with that dress. “I’m...fascinated. I’ve never seen a horse dressed up before, but to see an elegant unicorn such as myself graced like this...it’s smashing!”

Rare nodded and placed a firm hoof on her shoulder, giving her a gentle look. “I’m glad you like it, darling.”

The two Rarities broke out into a hug.

Rare chuckled. “That’s just one dress, though. What about I show you a couple more?”

“Absolutely!” Rarity replied, shaking her head up and down fast as she got out of the embrace..

Rare raised her hoof. “But first, some snacks are in order.”

With that, Rare trotted to the kitchen, having Rarity follow her there.

Inside, it was quite barebones comapared to the lavishness of the boutique’s main room, but Rarity did not question it—at least the shelves’ handles were made of bronze if her eyes did not deceive her.

She saw Rare hum to herself a tune as she poured hot tea from a fancy teapot. She then levitated a couple biscuits with some jam and cream on to it. The Rarities then sat down at the table, teacups ready.

“So,” Rarity began, tapping her forehooves in anxiety, “how are you?”

“Very swell!” Rare answered in high-pitched joy. “Last night, I went gem-hunting in the local caves with Maud and Spike.”

“Gem-hunting?” Rarity repeated, half-rocked to the back of her chair. “You...actually go to the caves? There are caves here?!”

“Mm-hmm!” Rare smiled, then sipped her tea. “Where else do I get my gems from?”

Needless to say, Rarity was flabbergasted. Her cracked and open mouth said it all.

“Well, other than delivery since Saddle Lake could never cough up pearls but—pfft!—nothing beats the diamonds you pry with your own hooves!”

Rarity sipped her tea. “You’re lucky to live in a mineral-rich town! You must be raking in hundreds of dollars per week—ah, I mean, bits!”

Rare shook her head, waving her teacup as it glowed in her blue aura. “A good number of the dresses I make go for free!—if not free, then at a bargain.”

Rarity’s smile disappeared, replaced with a thoughtful expression. “How are you able to sustain your business?”

“By being trustworthy and letting my clients do the promoting for me!” Rare replied, blinking fast. “Positive word of mouth is the best form of advertisement, after all.”

“True, true,” with Rarity tapping her chin, “but, what about your expenses? How much do you have to pay to keep it running? The water, the electricity, for example? What about maintaining your sewing machines—do you even have sewing machines or is that magic, too?”

Rare laughed a bit. “Darling, I don’t know if you pay exorbitant prices to maintain a business over there, but here, a lot of the necessities and amenities are provded for. The Princesses pay for a good fraction of the upkeep, so I have to hoof only...say, a fifth of the bill.”

Rarity dropped her jaw. Then, wanting to alter the subject a little: “How do you live with your Princesses?”

“Pretty well, actually,” Rare said. “I’m friends with one myself.”

Which prompted the both of them to laugh.

When Rare finished her round of humor, she said, “Though, I do say, your world’s idea of governance is...intriguing. Electing a national head of state every four years with a chance for another term?”

“Why, I’m surprised that you’re still under a monarchy,” Rare blabbed.

“Diarchy,” Rare corrected. “Two princesses, remember?”

Rarity furrowed her brows and then scratched her brows. “Wait, aren’t there five, with the baby and all?”

Rare cleared her throat. “Princess Cadance rules over the Crystal Empire only, Flurry Heart is the heiress of the Crystal Empire so she isn’t really a princess now, and Twilight is...” and took a bite of her jam biscuit, “let’s say a back-end princess. She only does behind-the-scenes work for Ponyville and nearby towns with all the special diplomacy and international talks conducted outside of Equestria—anyway, she’s already swamped with her responsibility as head mare over the School of Friendship lately, and, besides—“ sipped her tea again “—she doesn’t see herself on the same level as Princess Celestia and Princess Luna.”

“Good point.” And then, giving Rarity a weird look, “Seriously, though...you’ve never heard of republics and democracies on a massive scale?”

“Oh, we’ve heard of them in history class back when I was a foal,” Rare said. “Before the three pony tribes were united, the Earth ponies formed the Earth Pony Confederation—and it serves as the prime example for why democracy as we know it is flawed.”

Rarity was left with a twithing eye. “Wha…?”

Citing the points with her hoof, Rare continued: “What if there’s a bill or an article that obviously needs to be passed but it must first go through this house or that chamber?” After taking a sip of her tea again, pushing the biscuits aside this time, “What if the average pony doesn’t have enough knowledge of the political system? That would be populism, not democracy—an uneducated and gullible public that would quickly revert to a monarchy or, worse, a dictatorship. Also, if laws are made by the majority, then we might as well be ruled under their tyranny and the minority might as well be coerced and kiss their freedoms and rights goodbye...ooh! And, there’s this other thing about it….”

As Rarity blanked out from all the information she was receiving, queitly sipping her tea as her eye kept twitching, as her mouth quivered and as her hooves rocked.

“...and if it’s four years, is that long enough to do what you want to do, especially with such a slow process? Wait...you’re not listening, are you?”

Rariy then nodded, putting her cup of tea back to the table and her face back to relative stability. “I-I...I didn’t expect a unicorn to give me a political lecture.”

Rare shifted her eyes here and there. “Well, I don’t despise voting a leader into power—certainly not the Princesses since they allow elections in towns and cities like Manehattan, Vanhoover...Ponyville, too, since you’ve passed by the mayor’s town hall on the way here.”

“Y-Yes, I l-like that,” Rarity stuttered, her tongue about to be tied. “But...sorry, but, when I read things like The Golden Sail, those fantasy novels...it always seems—“

“Dumbed down?” Rare asked with a miffed frown.

“How did you know?”

Rare checked her hooves, seeing if they needed clipping. “Because all those weird and strange creatures in those tales aren’t given much of a voice other than, ‘Fight me!’ or ‘Save me!’ or ‘Listen to me!’”

Rarity tried to hold in a snicker since the unicorn in front of her was certainly a weird and strange creature. “Well, s-sorry, but...yeah.”

Rare cocked her head, levitating a cream biscuit to her mouth. “Of course, a creature that you’ve always seen in works of fiction suddenly popping up in real life...that would make you temporarily forget that we’re not just characters, hm?”

Rarity chuckled, blushing. “Yeah...just have to keep remembering that you actually have histories, lives, dreams, chock full of personality….”

“Which could be hard to remember at first since unicorns and other fantastical creatures aren’t your, hm, cup of tea for the moment?” With that, she downed her remaining tea.

Rarity replied with downing her tea, too.

“Though, may I hear your side of the political argument?” Rare asked, leaning closer with one ear bent in. “Chatting with my clientele has given me quite the offering of opinions and beliefs.”

“Oh, ah...” Rarity gulped, eyes darting around to find anything resembling a good rebuttal, “what if the king or queen doesn’t like you? He just makes up the laws, and he could decree you to death and it’d be legal because...he’s the leader.”

“Good point,” Rare replied with a single nod. “Half of what I’ve said can be rendered moot if they can find a way to speed up the democratic processes. On your point, though: That is why we encourage screening and background checking for any would-be successor to the Princesses...not that they would need to be succeeded, considering how they’ve lasted for so long.”

“Yeah...what with your immortal princesses….” Then, a thought struck her. She straightened herself up on her chair and asked, “Where’s your Sweetie Belle?”

Rare glanced out the window. “She’s at the CMC clubhouse.”

“They live in Canterlot?” Rarity asked further, puzzled.

“Uh, no.” Rare spun a hoof around, twirling her curly mane. “They all live here.” Levitating another biscuit to herself, “What does ‘CMC’ mean in your world?”

“The Canterlot Movie Club,” was Rarity’s curt reply.

“Well, now!” Rare smiled, putting her head back out the table. “Our CMC stands for the ‘Cutie Mark Crusaders’.”

“You mean the symbols on our flanks?” Rarity said, glancing at her three diamond-cutie mark.

“Mm-hmm!” Once again, Rare nodded. “They started out quite young when they did not have their cutie marks—which means they had not found out their destiny in life yet. One day, they got it all together, and they realized that their goal in life is to help other ponies and even other creatures with their own destinies!”

Contrary to what Rare said, the Cutie Mark Crusaders were currently not helping other ponies and other creatures with their own destinies. Instead, they were taking a break by hanging out with Zipporwhill inside their clubhouse.

“Is it something you can burn?” Apple Bloom asked, sitting down on the wooden floor with Scootaloo and Zipporwhill while Sweetie Belle sat across the space, close to the far wall where hung the pictures of the many they’ve helped through the years.

“You can burn it!” Sweetie replied, tapping the floorboard in exitement. “Two more questions!”

Scootaloo raised her hoof, flapping her wings. “Can you make it out of trees?”

Apple Bloom punched her on the shoulder. “We already asked that—“

“One more question!” Sweetie announced.

Apple Bloom groaned.

Zipporwhill flew up to the air, her tiara and glasses staying on her head. “Ooh! It’s a stick!”

Apple Bloom and Scootaloo gave this filly looks of sheer dread and sheer hope that she was somehow correct.

Sweetie closed her eyes.

Shook her head. “Close, but not quite. I was thinking of paper.”

Apple Bloom groaned again and so did Scootaloo. Zipporwhill celebrated having a close answer by zipping around the room.

Then, a knock on the door.

“Who is it?!” Scootaloo yelled, whirling around to face the door.

“It’s me!” Applejack yelled from outside.

“Sis’!” Apple Bloom cried out as she ran to open the door.

And saw two Applejacks side-by-side.

The Crusaders and Zipporwhill blinked.

They screamed, embracing each other while Apple Bloom stood between her friends and her sister’s other self. “Changeling!”

AJ raised her brow. “What’s a—“

The little filly galloped and bucked her, knocking AJ a meter out the door, almost enough to make her fall off the clubhouse.

“Apple Bloom!” Applejack yelled, trotting up to her with a scolding voice. “What’d I tell you ‘bout hurtin’ random strangers?”

“You call that a ‘random stranger’?!” Apple Bloom yelled back, pointing at a recovering AJ rubbing her head and retrieving her hat from the floor.

Applejack sighed and placed a hoof on her head. “I’ll cut straight to the chase.” She helped AJ up, wobbling around on her four hooves. “Fillies, meet Applejack!”

Those fillies bent their heads, all saying “Uh...” together in bewilderment.

“Huh-huh!” Applejack rolled her eyes, smiling. She slapped her other self on the back of her head. “Ya’ see, this is Applejack but she’s from an al’ernate world where a lot o’ things are the same but they’re tall and walk on two legs, and they got fancy technology, too.”

Scootaloo scratched her chin. “So...you have a twin from another world?”

AJ shook her head, keeping up that smile. “I’m not really her twin! Just...kinda’ the same.”

“Technology, you say?” Apple Bloom asked. Then, bouncing up to her: “Are you from outer space?!”

“Fighting aliens and saving princes from other planets?!” Sweetie shouted.

“I know you have laser guns that go pew, pew, pew!” Scootaloo yelled. “I’m sure of it!”

The smile on AJ’s face still survived. “Uh...what, now?”

And the fillies gathered around her, even Zipporwhill who instead flew around her.

In shame, Applejack covered her face with her hat.

The Applejacks walked through Sweet Apple Acres, those two now more distinguishable due to AJ having a ruffled mane and a disheveled tail. They trotted on a fenced dirt path; past the fences stood hundreds of apple trees in straight rows, covering plains and hills as far as the eye could see. Everywhere they went in the farm was the unescapable smell of fresh apples.

“How’s Apple Bloom?” Applejack asked, upbeat.

“She’s...uh, great.” AJ grimaced. “She’s also young. A lot younger than I thought she’d be.”

Applejack turned to her. “Why? How old is she in your world?”

“Old enough to be a freshman, that is.”

“So, high school?” She looked up to the sky dreamily. “Our AB’s still in elementary! A cute little bundle of joy, if ya’ ask me!”

“Um...I am you, right?” AJ asked, pointing at herself and then finding out that it was not easy to walk with three legs. “Or, isn’t it clear or...what?”

Applejack chuckled at the other’s expense. “I think Twilight’s made it clear. Same names, somewhat same looks and histories, similar...everything!” She tipped her hat at her. “But different, too.”

AJ widened her eyes. “That’s great an’ all, but...that’s a can o’ worms some philosopher or somebody’s gonna crack open sooner or later.”

“But that’s what it is and there’s no denyin’ it,” Applejack said. Then, she wrapped a hoof around her neck. “Know what, sis’?”

“Sis’?” AJ mouthed back, wondering.

“If ya’ told me all those years ago that I’d become one of those mystical Elements of Harmony, save Equestria too many times to count, and be an ambassador of friendship sent around by a crystal map inside a crystal castle, I’d have given you a mug of cider on the house.”

AJ recoiled. “Is that a threat?”

“It’s my way of helpin’ ya’,” Applejack said, winking and tipping her hat again. “When it’s cider season, o’ course. Otherwise—apple juice’s on the house.”

That thread of talk done, AJ took the opportunity to revel in the apple tree fields. “I’m still amazed...that there’s a horse runnin’ a farm and that horse is me but it ain’t exactly me.”

“You’re bringin’ home the ‘no-magic’ feel there,” Applejack said. “’Sides, what do horses do where you come from?”

AJ gulped, stuttering and stammering before getting out, “They...don’t do much. Not as much as you do now. They can neigh an’ whinny but don’t speak words, they can push an’ pull but don’t ask why, they can work an’ eat an’ love and that’s all there is to it for ‘em. We did use ‘em lots until ‘bout a century ago—had to do with wars an’ not havin’ cars—but now, most o’ the time, it’s just us takin’ care of them in the farm.” Scratching her head, “A little bit of horse racin’ here an’ there and there’s the carriage we ride, too, but that’s it for a pony in our world.”

“...so nothin’ like us?” Applejack cut in with a raised hoof, still able to walk. “No language, no societies, that kind o’ thing?”

“Not on your level.”

Applejack looked to the sky wistfully. “Topsy-turvy, huh? Here, ponies rule; there, ponies...don’t.”

AJ let her eyes falter a little. “Look. I’m sorry if I made ya’ feel a bit...sad, inferior, weird, or whatever, but that’s how it is.”

Applejack then placed her hoof on her other self’s hat, smiling. “No need to apologize. I’m not the kind of pony who’d ask you to hide from me.” She chuckled. “Actually, you got me itchin’ to know more on how we’re farin’ there!”

“And you got me itchin’ to know more on how ponies do everything here!”

Applejack shot a hoof across the air before her. “I’d be more than proud to tell you that!”

A poof! and Discord appeared before them, spinning two yo-yo’s around while wearing shades upside-down.

The two Applejacks jumped back, yelling “Discord?!” at the same time.

“Yeah, yeah,” he said with a dismissive wave of a claw. He took a giant nail cutter and slung it on his shoulder. “Those Twilights are driving me insane! I had to give away Spike, even if it’s just for half an hour! Aren’t they content with having one Spike?!”

The Applejacks watched as Discord solemnly walked back to the barn, cutting the strings of the yo-yo’s with his nail cutter.

Back inside the castle, three unicorns and one alicorn walked back inside the library. The portal was still off, the books were in place, and Spike the dragon was busy reading a couple of POWER comics at a table.

“Hey, Spike!” Sparkle greeted, beaming.

Spike looked up from his comic. “Hey, what’s...up?” He closed the book, fully sensing the two Twilights at the door. “Twilight, c-can you explain why there’s another you and the other one doesn’t have wings?”

Sparkle grinned, nudging Sci-Twi into a self-conscious grin. “This is my other self from across the mirror!” Pausing for dramatic effect, “Spike, meet Twilight Sparkle, but you can call her Sci-Twi!”

Spike looked at Sci-Twi.

Who was waving at him nervously. “H-Hi! It’s great meeting…my pet’s other self.”

Then, her Spike popped out of her bag, who then fell to the floor.

A few gasps, and Spike got out of his chair and ran to his other self to pull him up. “Here ya’ go, buddy!”

Sparkle let out a mumble. Then: “Spike, what about we call you, ‘Dragon’ and then we call Sci-Twi’s Spike...just ‘Spike’?”

Sparkle’s Spike smile at the sprightly idea. “Heh! It’d be great to be called ‘Mr. the Dragon’ again!” Then, adopting “Dragon” as his name for now and looking at Spike: “And how are you?”

Spike smiled. “Never better!” He held out his hand—no, his claw. “Clawshake?”

Dragon then shook his claw before dragging him back to his table. “First thing of the day: Wanna read some comics?”

“Yeah!”

With the dragons busy, Sunset and Starlight went to their own separate table to chat personally. This left the two Twilights trotting to another table, this one closer to both the portal and the bookshelves at the wall.

“It’s just wonderful!” Sci-Twi remarked, levitating a random book to the surface. “We’ve all known that your land’s magical and all, but nothing beats living here!”

Sparkle balked at that. “Uh-huh!”

Then, Sci-Twi leaned in. “How are your adventures in this world? How often do you do those journeys across Equestria and beyond, searching for stuff and forging friendships along the way?”

Sparkle crossed her forehooves. “Every week. There’s always a pony or someone else in need, a mission from the cutie map to solve a friendship problem for, or just a beast to defeat with the magic of friendship.

Sci-Twi giggled opening the book and flipping the pages with her magic. “Eh, how does friendship work with defeating your enemies?”

“It’s not supposed to,“ Sparkle said. “At least, principally speaking, but since magic is an energy you can use, you can turn even friendship magic into a weapon.”

“But, why—“

“That’s when we were still getting the hang of this whole Elements thing,” Sparkle said, feeling a little nervous at cutting her own self’s train of thought. “It took us some time to realize that harmony doesn’t always like beating your enemies ‘cause why do that when you can make up?”

And then, Sparkle levitated more books to the table.

Sci-Twi looked over them. “Principles of Magic? Modern Spellcasting? Magical Mysteries & Practical Potions? Even a Magical Compendium?!”

“That’s from volume one to thirty-six,” Twi said smugly, crossing her forehooves again and then closing her eyes this time.“I got volumes thirty-seven to seventy-two as well!”

Sci-Twi gulped, sweating as she drank in these writings of magic. “Wow...this is a lot of material!”

“Magic’s been an inherent part of our world since the beginning of time,” Sparkle said, opening up Modern Spellcasting, “so there was plenty of time for sorcerers, wizards, and mages to study its many fields and expand on them.”

“A-And your talent is magic!” Sci-Twi said, pointing at Sparkle’s cutie mark.

The princess blushed. “It’s not like I should brag, but I may have made a couple contributions to Canterlot Library….”

Sci-Twi lowered her glasses. “You’re also a prominent wizard who does wizarding stuff?”

“Not really,” Sparkle said, her smugness disappearing. “While I do have time to conduct experiments and open up the study of magic, I also need to set aside that time for my royal duties as the Princess of Friendship. It’s, uh...it’s a matter of balancing work and life, especially when the fate of Equestria rests on your work.”

Sci-Twi smiled.

“Honestly?” Sparkle turned to her, still lacking that smugness moments before. “A part of me’s jealous of you.”

Sci-Twi almost fell out of her chair. “What?!”

“It’s obvious.” She made a flat, hopeful smile. “You’re still a student. You still have time to go around and have fun whenever you want to. I mean, I still get to hang around with my friends—I’ve advanced enough in scheduling that I can always find some space per day,” and chuckled, remembering that she had scheduled this very minute as well “—but, there’s all this pressure on my shoulders. One misstep, and we’d have another worst-case scenario in our hooves.”

“Like right now?” asked Pinkie sitting beside her.

And the two Twilights yelled and hugged each other in fear.

Pinkie wagged a spoon around with her hoof. “Come on, girls! There’s a big electric swarm of something-somethings attacking Ponyville!”

“Again?” Sparkle asked. Then, bringing Sci-Twi with her, they ran out of the room with Sunset and Starlight.

Leaving the two Spikes to shrug their shoulders.

“Don’t worry!” Dragon said. “They’ll be done before you know it.”

“Tell me about it,” Spike replied.

They continued reading their comic books.

Lightning in a Bottle

The two Twilight Sparkles and their unicorn friends ran out of the doors to see the incoming swarm of sparks and cracking lightning surrounding hundreds of little dots in the air.

“Twittermites!” screamed Lyra as she jolted past the princess and scrambled inside the castle.

Starlight rolled her eyes and turned to Sparkle. “What’s the plan this time? Do we befriend the twittermites to death?”

“This is no laughing matter!” the princess yelled, stomping her hoof on the ground.

“Says the pony who looked kinda’ tired of this whole ‘monster-of-the-week’ thing,” Sunset said with a knowing smirk.

Sci-Twi looked up, then back at her pony friends as the swarm in the sky slowly descended, forming a circle of lightning as they spread over town. “What are they?”

“Twittermites are electrical insects that mostly hail from the Frozen North,” Sparkle replied, sounding scholarly now and closing her eyes. “They generate electricity inside themselves, but they need to discharge that regularly or else—”

“Naturally,” Sci-Twi said fast, furrowing her brows and pacing on the dirt path, “that means we have to overcharge them to stop the infestation!”

Twilight blinked. “Usually, there’s pest control, but...” looking nervously at the bugs about to touchdown on the rooftops, “he’s quite old and—“

“Idea!”

“Wait, wha—“

Sci-Twi opened her saddle bag and levitated a few black blocks out of it with a little pipe connecting all of them.

“What’s that?!” Sparkle asked in a shout, mouth agape.

Sci-Twi cuddled the contrivance. “This was my first ever attempt at making a fuel cell and—“

“What’s a fuel cell?” Twilight asked.

Sunset smiled. “Good thinking, Twi!”|

Sci-Twi levitated it around, showing it off to her and Sparkle. “This one’s in the prototype stage; it’s a proton exchange membrane fuel cell or PEMFC for short, and—“

Zap!

A cottage disintegrated, left with black piles of ash and a stallion reading a newspaper on his couch. He looked around him and then screamed before the twittermites zapped him as well.

“Hold on!” Starlight yelled as she glowed her horn.

Poof!

They were gone, the dirt path now just a lonely dirt path.

The two Applejacks blasted into Sugarcube Corner, smelling the sugar scents again.

“We came ‘ere as fast as we could, Pinkie!” Applejack shouted, seeing her and Cotton Candy using their hoses to fill up water guns.

“That’s it!” yelled Mr. Cake as he shunted a huge cabinet in the door’s way, barricading them from the outside.

The Rarities levitated several balloons as they filled them with water, Rarity cringing as she held them preacriously in her feeble magical grip. The Fluttershies were listening to Angel—Flutters’s Angel, to be precise—and were shuddering at whatever he was saying. Meanwhile, they heard fwash!’s from outside; AJ trotted to a window and saw Rainbow and Dash in the sky, the former quickly coaching the latter on how to make a raincloud.

“Are ya’ sure this is gonna work?” Applejack asked as Mrs. Cake moved several cake boxes out of the way. “Last time we tried, the joke shop got burned down and nothin’ could be salvaged!”

“We’re living in modern times, Applejack!” Pinkie stated as she armed herself with a water balloon slingshot.

“That was last week,” Applejack replied deadpan.

“Nopony likes reading yesterday’s news, silly!” Then, Pinkie brought out a water bazooka—which was really a water balloon launcher. She jumped on the counter and declared, “We’re taking them down! We will fight wherever they’re gonna fight us, and if there will be sacrifices, there will be—“

Zap!

“Agh!”

Thud!

AJ galloped to the window, almost tripped outside. She rubbed her eyes at who was there: “Rainbow Dash!”

Fluttershy gasped, stretching a hoof out to signal Angel to stop speaking. “They got Dash?!”

Rare trotted out of her table and went to AJ’s side at the window. Turning to both pegasi inside: “They got your Dash, Fluttershy!”

And everyone gasped, including the Cakes.

Fluttershy jumped out of the table and to the window, wanting to see for herself.

Amid the buzzes of bugs and the blows of thunder and the rumbling hoofsteps of fleeing ponies, Dash’s blackened body laid there—limp. Rainbow swooped down from the sky, dodging the twittermites’ lightning bolts, and landed by her other self. She gazed upon her, seeing that her eyes were closed but hearing a little moan from her mouth.

“What happened?!” Rare yelled from inside, eyes in a wild state of shock.

“She got too close to the swarm!,” Rainbow shouted, checking her pulse and opening her friend’s eyes to check on them. “She’ll be fine, but I need to bring her to the hospital pronto!” and she shot away, carrying her other self with her as she left behind a rainbow trail.

With that, AJ slammed the window panes shut, forcing Rare and Fluttershy to trot back to their tables.

“I told ya’ this won’t work!” Applejack yelled at Pinkie while shaking a balled up hoof at her. “They got RD last time before she could set up the stormclouds, and now they got the other RD on ‘er first day in Equestria!”

“Hey!” Pinkie shouted back, pointing at the farmpony from behind the counter. “My plan’s foolproof!”

“Foolproof if it went perfectly!” Applejack quipped.

“Can we stop arguing?” Flutters suggested, raising her voice. “I don’t think we’re going a-anywhere.”

“Let’s follow through with the plan,” Mr. Cake said as he stepped in between the baker and the farmer, making everyone look at him by taking his own baker’s hat off. “If we can’t stop the swarm, we can at least make them leave sooner; that’s what we were able to do back on Monday, and I’m sure we can do that today!”

Zap!

And the Fluttershies let out their “Eep!”’s and huddled under the table, much to Angel’s chagrin as he slapped himself on the head.

“But we better do it quickly!” Mrs. Cake said, frightened as she moved boxes of pies and cupcakes into a drawer.

Then, Pinkie and Cotton got their weapons out, their water guns filled to the brim.

“I say let’s get this show on the road!” Cotton said, putting on a pair of shades and hoofing another to Pinkie.

“Ooh, shades!” Pinkie blathered, wiping them clean and clear with a rag.

The Rarities clenched their jaws and levitated their arsenal of water balloons, forming a floating array of frail colors around them. “We’re ready for them!” Rare shouted.

Fluttershy raised her hoof as she and Flutters got up from the table, catching most ponies’ attention. “Angel said she’s going to go outside and distract the twittermites while we prepare.”

And Angel leaped out of the table and bounced out an open window.

Which Mr. Cake promptly closed. “Thanks! Forgot about that one!”

Pinkie stood up on the counter. “Everypony!”

“Pinkie,” Applejack began with a shake of her head, “this is no time for a rousin’ spee—“

“Last week, we’ve merely deflected the enemy!” Pinkie pumped a hoof to the air. “Today, we will make the enemy cry ‘Mommy!’ until it comes running home back where it belongs!”

“Pinkie,” rang an irritated Applejack.

“Today, we will show those twittermites that we’re not pushovers! We’re not weak! We’re not going to fall!”

Cotton Candy jumped up to the counter, standing beside Pinkie. Facing her audience of ten, “We will show them that the ponies of Ponville will live in this ‘ville!”

“Wow,” Rarity commented, whispering to Rare’s ear. “She’s so into this pony thing, I think it’s getting scary.”

“We’ll all assemble at Pinkie’s bedroom!” Cotton proclaimed, raising both water guns into the air. “There, we shall commence a battle that will end in sure victory! On the count to three—“

Zap!

And another thud! AJ peeked out the window. “W-Wait...Derpy?”

“Derpy?!” everyone else shouted, turning their heads there.

“Three!” screamed Pinkie.

And those two pink ponies raced up the stairs.

As more ponies screamed outside, galloping everywhere.

Applejack took out her rope with her mouth. “Let’s rustle up these critters!”

Rare lowered her brow, on the way to the stairs with her floating balloons. “And how are you going to catch those flying electrical bugs with that?”

AJ took out her rope as well. “Guess we’ll find out!”

Zap!

She groaned. “What now?!” and she looked out the window.

The farmpony bent her head up and saw a couple unicorns and the princess standing on a house, set on the hay roof.

Sci-Twi was levitating her jumbled up fuel cell blocks closer to the swarm.

“Just a little closer!” she cried, floating the device around as it guzzled down its stored fuel, collided with the air, and emitted both sparks of electricity and splashes of water, overloading the twittermites pack by pack as they got knocked out and fell.

Yet, the remaining bugs converged closer to her.

Starlight glowed her horn and surrounded everyone with a magical force field, tinting everything outside blue.

“How long can you hold this up?!” Sunset asked, not taking her eyes away from the sinking twittermites, hearing their sparks and zaps, seeing their cute eyes and their lightning-shaped stingers approaching.

“As long as they don’t zap us all at once,” Starlight replied as she sweated, “we’ll be totally fine!”. Then, looking at the princess and growing agitated, “Why aren’t you doing anything?!”

Sparkle did not look at her. Instead, her eyes were on Sci-Twi as her knees buckled, head giving way as her horn grew brighter and brighter, fuel cells whizzing around and taking out more twittermites.

“I don’t know what she’s doing,” Sparkle said, then, breaking out into a smile, “but it’s working!”

Sci-Twi felt a hoof slipping, then planted her hoof on the hay surface. Grunting through bared teeth, her horn glowing brighter still and her nerves straining, closing her eyes under earing pain, focusing as she levitated her contraption around, hearing less buzzing and less lightning though they were all closing in on the force field, and—

“Where are my pancakes?!”

Sci-Twi shot out of her bed, inhaling and exhaling fast after shouting that. She tried to check the pulse on her neck, but then realized she did not have the fingers to do so.

And saw that she was on a medical bed, wearing a patient’s drab green shirt.

All her friends in the room roared in applause, stomping and clapping their hooves.

Sci-Twi blinked at them, then rubbed her eyes behind her glasses. “What happened? D-Did we win?”

“Why’d ya’ think we’re cheerin’, sugarcube?” AJ said, trotting up to her bedside and rustling her mane. “I don’t know how you did it, but ya’ did it!”

“And to think I got bored halfway through your lecture!” Sunset added, tugging her striped mane. “Maybe if we sell your fuel cell as a pesticide, people would actually start listening to you!”

Sci-Twi frowned. “Hey!”

Sparkle trotted to her side as well, placing a hoof on her shoulder and seeing her other self mellow down. “I...I honestly have no idea what a fuel cell is, but you saved Ponyville with it!” Trying to contain her curiosity: “What does it do? Is it like a battery but better?”

“Don’t make her talk about it!” came Dash’s voice.

And they all looked at the adjacent bed and saw Dash lying there, lightly patched up with bandages.

Dash smiled and made a nervous laugh at her crowd of friends. “Learning weather control the hard way, am I right, girls?

Rainbow flew out and and landed beside her, giving her other self a hoofbump. “You and me? We’ll go a long way together!” and she spread one of her wings and wrapped Dash’s head with it.

Dash bumped her hoof again. “Can’t deny it!”

Rainbow raised a brow and smirked. “You’re getting with the culture! Keep this up, you’ll be a full-fledged member of the weather team in no time!”

Then, the door opened and a nurse arrived, rolling a food cart into view. “Here ya’ go, dearies! Greens and cranberry jelly with carrot juice!” She glowed her horn and levitated the trays to both patients, complete with spoons, forks, and knives.

Dash dispensed with the utensils, opting to eat with her hooves.

“Thank you, nurse!” Sci-Twi said, smiling as she received it on her hindlegs, sitting up.

“You’re welcome!” Having fixed her hat, the nurse eyed the patients and their friends strangely as she headed out. She mumbled, “The things I go through in Ponyville….”

Much of the crowd spread out, with the Rarities and the Fluttershies sitting down on the floor to chat about Angel though he was sleeping, the Pinkie Pies making balloon animals and having a competition to see who could make the wackier balloon, and the Applejacks went with Rainbow to take care of a healing Dash—they opted to play a game of Cloud Destroyer, setting up the board game and the pieces on their flat grids. As for Sunset and Starlight, they resumed their conversation by the door, talking about the former’s magical exploits in her world.

This left Sparkle taking up a chair to sit by Sci-Twi’s side.

“Since you’ve already tasted pony food the first time,” Sparkle started, “I’m sure there won’t be any problems this time!”

Sci-Twi rubbed her cheeks. “What’re you talking about?”

“You gagged at the thought of eating hay and I could sense it,” Sparkle noted. “I expected you to know that we ponies eat hay regularly; it’s pretty much an Equestrian staple!”

“Well,” Sci-Twi began, “I was counting on you having better cuisine since you’re a princess!”

Sparkle nickered, her ears folding back. “Just because I’m a princess doesn’t mean I’ll stop eating hay. Even Princess Celestia eats hay all the time!”

Sci-Twi’s eyes went wide. “You just made a horse sound!”

“Because we’re horses,” Sparkle replied, chuckling after. “We snort, we blow, we squeal, we neigh!”

Sci-Twi covered her mouth. “And what will you do if I end up horsing around?”

“Oh, don’t be ashamed!” Sparkle said, throwing a hoof off. “You’re a pony. Might as well get used to everything being a pony entails.”

Sci-Twi looked to the side. Then, closing her eyes:

Neigh!

And everyone looked at her.

Sci-Twi blushed. “Heh-heh-heh...yay?”

“Good for you!” Starlight said. “You’re catching on!”

She and all her friends shared a turn of laughter, half-teasing and half-congratulatory.

Rarity’s ears drooped as she refrained from cheering Sci-Twi. “I hope I’ll never have to do that.”

Rare gave her a little push on her back. “Sooner or later, you will, darling.”

“I won’t.”

“Nope. You will.”

Then, turning to her food, Sci-Twi levitated her spoon to scoop up the jelly—

“Wait a minute,” she said, inspecting the spoon up close as it glowed her pink. “This spoon seems awfully familiar.”

Sunset’s ears perked up and she looked her way. “Did you say, ‘spoon’?” Totting over to her: “Could that be one of your missing spoons?”

Sci-Twi gulped, rotating it around. “It has the same shape, the same details, the same...everything!”

“Uh, Sunset?” Sparkle asked, looking at the two of them gathering around the spoon. “What’s going on?”

Sunset levtiated the spoon out of Sci-Twi’s magical grasp, turning the glow red. “Last Saturday, almost all of Twilight’s spoons went missing.”

“You sure you checked every nook and cranny?” Sparkle asked.

“We checked it before we went to Sunset’s for the night,” Sci-Twi replied. “It wasn’t there, not even in my bedroom!”

Starlight stood up and sighed. “I know where the nurses get their spoons. Wait right here.”

And then she glowed her horn and disappeared.

Sparkle tapped the bed, whispering, “One, two, three—“

And Starlight reappeared, levitating a lanky brown pegasus with a spoon and a fork as his cutie mark. His teeth were clattering, he looked left and right and up and down, and his hooves and wings shook vigorously.

Starlight put him down gently.

“Tomato Marmalade?” Sparkle asked in a quiet voice, getting out of her chair to bend to his level. “You sould your silverware to Ponyville General yesterday, right?”

“Th-Th-That’s c-c-c-correct, y-your H-Highness!” he stuttered, then bowed down before the princess.

Sparkle rolled her eyes. “You don’t have to that; now stand up.”

He did so, his legs still shaky, about to fall apart.

“Where did you get the spoons?” Sparkle inquired, having stood up with him.

With the eyes of everyone on him, he raised his forehooves and cried, “Alright, I admit it!”

Starlight lowered her brow and made an accusing smile. “So you’ve been crossing the portal and stealing spoons to make a quick buck?! I knew it!”

“Wh-What portal?” he asked, surprised.

Starlight grinned a fake grin. “Nevermind what I just said, but...what are you admitting?”

“Don’t you see?!” Marmalade yelled. “The knives I’ve been selling all this time? They were made by me!” and pointed a wing at himself.

Sparkle looked confused. “And why’s that bad?”

“I didn’t wanna say anything because if they knew I made knives—“ he looked at his cutie mark “—they’d be saying I’m a liar, a fraud! They sell more than the spoons and forks which I don’t make—I didn’t even buy the spoons from yesterday ‘cause they appeared in my basement—but I hide a forge and a grinder inside my basement, too! I keep it secret by a dozen locks straight from the Crystal Empire, a-and—“

He fell down to the floor and sobbed.

Starlight levitated him out of the floor. Facing her friends: “I’ll counsel him in private. I’m sure this spoon situation is another adventure you girls are gonna handle.”

“Finally!” Dash flapped her wings, hovering out of her bed. “I’m not gonna stay here lying around!”

“Me, too!” Sci-Twi said, jumping to the floor on her four hooves. “Looks like stray Equestrian magic’s on the loose in our world,” and groaned. “Again.”

“Uh, are we going?” Rainbow asked, pointing at the friends she was familiar with and not the other-worldly versions.

“We’ll see,” Sparkle replied, sounding sturdy. Glowing the door open, “For now, we need everyone just in case, but first: doctor’s permission to leave!”

And all but Starlight and Marmalade ran out of the hospital room, Marmalade being comforted by Starlight’s pats on the back.

Caught Slipping

Everypony rushed through the library’s doors.

Spike fell off his chair, comic book falling flat on his face.

Dragon hopped down and pulled his dog-turned-dragon self up. “Problem?”

“Big problem!” Sparkle shouted, levitating the journal out of its spot.

The Spikes rushed to their respective Twilights, standing by their sides as everyone else looked at the princess with bated breath.

Sparkle floated a quill and an inkwell to her side and wrote.

“Luna?” Principal Celestia asked as the sisters strolled around in a greeting card store, hearing smooth bossa nova inside.

Luna groaned and glared at her with baggy eyes. “What is it, sister?”

“What do you think would make a perfect gift for Cadance next week?” Celestia asked. She picked up a mug with a couple hearts in its design; even the handle was shaped like half of a heart.

Luna rolled her eyes. “A bribe?”

Celestia took a card from the shelf, reading the pink letters imposed on a white background. “Here’s one! ‘You are the best person I’ve met in my entire life, so have a happy birthday!’”

“What do you say to the second-best person?” Luna snarked, rubbing her aching forehead as she looked at the sky outside.

The bright but irritating blue sky.

Celestia walked to the window and looked up at the sun. “Sorry to go off-topic, but judging from the sun’s position, I’d say it’s ten thirty-three.”

Luna brought up her phone, keeping up that glare. “Nice try, sister, but your forgetfulness to bring your watch has—“

And opened her mouth in astonishment. She re-read the time on her phone.

Ten thirty-three A.M.

Luna looked at her sister who was admiring the beautiful sunshine, her sister’s face complementing the glow the sun was giving her. “How were you able to do that?”

Celestia chuckled, turning away from the window and back to the isles of cards. “Not sure. It just came naturally.”

Luna lowered a brow. “But you’ve always failed when you tried to tell the time with—” and stopped herself, eyes dilating.

She pushed Celestia to the window, eliciting an “Oh!” from her.

“Look directly at the sun again!” Luna ordered, pointing a finger upwards.

That garnered more than a few odd looks from the cashiers and the other customers there, surprised to see some showmanship from a vice principal—and perhaps a lack of concern for her sister’s eyesight.

“Why the sudden request?” Celestia asked kindly albeit puzzled.

Luna checked her phone then went to her clock app, seeing the seconds hand tick by. “If you think you are so good at telling the time with your method, then tell me the seconds, too!”

“Sibling rivalry getting to you?” Celestia said, putting a hand to her hip.

Luna rolled her eyes again. “I will see if I can do the same with moon later tonight which will certainly not turn out well. Now, do as I have told you, sister!”

Celestia smiled. “Alright, just to satisfy your curiosity.”

The principal looked up at the sun again. She squinted her eyes, her vision never blinded by the sun’s light.

“That’d be...” bent her head to the side, “about ten seconds to ten thirty-four.”

Luna looked back at her phone’s ticking clock.

It just ticked ten seconds to ten thirty-four.

“There’s...there’s no mistaking it!” Luna said, placing a hand on her sister and shoving the phone to her face. “You have uncannily developed the ability of precisely knowing what time it is just by looking at the sun’s position in the sky!” She raised both hands in joy. “You are a living sundial!”

Celestia smiled. “Comeuppance for what happened back at camp all those years ago?”

“You started it, Celie,” Luna said, pointing a finger at her now.

Then, her bag rumbled.

Celestia’s smile disappeared, noticing the bag. “A message from Sunset?”

Luna shifted around, making sure her back was turned against everyone else in the store as she opened her bag and took out the item in question.

It was Sunset’s journal, vibrating like a cellphone.

Both sisters frowned at the sight of it.

“This is not good,” Luna said as she flipped through the pages and finally saw the glowing letters:

Dear Vice Principal Luna, is anything strange going on magic-wise?

Celestia took out a ballpen and handed it to Luna whose hands were trembling.

Luna put the ballpen on the paper, putting a dot which was supposed to become full-fledged letter. However, she turned to Celestia, inked tip on the page. “Well, there is the strange cold spreading throughout the city.”

Celestia rubbed her chin, looking back at the sky for thoughts. “Yes, the so-called cold that is behaving nothing like the common cold if we’re to believe today’s texts and news reports: turning all infected into practical vegetarians, causing wildy different symptoms from one person to the next, and, coupled with the spike in jewelry sales—“

Luna held up a hand, causing her sister to stop. “Vegetarians, different symptoms, people buying more jewelry than ever before….” Tapping her head with the ballpen, “This has the scent of magic in it, but I do not know what.”

Then, Celestia’s calm frown dipped. “I just realized: My princess self in the other world raises and lowers the sun, right?”

“Your memory does not fail you,” Luna said, “which means—“

And she gasped.

Luna yanked Celestia out the store and onto the sidewalk, making her drop the greeting card to the floor. Bringing her closer, she whispered with a deeper accent of fear, “You’re gaining Princess Celestia’s powers!”

Celestia looked at her hands, and then at the sun. “If that’s the case, it’s only a matter of time before I could...raise and lower the sun?” She took a step back, sighed, and leaned on the store’s facade. “It’s making sense now! I can’t eat meat because Princess Celestia can’t eat meat, I could tell the time from the sun because I’m getting her magical powers, and the jewelry—“

“Could become magical relics!” Luna completed. “Just like how they are depicted in fiction!”

Then, she gasped.

“We do gain traits of our pony selves!”

And covered her mouth.

“Old English?!” Luna exclaimed. “Since when did we—“

“Because, if I remember correctly from what Sunset’s told me right after her confessions,” Celestia replied, even her tone wavering a little, “your princess self used to speak in some kind of royal voice!”

Luna then looked at her sister, terrified. “I-Is that why I had the huge headache this morning while you felt strangely rejuvenated? What wilt happen when—ah!” Covered her mouth. “There it is again! This is going beyond amateur age jokes!”

Celestia tapped her foot, now pulling her sister a little closer. “Does that mean we’re...” gulped, “we’re becoming ponies?”

Luna’s eyes went wide.

She grabbed the ballpen.

“We must write before we lose our fingers!” Luna yelled, scribbling furiously on the journal.

Ring! Ring! Ring!

Celestia picked up her phone, taking the call. “Yes, hello? Why, Hard Hat, how are you?” A frown and a suppressed gasp. “Oh? Bulk Biceps did what to the statue?”

Sparkle gasped, closed the journal, and levitated the book to its spot above the mirror portal.

“What does it say?” Sunset asked, trotting forward with Sci-Twi.

“It’s...it’s not good news,” Sparkle said as magical electricity sparked out of the journal and into the contraption’s various parts with its zap!’s. “There’s been a disease spreading in Canterlot as of this morning, but it’s no normal disease.”

“What is it?” Sci-Twi asked.

Sparkle took a deep breath and: “It’s slowly turning people into ponies!”

Everypony, plus every dragon—all two of them—gasped, Rarity falling to the floor but not fainting.

“With magic and all?!” Sci-Twi yelled, having blocked a brief smile.

“Looks like it,” Sparkle said, worry in her voice. “Luna’s heard people talking about Trixie’s magic shows today, and from the sound of it, she’s already developed real magic in your world!”

Starlight stomped her hoof and pawed the floor. “Why did Trixie have to teach her? Does she know anything about meddling in cross-dimensional affairs?!”

Sci-Twi’s friends looked at each other concerned, whispering among themselves.

Sparkle glanced at the portal as the purple swirl appeared on it. “I may not know much about the details of cross-dimensional affairs, but I know what will happen if we don’t stop this magical infestation.”

Rarity gasped, having been revived from her near swoon. “They’ll all become ponies?!”

“And other Equestrian creatures,” Sparkle said, turning her body to everyone else, “depending on who’s what here and there, but that’s not the worst of it.” She huffed, flicked her tail: “If we don’t stop it in time, magic will go far beyond Canterlot City. It will spread across the area, and then the state, and then the country, and then the continent...” and her ears drooped, mouth left hanging open. “Before we know it, the whole world will become magical!”

“That’d be too late, right?” Cotton asked, raising her hoof politely.

“Far too late, Pink—I mean, Cotton,” Sparkle replied. “The effects would be irreversible, everyone will be stuck as Equestrian creatures, and magic would take over everything!”

“Then what are we waiting for?!” Sunset yelled as she galloped to the portal. “Let’s go!”

And bumped into the mirror.

She fell down.

The ponies gasped, all gathering around Sunset as some pulled her back up on her four hooves.

Sunset shook her head, chasing the pain away, then looked at the swirling portal. “Huh? What gives?”

Sparkle trotted to the portal and placed a hoof on it.

Like it was a solid wall.

She pushed it. No results; her hoof did not go through one inch.

The swirl fizzled out with a shwam!, reverting to a normal mirror.

“Wh-What?!” Sparkle blurted out. “N-No...no!”

AJ trotted slowly to the portal, taking care not to trip. “Is our way back home gone?!”

Dash flew to the mirror, shoving Sparkle out of the way and did everything she could think of: scratch it, rub it, clean it with a towel, even push her weight against it.

Then, Rainbow pulled her out, wearing a feeble frown as she put her down.

“Hey!” Dash yelled, slapping her hoof and releasing herself. “You’re not taking me away from everyone I love!”

“What?!”

As the little argument grew back and forth, Starlight went over to Fluttershy who was tearing up, breaking down on the floor.

“What i-if we can never go back?” Fluttershy asked, voice choked.

Cotton Candy needed no waiting when it came to crying; she burst into tears, Pinkie and Rare coming to her aid by hugging her, not minding the torrent gushing out of her eyes.

Rarity and AJ got the care and comfort of Flutters who did her best to not well up like her other self. The farmpony took her hat off and placed it to her chest, closing her eyes in silent sadness; the fashionista took out a box of tissues, ready to wipe her face as she held back her own set of tears as much as possible.

Applejack, Starlight, Spike, and Sparkle went to Sci-Twi’s side as she took out her glasses and sniffled.

Spike looked on at the defunct portal. “What now?”

Dragon patted him on the back. “They’ll find a way. When it comes to world-ending scenarios, they’ll always find a way.”

Sparkle then looked up, seeing the journal rumble and beep.

She gasped. “There’s more!”

Everyone looked at the book, too, as Sparkle floated the journal down and opened it.

“They what?” asked Luna as she and her sister ran down the sidewalk and past quiet houses, cars whizzing by and an ambulance racing down.

“Bulk Biceps joined the soccer team as a substitute,” Celestia said between gasps and pants. “Looks like we may have at least two broken walls and a cracked statue in our hands.”

“And if the statue is cracked,” Luna began deducing, “then the portal is damaged!”

While she ran, she jotted more on the journal, handwriting becoming deformed in her fast pace.

They came upon the school, seeing a new and shiny marble horse statue lying on its side and the statue’s base chipped with some highly visible cracks and chinks on it. A construction crew with their helmets and their flashy vests were talking heatedly with the soccer team in their uniform, one of those players extremely muscular and towering over his teammates.

The principal sisters crossed the street and approached the crew and the team. They crossed their arms as everyone else looked at the two.

“What seems to be the problem?” Celestia asked, neither smiling nor frowning.

“It was all Bulk Biceps’s fault,” Fleetfoot said, taking a shot at the big man who then cowered behind a paper bag.

“It was not my fault!” Bulk yelled from behind said paper bag, the gust from his lungs blowing out Fleetfoot’s wind-swept hair. Turning to the principals and pointing at the whole team: “They were telling me to the kick the ball hard so I can score the goal!”

“Uh-uh,” Hard Hat cut in, holding a clipboard and probably feeling important that way. “I got the testimony of Field Forehoof and Patinando, and they’re enough to back me up on this!” Pointing his pencil at Bulk, “He did this ‘cause he wanted to. I mean, look at him! His muscles are so big, they’re practically fireproof!”

“Not to mention the light show you were having, too!” Spitfire yelled, holding up her whistle.

“I didn’t make any light shows!” Bulk yelled back, the wind sweeping Spitfire’s hair, too. “You saw it, I saw it—I was nowhere near it when those shiny lights went to the sky!”

“Then why did you have firecrackers in your bag?” Hard Hat said, picking up his backpack like it was indisputable evidence.

“Hey!” Bulk then grappled with the construction man and tried to pry his bag away. “Didn’t your parents tell you it’s bad to snoop?!”

“See how that logic stands up to the police!” Hard Hat shouted, struggling to keep the bag but failing against Bulk’s might, veins showing.

Celestia stepped in and placed a hand on both of them. “Stop!”

And they stopped, shoving each other away as they stood up.

Luna kept her arms crossed, eyeing everyone in the vicinity. “So, let us get this straight: For whatever reason, the soccer ball was kicked so hard it went over the school,” glancing at the rather unbroken state of the school’s walls, “and landed on the statue with enough force to inflict considerable damage to it.” She cleared her throat. “Are we following?”

And everyone nodded, but Hard Hat shook his hands and his head and looked at Bulk again. “Buddy, you’re sure your muscle mass is healthy at this point? You could’ve deflated the thing!”

“I am not unhealthy!” Bulk said, punching his fists together. “Do you wanna fight?!”

Celestia stepped in again, holding out both hands towards the belligerents. “Stop already! This kind of talk will only escalate into more violence,” and glaring at Hard Hat, “and I can contact your superiors for inciting violence on school grounds!”

Hard Hat gulped, tugged at his collar.

Luna sighed, then blurted out loud, “Have you seen anything...magical?”

Both construction workers and soccer players scratched their heads, exchanging more one-line questions with each other.

“On second thought,” Fleetfoot said, making Luna look, “the firecrackers haven’t exploded in his bag so it’s not from whatever’s inside.”

“Then what do you think could be the cause of, say, the ‘light show’?” Luna asked, slower this time.

And everyone looked at each other, wondering.

“Where did you think those lights come from?” Celestia asked Bulk.

He held his paper bag closer to his face. “Um...I-I—“

“From the school’s front yard,” Soarin said, raising his hand.

“Where the statue is!” Luna remarked.

Hard Hat sighed. “So...magic?”

Luna nodded. “It is the only sensible explanation at this point.”

The construction man turned to his co-workers. “Be on the alert, guys. We might be busy today.”

With that, they went back to fixing the statue.

As for the soccer team, they gathered together and spoke with one another.

Celestia got her phone. “I’ll be having a meeting with the mayor.” Then, taking a few steps towards her sister who was rubbing her head in discomfort, “Luna, call me if things get worse and keep updating Sunset and her frie—are you OK?”

Luna was taking out a pill. She swallowed it dry. “I think we’ll be better,” and then winced at using the royal we.

Celestia sighed and placed a hand on her shoulder. In a hushed voice: “If it’s true that we’re becoming ponies, then nothing short of magic is going to stop it.”

Luna’s eyes went wide again. Under her sister’s gaze, she got the rest of her pills out from her bag, seeing them in their many colors.

She put them back inside, zipped the bag shut.

Celestia dialed the mayor’s number and walked away to the sidewalk, phone by her ear.

Fleetfoot ran out of the group and approached Luna, worry on her face. “Vice Prinicpal Luna, what’s going on?”

Luna sighed, glancing at her bag. “I am afraid to know what is going on.”

Interrupted Programming

Bon Bon put a bowl of salad on the table, then she put away her apron.

Back at her house, Bon Bon and Lyra sat at the dining table, ready to eat fresh salad with some apple juice. There was not much else they saw in this humble abode; the usual trappings like pictures, books, television set, and potted plants hung around.

Lyra rolled her eyes and groaned, hoodie and shades back on her form. “Really?!”

“As they say,” Bon Bon began: “Eat your greens.”

Lyra stretched her arms, cracked her neck. “I know they’re good for me, but what about you add bacon bits? Couldn’t you do that?”

“And risk you puking?” Bon Bon replied with a raised brow. “Not here.”

“They’re just little, teeny-tiny, inny-weeny pieces of bacon!” Lyra shouted, rubbing two fingers to show how small they were.

“Yeah, and a little, teeny-tiny, inny-weeny drop of poison can have adverse effects on your body,” Bon Bon fired back.

Lyra then stabbed the salad bowl with her fork, pouting in discontent as she ate straight from it, munching slow and loud, all with a piercing glare directed against her friend.

Bon Bon gave off an unamused face. “Looking at me like that won’t make me pity you.”

Then, without taking her eyes off her friend, Lyra stood up from the chair, grabbed all the dressing bottles, put them on the table, sat back down, and drizzled her empty plate with everything there: sour cream, ranch, salad cream, peanut, ginger, and so on. She stabbed another forkful of salad, smashed it on her plate, rubbed it against the mish-mash of dressing soup, and ate her rather overwhelming and stinky bite of greens.

All while glaring at her friend with exaggerated eyes and lips—of course, she took off her shades for that.

Bon Bon remained unfazed. “Throwing tantrums won’t work.”

“At least it tastes good now!” Lyra shouted.

Beep!

Bon Bon took our her phone. With a look of surprise, “Huh? A text from the vice principal?”

Lyra rubbed her mouth with her bare hand, careful not to stain her jacket. “Classes are canceled tomorrow, aren’t they?” She moaned and covered half of her face. “What’re we gonna do?!”

“Wait.” Bon Bon held up her hand. “Keep eating.”

Lyra rolled her eyes again and kept eating.

Bon Bon read the text.

The next thing she did was pull out of her chair, go across the living room, lock the front door, close all the windows, turn on the lights, and go back to the table.

Lyra eyed her suspiciously. “Uh, what’re you—“

“Sh!” Bon Bon placed a finger on her lips. “Luna’s texted me and everyone else in the Model CHS Club.”

“So the four of you?” Lyra asked, pestering a little. “Did you get in trouble?”

“Not just us,” Bon Bon said, lowering her voice to a vicious yet clear whisper. “All of us are in trouble.”

Lyra gasped. “Did someone hack into the school’s network?!”

“Worse.” Bon Bon glanced at the text on her phone, rubbing her head. “Luna’s assigned the four of us to act in case of a catastrophe.”

“Is there an earthquake coming?!” Lyra said then ducked under her table. Shuddering under her flimsy cover if debris would fall, “Is there a fire?!”

“Not even close!”

Bon Bon dragged her prone friend out of her uncomfortable zone.

Lyra floundered on her chair, and then got up and sat back down. Facing Bon Bon with wild eyes, “Wh-What is it?! Tell me!”

Bon Bon let out a sigh. “When I tell you what’s going to happen, promise me that you won’t scream, freak out, or do anything dumb. Promise?”

“I’ll even make a Pinkie Promise!” Lyra pleaded.

Bon Bon shook her head. “No need. Just promise, OK?”

Lyra clattered her teeth, bit her nails. With a small nod, “I’ll try.”

Bon Bon pulled a chair closer to her and sat down. With clasped hands on the table and after three sighs of trying to think of something workable: “We’re turning into magical ponies.”

Lyra blinked.

She laughed, slapped her knee. “Great one, Bon Bon!” and raised her hand for a high-five.

Bon Bon left her hanging and lowered her hand. “I’m not joking, but I wish I was. Luna herself confirmed that much.” With that, she showed Lyra the text on the phone.

It read: To all MCHS Club students: Magic is being spread in the city via the “cold”. This cold is changing people into ponies and perhaps other magical creatures from Sunset’s dimension. I’ve texted you and other persons about this so that we can prevent or at least minimize any trouble this will cause.

There were more texts underneath, but Lyra looked away, blinking rapid.

Shivering, breath caught in her throat.

Lyra screamed and ran to the counter. She hid under it, tucking herself away from Bon Bon’s sight.

She heard footsteps, closer and closer.

“No!” Lyra shrieked, holding her hands on her head. “I’ve already had a horrible time back in Equestria! I don’t want to repeat it!”

“Well, we’re going to have to get used to being ponies again,” came Bon Bon’s stern voice as she appeared. “She even sent another text about how to walk on four legs in case one of us is already a pony.”

“In case?!” Lyra shouted.

Her eyes went wide. She inhaled a huge gulp of breath.

“That’s why everyone’s acting weird!” Lyra said, rising up from the counter. “That’s why everyone’s becoming leaf-eating savages!”

Bon Bon gave her a knowing glare. “You better stop using that phrase.”

Then, Lyra went to the wall and leaned on it as much as she could. “What’s gonna h-happen? When is it happening?!” She stretched her already ruffled hair into more ruffled proportions. “Are we doomed?!”

“Luna told us to wait for Sunset Shimmer and everyone else,” Bon Bon said, walking to her side to lean by her. “Their ‘secret’ field trip? Turns out they’re hanging out in Equestria.”

“What?!” Lyra slumped down on the floor. “Our heroes aren’t even on the planet?!”

“Inconvenient timing. I know.”

Bon Bon then sat down beside her, both of them now sitting against the wall and staring at a fridge, some spatulas, and a couple frying pans.

“All we have to do now,” Bon Bon said, “is weather this one out until they come here. Luna’s already contacted them; they must have something.”

“But how long are we going to wait?!” Lyra replied, becoming hysterical. “What if they’re late and we’re all ponies?! You...you can’t just ask me to be cool with being a pony!

“Hey, at least you’ll be a unicorn,” Bon Bon said, being a little casual. “As far as I remember, I didn’t have a horn or a pair of wings when I stumbled into Equestria.”

Lyra threw her hands down. “OK, I’ll give you that, but that’s still a pony!” She spread her arms out in disbelief. “I don’t have any idea how magic works, so if I turn into a unicorn now, what am I going to do?!”

“Maybe it’ll just come to your mind,” Bon Bon said, “just like how Twi and everyone else didn’t read a book on magic to defeat fantasy creatures.”

Lyra groaned again. “I can’t just—neigh!”

And covered her mouth.

Bon Bon looked at her, jaw dropped. “Did you just...neigh?”

Lyra nodded, eyes half-closed, about to sneeze.

Then, she was glowing.

Bon Bon stood up, stepping back from her and raising an arm to shield herself from the brightness. “Wh-What’s happening?!”

The light grew, Lyra becoming engulfed in the glow.

Poof!

It was gone in a flash.

Bon Bon opened her eyes and saw Lyra again on the floor, rubbing her head and moaning.

Lyra the unicorn, that was.

Bon Bon looked at all the doors and windows, saw no one, then kneeled down by Lyra’s side. “A-Are you alright, Lyra?!”

Lyra groaned, rubbing her eyes into wakefulness. “Uh...wha?”

Bon Bon felt the sweat on her forehead as she got her phone, looking for some contacts. “Uh, we may need to hide you for a while.”

“Hide me?” Lyra asked, raising a hand in confusion. “What do you—“

And saw that her hand was a hoof.

“I-Is that...aah!”

Brought both of her forehooves into view.

“Aah!”

Looked up and saw her horn.

“Aah!”

Spun her head around and saw her mane, her cutie mark, and her tail.

“Aah!”

Then, she looked at Bon Bon, teary-eyed.

“H-Help me!” Lyra shouted, holding both forehooves out to her. “I-I don’t know how I can live like this!”

Bon Bon closed her phone and put it in her pocket. “Good thing we closed everything. No one’s gonna see you for now.”

“Y-Yes!” Lyra yelled, closing her eyes. “Now—woah!”

As she was picked up by Bon Bon who was straining under her weight. “You’re quite heavy for a pony!” and then she brisked up the stairs.

“Where are you taking me?!” Lyra screamed over the floor, feeling weightless and helpless in the air.

“To the guest room!” Bon Bon shouted. “Stay there and be quiet while I’ll make sure no one’s catching on!”

Lyra gulped, seeing the hallways recede as they moved.

Lyra was plopped on her bed.

Her bedroom was basic. Aside from a backup lyre, a couple unfinished knitting projects, and a rack of mainstream CDs, there was not much that differentiated her bedroom from others’. At least the wall was painted mint green just like her coat of hair; it also smelled like mint, too.

Bon Bon looked at the pony, seeing her still shuddering as she looked upon her hooves, about to blubber into tears again.

“B-But, why?!” she shouted, tears pouring down.

“Sh!” Bon Bon put two fingers on her lips. “If you keep acting like that, the neighbors are gonna hear us and they’ll come knocking!”

Lyra shrank back, almost falling to her pillow, shaking her mane with her head. “A-Are you going outside?”

Bon Bon glanced at the door and looked down. “Not really. Only if there’s an emergency going on.”

“Isn’t this an emergency?!” Lyra shouted, pointing a hoof at her muzzle. “Your friend just turned into a pony out of nowhere and you’re wondering about emergencies outside?!”

“Quiet!”

Lyra stopped, her ears drooping.

Bon Bon slapped herself on the head. “Sorry, Lyra, but—“ sighed “—this is unlike anything I’ve ever seen.” She stood up and paced on the floor, seeing Lyra’s trailing stare at her. “Sure, there was the Fall Formal, the very night when we realized Sunset was a magical unicorn from a magical land and that she wanted to brainwash us into becoming her zombie slaves. Sure, there’s the Battle of the Bands and we realized we were brainwashed again by a band who were magical sirens from a magical land and were also probably a thousand years old. Sure,” becoming long-winded, having paced half a dozen times across the room, “there’s the Friendship Games and Twilight Sparkle becoming a monster who almost ripped our world apart out of sheer curiosity, Camp Everfree with Gloriosa Daisy becoming Gaea Everfree, Juniper Montage terrorizing a mall because she wanted to star in a movie, Wallflower Blush mind wiping all our good memories with the classmate who’s a magical unicorn—“

“Just get to the point!” Lyra broke in, then becoming exhausted. “What do you want to say, Bon Bon?”

She halted. Took some time to ponder. Then: “I think this is the biggest disaster about to spill over, and you know what?”

“What?”

Bon Bon walked to the bed and sat down beside her pony friend.

“Lyra, I’m scared.”

Lyra’s rigid face crumbled. She gulped, ears folding. “Y-You’re thinking we got lucky all those times, aren’t you?”

“Exactly,” Bon Bon said with a nod. “I feel like, this time, we’ve run out of lifelines.” Gesturing a hand towards the outside, “Sunset and her friends are in another dimension, reality...whatever, and, from the looks of it, they’re probably stuck there for a while since Luna talked about a broken portal and what not.”

Lyra gasped. “You’re saying this is gonna be permanent?”

Bon Bon raised her head to nod, then decided not to do that. “I hope they come back—that’s how they always do it in the movies, right?” Then, she sighed. “But this is no movie.”

Lyra choked. She rubbed her neck, placed a hoof on one of her eyes.

She cried.

Tears falling to the bed, to her hindhooves.

Bon Bon looked on, seeing Lyra sit on the bed, face covered with her hooves barely muffling her sobbing.

She picked the pony up and held her with both arms. “There, there—“

“No!”

“Agh!”

And Bon Bon dropped her.

Lyra fell to the floor with a thud!

“Oh, no!” Bon Bon kneeled down to pick her up. “S-Sorry, Ly—“

“Eh, I-I’m fine,” Lyra managed, raising herself on four hooves. “That didn’t feel too bad, really.”

Bon Bon blinked, then went back to the bed. “If you say so.”

Lyra flicked her tail, irritated at Bon Bon. “Next time, though...I may be a cute pony, but I’m not cuddly-wuddly!”

Ding-dong!

They turned their heads to the door.

Lyra cringed. “Sorry back to you for screaming, Bon Bon!”

She stood up. “It’s OK, Lyra.” Turning to the pony: “Just stay here and don’t do any magic or whatever. Only open the door when you hear my voice.”

Lyra looked at her hooves, inspecting those fingerless limbs. “How will I open the door?!”

Bon Bon did a double take. “Oh. Right.” She shrugged her shoulders. “Just stay here.”

Moments later, she was out of the bedroom and Lyra was alone.

She sighed, looking down at her hooves again. “Ugh. Time to practice more horse walking.”

Lyra paced the room in a slow trot, going around as she waited.

Bon Bon walked through the living room and to the front door. She opened it.

And saw four Shadowbolts standing right there, Sugarcoat in front while wearing a backpack. “Good morning, Bon Bon.”

“Good...morning…?” She made a horrible attempt at greeting them with a sloppy wave. She shuffled around to see what Sour Sweet and Indigo Zap were holding.

A big luggage bag on wheels.

Bon Bon recoiled. “This isn’t the time for a sleepover.”

“We’re not here for a sleepover,” Sugarcoat said in deadpan. Looking over Bon’s shoulders, “Where’s Lyra?”

“She’s got the real cold,” Bon Bon said, checking her nails as a distraction. “It’s gotten worse and she had to stay in bed—“

“We know about Luna’s text.”

Bon Bon gulped. Then, with twirling hands, “Get inside, quick!”

The Shadowbolts hurried themselves inside and settled down on the couches, putting their bags on the carpet.

Bon Bon locked the door, unlocked and locked them again just to make sure. She pulled on the door knob, realized she was on the wrong side of the door, then left it alone.

Lemon Zest stood up, moving to the kitchen. “Where’s the fridge here? Do you have any grass jellybeans?”

“Grass jellybeans?” Bon Bon muttered. Turning to the other Shadowbolts and jerking a thumb in her direction, “What is she talking about?”

Sour Sweet grunted, stomped over to the kitchen, dragged Lemon back to her sofa, then mouthed the words, “We’re watching you!” at her friend.

Lemon shrugged her shoulders and turned up the volume on her headphones.

Bon Bon sighed. “So, you’re the ‘other persons’ Luna talked about, no?”

Sugarcoat crossed her arms. “Some of them, yes.”

“But how did you know I received her text?” Bon Bon asked, pointing at herself.

“It’s elementary,” Sugarcoat said. With eyes closed and correctly adjusted glasses: “Vice Principal Luna would, of course, notify more people involved in Canterlot High than not because of your close associations with magic. That was the easy part. The hard part was knowing who those people were, especially in the absence of Sunset Shimmer and Twilight Sparkle along with their friends.

“In the event that they cannot be notified or are unable to come to our aid early on, Luna would have to turn to a second tier of CHS students and staff, and after considering who’s in what year and what their average behavior was, one would land on the school clubs.

“The perfect club to help out in a potential world-ending scenario would be the club that would garner the least amount of attention but would, in the long run, be consistent with its contributions to everyone else.”

She pointed at Bon Bon.

“Your club meets those criteria.”

Bon Bon took a step back. “And how is the Model CHS club best when it comes to stopping the end of the world?”

Sugarcoat crossed her legs. “I only need to know the personalities of the club’s members: you, Bright Idea, Scribble Dee, Octavia.” Counting the traits with her fingers: “Level-headed, calm and collected, and leaning towards the superego when endangered—or, in short, does not panic—plus being able to unite a crowd under the right circumstances.”

Indigo placed a hand over Sugarcoat and took her turn to speak to Bon Bon. “Before she bores you to death, we chose you first because you were the closest one when she figured it out. No complicated explanation—“

“I did my best to simplify,” Sugarcoat interrupted, pushing the hand out of the way.

Bon Bon then sat down with them. “OK, but that still doesn’t explain why you’re here or what the bags are for.”

“We’re here because we need to help each other out,” Sour said, rubbing her hands in fear. “We were warming up to you girls anyway, but when magic goes haywire...” sighed, “we need you.”

Indigo pushed her on the shoulder. “That’s way too sweet for you.”

“It’s team up or die!” Sour shouted, making Indigo fall off the couch.

While Lemon pulled her fallen classmate back up, Bon Bon asked, “That still leaves the bags. Why are they here?”

Sour glared at her, eyes dagger on. “First things first: Is Lyra a pony?”

Bon Bon gulped. Then, she nodded, biting her lip, avoiding that, well, sour glare.

“What’s she doing?” Indigo asked.

“Staying put in the bedroom,” Bon Bon said, nudging her eyes towards the stairs. “So far, she’s caused no trouble.”

Sugarcoat sighed. “Good to know. Sunny Flare turned into a unicorn at the mall’s parking lot. Fainted on the spot when she realized what she was. Took some creativity to get her out of sight without being seen.”

“And you wouldn’t wanna know how we got this luggage!” Indigo boasted, hand on the bag.

“But in case you want to know,” Lemon said cheerfully, “there was this rich guy who parked in his limo and—“

Sour glared at her, teeth seething. “Don’t.”

“We still got the plastic bags and crayons—“

“That’s far too much information,” Indigo said, cringing. Turning to Bon Bon: “All you need to know is that we got the luggage and no one saw Sunny.”

Bon Bon looked at the luggage, gesturing to it. “So she’s inside.”

“Sleeping,” Sugarcoat added.

“Some kind of hole technology keeps her breathing,” Indigo said nonchalantly.

Lemon then touched the luggage with a light finger. “Shouldn’t we, you know, make sure she’s OK?”

“Oh.” Indigo rubbed her chin. “Good point.”

Then, Sugarcoat went out of the couch. She unlocked and unzipped the bag.

Opened it.

Bon Bon took a close look.

There slept Sunny Flare, a light blue unicorn with a mulberry mane, her sun-like cutie mark the same as her hair clip.

Bon Bon held up her hand to her own mouth. Then, she held a hand to her head and sat down, slowly turning her eyes away from who was before her. “No...n-no...it can’t be real...but it i-is!”

“We better hope your pony friends come back soon,” Indigo said, elbow on her knee. “Else, you know what’s gonna happen.”

“I mean, we’re all vegans now,” Sweet said, smiling quaintly. Then, turning sour: “Until we become vegan ponies, too!”

Ding-dong!

The Shadowbolts exchanged glances.

And closed the lid fast, zipped and locked the bag as Bon Bon stood up and went to the door.

“Huh?” came a muffled voice from inside the luggage. “Hey! Where am I?!” Bag jumped an inch. “Hey!”

“Sh!” Bon Bon put three fingers on her mouth now. “Better keep her quiet, girls!”

“Who’s that?!” Sunny Flare asked, trapped in the bag. “Wait...I recognize a CHS student anywhere! Where are my fin—what?! That wasn’t a dream?!” The bag jumped again, a few inches higher this time. “Bon Bon, I am not your little pony!”

Indigo and Lemon chuckled a bit, only to be slapped by Sour Sweet in revenge.

Then, Bon Bon opened the door. “Oh, Octavia! How are you doing?”

Blast!

“Woah!”

She turned around and saw the bag disintegrated, a frazzled pony left on the table as she found her footing—or, rather, hoofing—on the table, about to stumble over though the other Shadowbolts grouped around her, whispering and muttering.

Octavia looked over Bon Bon’s shoulder, carrying a huge backpack. “I won’t be alone for long, then. Vinyl’s a pony and she’s inside my bag.”

Bon Bon groaned and smacked herself on the head.

Round House

An argument and a few minutes later, Bon Bon went upstairs to retrieve Lyra.

This left Octavia alone in the living room with the Shadowbolts which included the unicorn on the table, clearly miffed at being a pony.

“Ugh.” She looked at her horn and her short mane. “I’m awake and I’m still a pony!”

“At least you’re not dead!” Sour said in a half-hearted attempt at encouragement.

“Will you be quiet?!” Sunny ordered.

And Sour crossed her arms and looked up at the ceiling, admiring the light fixtures and the lack of Sunny Flare’s furious appearance in the ceiling.

Lemon bent down to the pony, touching Sunny’s mane. “This is so unreal! A real-life unicorn!”

“You haven’t been paying attention during the Friendship Games, did you?” Indigo asked as Sunny grumbled at her treatment.

Lemon smiled as she rubbed Sunny’s hairy cheeks. “I did. Just in a different way!”

Sunny groaned again and pushed Lemon’s hand out of the way. “Like I said, I’m not your little pony or anyone’s little pony!” She stomped a hoof on the table. “What you need to do is change me back!”

“But we have no idea how to change you back!” Lemon replied. “We don’t know spells or potions or anything! We’re not magical!”

“At this rate,” Sugarcoat said, “we’ll all be magical before the end of the day.”

“Uh, excuse me,” Octavia spoke up with a raised finger.

The Shadowbolts looked her way, even Sunny Flare.

“Sorry, but I have to give Vinyl Scratch some much-needed air.”

Octavia unzipped her backpack, aimed it at the floor, and out came a white unicorn with funky blue hair and a pair of shades that concealed her eyes.

Vinyl shook her head, scratched her mane, and gave Octavia a bitter frown while pointing at the Shadowbolts.

“At least you have company!” Octavia said. “There’s another pony like you, suffering from the same ordeal!”

“Don’t call me ‘pony’!” Sunny yelled as she hopped off the floor and walked up to Octavia, not mindful of the noticeable size difference between them—or how many times she almost tripped on to the floor.

“Technically, you are,” Sugarcoat said.

“I don’t care about ‘technical’ stuff!” Sunny shouted, pointing a hoof at her. “I wasn’t born a pony!”

“But you’re a pony now.”

Sour Sweet sneezed.

Indigo scooted away from her to the far end of the couch. “Should I take this as a warning or what?”

“Oh, yes, dear!” Sour said, smiling while exuding sarcasm. “Take it as a warning! Next thing you know, my germs will give you magical wings!”

Lemon giggled, turning down her music’s volume. “Doesn’t sound bad, honestly.”

Sour sneezed again, remembering to cover her mouth this time.

And glowed.

Everyone, even the ponies, scrambled away from Sour Sweet, Sunny stumbling on her hooves and smacking face-first to the carpet.

Poof!

And the glow subsided, leaving a cream-colored pegasus recovering on the couch, slowly raising her head in a bout of pain. “What...?”

The non-pony Shadowbolts stood up and looked at each other, signaled some hand messages before they misunderstood each other and gave up.

Sunny smacked herself on the head and stomped on the carpet, “This is worse than I thought!” Then, turning up to the other Shadowbolts: “Stay away from us! You might get our germs!”

“That was a joke!” Indigo shouted, raising her hands up and backing up to the wall only to hit Octavia on accident.

Sunny half-closed her eyes. “I’m willing to believe anything at this point! Magic here, magic there; I’m a unicorn, she’s a unicorn, everyone’s a unicorn!” She raised a forehoof to the air, only to wobble in place and force it back to the floor to regain balance. “Germs won’t sound out of place—“

“Aah!”

They covered their ears as Sour Sweet screamed, spreading her wings in panic.

“I’ve been infected!” Sour screamed as she jumped out of the couch.

Only to fall on the floor.

Then, footsteps from upstairs, revealing Bon Bon with Lyra walking beside her, the pony’s height almost reaching Bon Bon’s shoulders.

“So, girls,” Bon Bon said as she walked down, “here’s—“

And saw two unicorns with frazzled manes, one pegasus collapsed on the floor, and four students staying very close to the wall, all wearing various degrees of fear at the sight of those magical creatures.

“—Lyra…?”

Silence reigned as everyone exchanged glances.

“Psst!” Lemon then whispered to Indigo, “Should we run now?”

“We must stay calm,” Sugarcoat said, hearing the whisper. She raised both her hands, capturing everyone’s attention. “Nothing good is going to come from running around and screaming for help.”

“What about we call for emergency services?” Lemon suggested.

“Too early to do that,” Sugarcoat said. “Even if we do call them, they have no rules or regulation about dealing with a magic crisis. What we need to do is—“

Beep!

Everyone looked at Bon Bon.

She picked up her phone and read the message.

It was from Big Mac and it read: [Blank]

The reason behind the mysterious message was not that mysterious. It all lay inside the Apple family’s barn-like garage where a burly red stallion hid behind a big table, trying to operate his phone. The device barely registered his big and unwieldy hooves, but it was enough to press the Send button.

Too bad he did not input any text to send.

“No!” he shouted, stomping his phone in rage’s fit.

And cracked his phone.

He opened his mouth in panic, squealing. After a moment of calming himself down, he bent down and inspected the phone.

Despite the cracks, it still showed Bon Bon’s face and their previous texts and conversations.

He tried to pick up the phone with his hooves.

No good. It fell to the ground.

“Ah!” He snorted. “What’s wrong with me?!”

“Big Mac?”

His ears perked up at the strange voice.

He took a deep breath, turned his head out towards the garage door, expecting to see Apple Bloom or Granny Smith—perhaps Applejack was back; that would have been an embarrassment to top all embarrassments.

Except it was not any of them.

Standing outside the garage door were three ponies—one Earth pony, one pegasus, one unicorn. Two he could discern as mares, with the pegasus the only stallion among them.

Big Mac gulped and pointed a sheepish hoof at them. “Y-You, too? Wh-Who a-are you?”

The three ponies whispered among themselves, covering their muzzles with their hooves.

Then, they gasped and smiled. All together: “Big Mac!”

They galloped to him and hugged him.

Big Mac let out a “Huh?!”

They released their grip, looking confused at him.

“Don’t you remember us, Big Mac?” the pegasus asked, pointing a hoof at himself.

Big Mac sighed. “I-I apologize, but you don’t look familiar.”

The Earth pony brought her face into his view, frowning. “You don’t remember Cookie?!”

“Or me, Cinnamon?” the unicorn asked, trotting to the center of his view.

“And what about your favorite easy keeper, Oakley?” the pegasus said, smiling to bring attention to himself.

Big Mac took a few seconds to register the names.

He backed up against the wall, terrified. “Y-You’re our horses?!”

Cookie nodded as they walked up to him. “Yeah, but we’re not here to hurt you!”

“Actually,” Oakley began, opening a wing and caressing it with a hoof, “we’re new to this, too. Suddenly having your mind opened to lots of things, being able to speak your words, having new desires and wanting more than just food, shelter, and love….” He spun his eyes around. “It’s all a doozy!”

“Not to mention the weird stuff on our bodies,” Cinnamon said, gesturing towards her horn and his wings.

“Or the weird symbols on our flanks,” Cookie added, looking at her cutie mark of cookies.

Oakley nickered in delight. “When we realized we could share everything together with you and your family, we just had to go out and meet you! We didn’t expect to see you’re a horse like us, Big Mac!”

Cinnamon trotted to Big Mac’s side and ruffled his mane. “It makes it easier for the both of us to relate, though—as if you weren’t trying already!”

Cookie giggled. “Yeah, she told us about how you ate her hay!”

Big Mac gulped, blushing.

Oakley stepped forward. “I guess what we want to say from the get-go is...”

“What?” Big Mac asked weakly.

Then, all together again: “We love you!”

And the three hugged him with their forehooves, swamping him with giggles and expressions of love to their former horse owner.

Then, the stallion himself raised his hoof.

All were paying attention to him as they released themselves again from the hug.

He sighed, eyes closed. “I...I...I’m just...overwhelmed, if that’s the word.”

Sat down on the floor and placed a hoof on his head.

“What is it?” Cookie asked.

“Did we do something wrong?” Cinnamon asked further.

Big Mac looked up, then shook his head.

“Then, what’re you trying to say?” chimed in Oakley.

The former farmer twirled a hoof around. With a big breath of air: “Got up in the morning. Couldn’t eat breakfast steak. Started seein’ unicorns in my mind. Craved for hay.”

Cookie chuckled but Oakley gave her a little nudge which stopped her.

“Made noises only a horse could make. Got turned into...this,” pointing at his pony self. “An’ now, the Apple family horses can talk, fly, use magic, too….” He waved a hoof around. “Applejack’s out o’ town. Granny’s gone to the grocery by herself. Apple Bloom’s doin’ community service. I...I….”

Felt a hoof on his head.

Looked up and saw Cookie’s smiling face.

“We’ll help you,” Cookie said. “I don’t know what made you like this, but we’ll make sure you’ll get through it.”

“And we’ll do it together!” Oakley said, trapping him in a third embrace.

This time, Big Mac was gasping for air, choking.

As the pegasus glowed and was pulled out of the way under Cinnamon’s magic. “You’re going to damage his lungs.”

Big Mac opened his mouth in awe, having just seen a unicorn—his unicorn but, now, no longer his—perform magic.

Oakley snorted at her then hovered over the ground with his wings, taking back his smile for Big Mac. “So, what do ya’ say?”

Big Mac’s lips trembled, mixed with confusion, anger, joy—

“What am I…?”

All four ponies looked at the source of the question.

It was Apple Bloom, holding a phone to her ear mid-call, staring at the four horses at the end of the garage.

The three other ponies waved at her, smiling.

“Hi, Apple Bloom!” Cookie greeted, waving her hoof so fast it became a blur and produced wind. “Remember us? Cookie and pals?”

“And Big Mac’s here, too!” Oakley said, pointing at him.

Big Mac bit his lip and waved nervously. Gulped, he then said in his trademark deep voice, “Hi…?”

It was Apple Bloom’s jaw to drop now.

“Uh, AB?” Sweetie’s voice rang through the phone. “What’re you doing?”

“Aaahhhh!”

Close to downtown, Sweetie put down her phone, winced while leaning on the wall beside her broom close. When the screaming was done, she put her phone back up, growing tense as she noticed her hand shivering. “Apple Bloom! What happened?!”

“No time to explain, Sweetie Belle!” Apple Bloom shouted loud enough to make Sweetie stretch her phone away. “I’ll tell ya’ this afternoon—bye!”

“Apple Bl—“

Call cut.

Sweetie sighed as she grabbed her broom and swept the sidewalk again, passing by an alley—

Thunk!

“Huh?”

Amid the fallen boxes and the trash in the alley, there was a soda can rolling on the ground.

“Might as well clean this one, too.”

So she went to the alley and swept it free from trash, putting the litter into the dumpsters by the walls while pinching her nose to avoid the stench.

With that done, she whistled her way back to the streets.

Not noticing the figure that came out from behind one of the dumpsters.

“Yes!” said a blue unicorn, wearing a wizard’s hat and cape. “The Great and Powerful Trixie has not only made immense strides in magic with this new form, she has even gained the ability to make herself invisible!”

The backdoor opened, revealing Fuchsia Blush who looked at Trixie. She gasped. “Trixie! What are you doing there?! You’ll get caught!”

“No need to worry!” Trixie answered, placing a hoof on her hat as it glowed and floated above her bright horn. “Trixie has learned how to use magic without bringing undue attention to herself!” She winked at her bandmate. “Trixie has even gained that tutelage from a faraway land!”

“You mean when you stumbled into that Equestria place?” Fuchsia asked deadpan.

Trixie clucked her tongue, horn still glowing. “Trixie’s stumble was no accident! She planned it all out so that she would gain vital knowledge!”

Fuchsia opened the door wider, slight shaking her hair in anger. “Get inside, or I’ll bring you inside.”

Trixie threw her hat down, horn glowing even brighter as she aimed it at her. “You dare threaten the Great and Powerful—“

“Hey, Fuchsia!” came Wallflower’s voice as she entered the alley with Juniper holding some popcorn.

“Eep!” Trixie cried out as she shot a magical beam.

It bounced off a wall and on to Juniper.

Who glowed and fell to the ground, spilling popcorn all over.

“Aah!” and both Fuchsia and Wallflower ran to the door, clinging to each other in fright.

Trixie scampered around the dumpster, avoiding detection by Wallflower, and leaped inside.

Wallflower then looked at Juniper, showing her teeth in unease.

Except Juniper was now an Earth pony who still had her film reel hat.

Wallflower took a step closer, hand over her mouth. “Juniper? Is that you?!”

The mare opened her eyes, able to see Wallflower and Fuchsia. “Yeah, it’s me!” Then, feeling a bit of pain in her head—“Did I get blinded? Like one of those laser guys?”

Wallflower walked over to Juniper and carried her away, to the door.

Juniper then noticed that she was being carried. “Why are you—“

And looked down, saw her hooves.

“Wuh!” and flailed her hooves about, causing Wallflower to flinch. “What happened to my hands?! Why are you carrying me?!”

Fuchsia sighed as they entered the apartment, Wallflower rushing inside. “Welcome to the club, Juniper!”

Before she closed the door, though, she saw a pink car pass by.

Principal Cadance was driving her pink car, complete with a pink and blue dashboard and a crystal heart symbol on the center of the steering wheel. Conditioned with cold air and with her phone on the dock, she was busy talking to Shining Armor through it.

“...and that’s what makes it unusual,” Cadance continued. “Everyone knows Jet Set and Upper Crust are in love, but when I saw them together, their argument stopped in front of me! As if it never happened in the first place!”

“Probably because they don’t want to argue in front of the principal,” Shining said.

She sighed, turning to the right. “That’s not it, though. I passed by your parents and they were having an argument, too, until I walked in front of the house.”

“They were?” Shiny asked, surprised.

“They were, until they suddenly hugged each other.” She turned left.

“They probably want to respect Crystal Prep, that’s all,” replied Shining. “Wouldn’t sit well if Twi’s former dean saw them arguing like that, right?”

Cadance rolled her eyes at how he called her. Then: “But that’s not all. Before I started up the car, I heard Filthy and Spoiled talk it out bad just outside my house. I decided to disprove my theory and hide behind the car to see what would happen.”

“Cady,” Shining began, “I know you’re concerned that they might be putting up a front, but don’t you think you’re being paranoid?”

“Are you saying they’re just coincidences?” Cadance asked back.

“...yeah.”

Cadance wagged her head though Shining was not there to see it. “I don’t think so. Filthy and Spoiled? They didn’t just stop and make up. They said lovey-dovey names to each other, kissed on the sidewalk, and he promised her to dinner at any five-star restaurant of her choosing!“

“Just like magic?”

She cupped her mouth, realizing something.

Though that something was not being oblivious enough to run a red light.

Shining chuckled, his laugh contrasted against the silence of the car’s interior. “That phrase has a whole new meaning now that we have actual magic, huh?”

In her daze, Cadance saw Canterlot High in the distance. “Uh, yeah! Look, dear, I have to go. I’m almost there.”

“Alrigh—“

Call cut.

Cadance gripped the steering wheel, nervous. “Should I tell Shiny about the texts?” A long pause, then: “What if I’m gaining magical powers? What if I become a pony today?”

She took the thoughts out of her mind as she focused on driving her car to the parking lot.

Luna waited by the faculty parking lot, standing near the door as the pink car stopped and Cadance came out of it.

“It must be urgent,” Cadance said as she walked up to her.

“It is,” Luna replied as they entered the school.

Their footsteps echoed in the empty hallway devoid of students.

“It’s to do with magic and this whole turning-into-ponies disease, correct?” Cadance asked.

“Yes,” was Luna’s answer. After a deep breath: “All three of us principals have pony selves in Equestria; they are princesses who wield powers and abilities far beyond the average native magic user. If we are turning into magical pony princesses with such powers and abilities, we must discuss how to cope with it until the portal is fixed.”

Cadance looked down, now moving up the stairs. “Is that so?”

“That is so,” Luna said. “Thou art learning—“ and winced.

Cadance frowned. “Your pony self getting to you?”

Luna nodded, covering her mouth. “Forsooth—“ and winced again as they reached the second floor.

After more walking through the hallways, they reached the principal’s office, the reception desk beside the door.

They tried to look through the window.

It was covered.

“What is this?” Luna blurted out. She leaned her head closer to the door and knocked. “Sister? Are you in there?”

No answer.

She turned the door knob.

Locked.

“It is not normal for her to leave it like this,” Luna commented, eliciting a worried look from Cadance. The vice principal got the keys from her bag and then opened the door, bringing Cadance in as well.

They saw a couple books on the floor along with a fallen globe. Busy closing the window’s curtains was Principal Celestia.

Alicorn Principal Celestia, to be more precise, her mane and her tail flowing and all as she closed the curtains with a yellow glow.

Celestia turned around to see her sister and the other principal. With shrunken irises: “I, uh—“

“Cadance!” Luna shouted as she threw her bag at her.

Cadance caught it, scared as she let Luna open it and take out Sunset’s journal. Then, looking at the alicorn, “Celestia? D-Do you feel OK?”

The alicorn shook her head, glancing at the window. “I could sense the sun, as if I could just reach it with my hands—hooves!” She placed a tired hoof on her head. “I’m feeling that...that it—“

“What does the sun want?!” Luna shouted, holding the journal open.

Celestia sighed, facing her sister with dread. “The sun wants to be controlled.”

Cadance and Luna looked at her, both feeling the dread.

“And what do you mean by that?” Cadance asked, wondering how she got into a discussion about the sun’s feelings.

Celestia hung her head, facing the globe on the floor. “I could feel it...asking me to guide it, as if I was her...master….” as she stared off to the calendar on the board.

“Say no more!” Luna shrieked as she whirled the journal on to the wall, writing fast and crooked on it.

“What are you doing?!” Cadance asked in shock.

“Asking Sunset how to control the sun and the moon!” Luna replied fast, not even turning to face her. “There is not much time before we turn into the Princess of the Night—” and winced a third time at her next go in old English.

And Cadance backed herself to the wall, looking at a stressed Luna spelling out a dire request and then looking at a worried Celestia—that alicorn over there, majestic in her appearance as she trotted over to her sister.

Cadance looked at her hands, still seeing those hands.

“Don’t know how long I’ll stay like this,” she whispered to herself, voice failing. “If I even survive!”

The Experts...

“’….I do not care if thou hast to forego royal protocol. If we do not receive any help on how to handle these celestial objects, the both of us may send this planet into unprecendented chaos! Hasten now before we and Cadance become ponies!’”

And Sparkle left the journal open on the table.

In the library now, it was just her, Sunset, Starlight, Sci-Twi, and the two Spikes watching from another table, with Dragon wearing a yellow helmet and Spike holding a hammer.

“That’s it,” Sparkle said, levitating the next page to reveal nothing more. Facing up to her friends: “All we know is that Principal Celestia is now a pony, but that’s trouble enough!

Starlight bit her lip. “Doesn’t their world revolve around the sun?”

“Yes,” Sci-Twi replied, eyes still a little red, “but if she’s literally going to move the sun—“ and, after a moment’s thought, smacked her head on the table, though with an “Ow!” since she also smacked her horn there, cracking the surface.

This prompted both Spikes to run over there, fix the crack on the surface, and run back to their table, watching the ponies closely again with open ears.

“She could either burn or freeze all of us without even knowing it,” Sunset remarked. Then, raising a hoof about to strike the table: “I don’t want her to hear of any this, but Principal Celestia is just an ordinary woman! She’s not an astronomer and she’s never majored in astrophysics or some other space subject!”

Sci-Twi’s teeth clattered, hooves on her bunned mane as she hid a bit of her face from view.

“That is truly dangerous,” said Sparkle, balking at the thought of the principal accidentally throwing the sun right down to the dirt. “There must be a huge amount of Equestrian magic running loose in your world, but how did it get there?”

“What about starting with what connects the two worlds?” Starlight asked, gesturing towards the portal and leading everyone’s eyes there. “Since Bulk Biceps broke the statue, things have gotten worse.”

“Except people were manifesting pony habits before that,” Sunset replied. Then, scratching her mane as she looked hard on the table, “Come to think of it, everything started going downhill after Rainbow toppled the statue.”

Starlight glanced at her. “So it’s Dash’s fault?”

Sci-Twi’s eye twitched. “Are you saying that the world could burn before the day’s over because Rainbow Dash had to kick that soccer ball?!”

“Wait,” Sparkle said, holding up a hoof at her. “Let’s not jump to conclusions.” Then, turning to Sunset: “When was the first time the statue was damaged in any way?”

Sunset’s eyes briefly darted towards Sci-Twi, but then bounced back to the princess. “Uh, why?”

Sparkle sighed. “I’m afraid that this isn’t new. Rather, this is the culmination of a magic build-up over days, weeks, months, years….”

“Why not when the portal was first used?” Starlight asked. “Surely there had to be some kind of interaction between the worlds before we came along.”

Sunset gave her a glare. “I don’t think I’m responsible for this.” Pointing at the world beyond the mirror, “I’ve stayed there for years before Twilight arrived and magic never appeared a single instant.”

“Then what about the memory stone that must’ve stayed there for over a thousand years?” Starlight asked with a raised hoof and a cocked head. “Or the sirens, for that matter? Weren’t they pre-Equestria?”

Sunset rubbed her chin. “That’s interesti—“

Sparkle gasped.

Sunset and Starlight looked at her. “What is it?” they asked together.

The princess rubbed her aching head, looking over the journal and re-reading Luna’s plea. “While we may not know whether the sirens stayed there for that long or were just transported forward in time, the memory stone did remain buried for quite a while.”

“So you’re saying—“ and Dragon raised his hand, trying to clarify as everyone else looked at him. “You’re saying that magic’s been in that world for ages?”

Sparkle first said and did nothing. Then, she nodded. “Yes, Spike—“

And Spike perked up. “What?”

Sparkle moaned. Then, restarting while floating the book with an overloaded mind: “Yes, magic has been in their world for a long time. In the case of the memory stone, it was dormant and did nothing at all in its time underground. We don’t know how many more magical artifacts made it there...” and shook her head, “but that’s not the point.”

Starlight nodded, only to recoil at what she just noddded to. “Wait, it’s not?”

“It’s not,” the princess repeated. “It all began when...” and looked at Sunset.

Sunset looked back at her.

Then knew what it meant, her ears drooping. “...when we both used magic back at the Formal, didn’t it?”

Sparkle nodded again. “What I’ve noticed was that even though your friends never had magical geodes or couldn’t pony up before, they were able to do just that...but, as far as I know, they never came in contact with Equestrian artifacts, relics, stones….”

Sunset blinked. “So, when they ponied up, they took in the...magical radiation?”

“That’s one theory,” Sparkle said., holding up a hoof as she collected her thoughts. “Of course, I still believe that it was the magic I brought along with me and I just unconsciously spread it to them so they’d pony up that time—but, as you know, that magic still lingered after I left.”

Sunset was silent as she gave Starlight a glance. She then looked at Sci-Twi who was becoming more reserved and withdrawn from the conversation, looking more at the floor then at her buddies.

Then, Sparkle eyed Sci-Twi and covered her mouth.

Sci-Twi noticed the look then gritted her teeth, swallowing a big lump. “I remember the question...and I remember blowing the statue up.” With more tears welling up: “D-Does that mean I caused this?”

“Not on purpose,” Starlight said, placing a hoof on her head.

Sci-Twi glowered at her. In a round of sarcasm: “Thanks for the help. Much appreciated.”

Sparkle browsed the journal, looking over the pages and—“Hold on! Luna wrote something about colorful lights coming from the school’s front yard, saying that it’s most likely from the statue.”

Sci-Twi frowned more, drawing her head away from the table.

Sparkle looked at her other self. “Look, Twi. We’re not blaming you—even if it was technically your fault, you weren’t in control.” She paused, giving Sci-Twi time to think it through. “You were consumed and corrupted by magic; if it was anyone’s fault, it was either Cinch or Midnight Sparkle which isn’t you!”

Sci-Twi then place a hoof on the table, sweating. “What if she’s coming back?”

Sunset trotted to her side and placed a hoof on her shoulder. “Twilight, we’ve been through this. You are not Midnight—“

“But what if she’s becoming someone more?!” Sci-Twi yelled. She trembled, looking at her hooves. “She wanted to study magic, and now that our world’s about to become devoured by—“

And gasped.

“No...” and looked at her hooves again. Then, pointing at herself: “Am I growing dark wings? Is my horn long and broken? Are my glasses glowing? Are my eyes glowing?!”

Starlight scrutinized her features. Smiling confidently: “Nope!”

Sci-Twi looked around her, taking in the crystal walls and the bookshelves—of course, she did not forget the conspicious portal. “I’m inside a world full of magic; this was my chance to study magic free from trouble.” Then, after a cough: “What if Midnight Sparkle’s about to pop up and take over me?!”

And Spike ran to her side, tugging her stray forehoof. “Don’t worry, Twi! We’re always behind you!”

Sparkle gulped. “You think so?”

Dragon nodded as he went to his side. “We both think so!” Then, facing Spike, “Right, bud?”

“Right, ‘o!”

The Spikes high-fived each other.

Sunset smiled at two dragons slapping their claws like that. Then, becoming more sympathetic towards Sci-Twi: “And what if Midnight Sparkle does come back? That’s nothing the magic of friendship can’t stop.”

Sparkle then shed a tear, her eyes glinting. “W-Wow! That’s so beautiful coming from you!”

Starlight then pointed at the journal. “Uh, girls? Let’s not forget some random principal could turn off the sun any moment now!”

And everyone gulped, dropping their smiles and going back to stress-out mode complete with sweat and jitters.

Sparkle levitated a quill, dipped it in ink. She turned her head towards the journal, seeing the empty space below Luna’s writing. In a rising voice: “Alright, Luna! You’ll get your help—“

“Uh, Miss Twilight?”

Everyone there looked at the now open doors.

They saw Gallus and Ocellus standing there—or flying there as was the case with Gallus. The griffon was holding an electric guitar and the changeling, a pair of drum sticks.

Ocellus looked at Sci-Twi, intrigued by her appearance. “Is that the Twilight from Sunset’s dimension?”

Gallus chuckled. “You somehow look nerdier than she already is!”

Sci-Twi scowled at him. “Really?”

Sunset groaned. “I exist!”

“Oh, sorry!” Ocellus said, blushing and putting the drumsticks’ tips to her cheeks. “You didn’t stand out much.”

Sunset chuckled, looking nervously at the floating quill not doing any writing. “Sure am, despite me being the only one in the room that does not have the color purple anywhere—“ sweeping the Twilights, the Starlight, and the Spikes with one giant glower. Then, she smiled for the students though nudged the princess with a hoof.

Having caught Sunset’s intention, Sparkle cleared her throat. Facing Gallus and Ocellus: “As much as we’d like to let you in and have some nice chit-chat over a cup of tea, we’re busy with a really important meeting.”

Gallus raised a brow. “Must be important if the guidance counselor’s here.”

Starlight smiled, then smirked at Sunset. “Hah! I exist more than you.”

Sunset grumbled. “How can you exist more than anyone else?” she muttered.

Ocellus then noticed the two Spikes. “Ooh! You have dragons there, too?”

Spike chuckled, scratching the back of his head. “You don’t wanna know.”

Sunset then shoved Sparkle on the shoulder, whispering, “Can you get them out of here?”

Sparkle cleared her throat again, facing her students another time. “I don’t want to sound rude, but we’re busy with a really, really, really important—“

Then, Sunset plugged her mouth with a hoof, staring at the guitar. “Wait a minute!” Looking at a surprised Gallus: “Wh-Where did you get that guitar?”

Gallus flew to her and showed it to the mare. “That’s why we came here. This guitar and the drumsticks over there appeared out of some random portal in the library. We tried to return it to their owners, but I’ve got no idea who they were or where the portal even led to—also, it flashed away, so there’s that.”

“We tried asking Vinyl Scratch,” Ocellus added, raising a drumstick; “she’s a very musical pony, that’s why, but she said she’s never seen the likes of it before.”

Sunset bit her lip, glowing the guitar out of Gallus’s grip—“Hey!”—and levitating it in front of her eyes, rotating it around without letting it slip.

Sci-Twi bit her hoofnails as Sunset examined the out-of-place guitar. “It can’t possibly be what I think it is, is it?”

Sunset sighed and floated it to the table. “It is, Sci-Twi.” Putting a hoof on the instrument, “This is not a guitar made for ponies. It must’ve come from our world.”

Ocellus cocked her head. “You were born a pony, right?”

Sunset sighed, tugging her mane. “Yes, I am, but I live there—“

Sparkle then plugged her mouth with a hoof, levitating the guitar. “Sunset, do you know what this means?!”

Starlight raised her hoof. In a monotone voice mimicking that of a bored student asked to recite a paragraph: “Portals are appearing in the other world and they’re sucking random items into our world.”

Sparkle gulped. “Not just that, but—

“—also transfering the magic of our world to their world,” Starlight said, still in that dull voice. Then, in a more normal tone: “Can we just write to Luna already?”

Sparkle scratched her head. Then, facing the two students one last time: “I really enjoyed your company, but this is extremely important stuff.”

“How extreme?” Gallus asked.

“Um...”

Starlight pounded a hoof to the table, deflecting attention away from the nervous princess. “Apocalypse-level extreme!”

Gallus raised a brow again. “So, normal stuff.”

Starlight grinned, crossing her forehooves on the table. “Yeah, normal stuff!”

Sci-Twi grinned with her. “Totally normal! Nothing to w-worry about!”

Gallus and Ocellus exchanged glances, then turned back towards the ponies.

“OK, then,” said the griffon as they slowly moved out of the library. “Bye!”

Slam!

Standing outside in the hallway, Gallus looked down at Ocellus, still flying above her. “How come we don’t get in on the action?”

Ocellus scratched her head with both drumsticks. “They certainly know what they’re doing, though.”

Gallus then pointed at the instruments-turned-backscratchers. “Ocellus, I bet they need that, too.”

“Oh.”

And Ocellus threw them under the door.

Gallus was in awe at what the changeling just did, beak open. “You’re a very practical bug.”

Back inside the library, while Dragon picked up the drumsticks, Sparkle was busy writing on the journal, saying her words out loud as the quill rode through the pages:

“’...and be sure that Celestia stays under constant sunlight. We have no idea how bad the magic’s there or how a magicless sun’s reacting to magic. Whatever you do, don’t let her—‘”

Then, she shot up from the journal, facing Dragon. “Spike—uh, I mean, Mister the Dragon—ugh! My Spike!”

“I’m here,” Dragon spoke, sitting on the chair beside hers.

Sparkle levitated an empty scroll to him and gave him her quill.

“What’re you doing?!” Sci-Twi asked.

Not minding Sci-Twi’s question, Sparkle sat straight on the chair on all four hooves and began:

“’Dear Princess Celestia, there is an inter-dimensional emergency in our hooves. Equestrian magic has been leaking through the crystal mirror into Sunset’s world at critical rates, and it’s threatening to turn everything magical. None of us know how catastrophic such an event would turn out, if it’s even undoable! Please come over and, if you can, bring Princess Luna, too!’”

And Spike was done writing the scroll. He breathed fire to it, and the fire became a smoke that flew through the library’s doors.

Sci-Twi gazed upon where the smoke had been. “Oh, so that’s how you use Spike as a postal service!”

Spike glared at her. “Don’t get any ideas.”

Then, the doors swung open, revealing Rare and Cotton Candy.

Starlight groaned. “What now?!”

Rare gulped. “Rarity has a problem.”

As Rarity limped by with glowing blue eyes, levitating carpets and banners with her, moaning, “Must. Make. Dress.”

Sci-Twi screamed at spooky Rarity. “What happened?!”

Cotton took in a deep breath and, in fast pace: “She tried to cast the Facere Habitu spell to dressmake her sorrows away, but it backfired on her and now she’s a mindless dress-making zombie!”

As Rarity kept limping by at a slow crawl, magically dragging the fabrics around her. “Dresses….”

Sparkle eyed Starlight, still levitating her quill. She half-closed her eyes and ordered, “Bring Twi and Sunset along! I still have to write Luna and the principals!”

Starlight nodded then levitated Sci-Twi and Sunset—and Spike—out of their chairs as she and they went out of the library without a word and then Starlight slammed the doors shut behind her.

Now, it was just Sparkle and her Spike.

As she resumed writing, grunting at every time she encountered a snag in thought. Sweat dropped to the pages of her journal, splotching it. All she hoped was that it would not dilute the message.

...and the Problem

A few hours later would land the clock at a dozen minutes past one in the afternoon back in the world, the dimension, and the reality of Canterlot High. The sun above was a little below its peak and, so far, was taking its normal and sluggish course through the sky.

Inside Bon Bon’s house, Sunny Flare the unicorn basked in the little glimmer of sunlight that pierced through the window. Vinyl Scratch did the same thing beside her though she was not smiling like sunny Sunny.

Thud!

Sour Sweet fell down again, getting up with a groan as she adjusted her new feathery wings. She glared at them. “Are you going to freeze every time I try to flap you?!” She shook her head.

And, sitting at the corner was a wet-eyed Lyra, mourning over the loss of her former self, forehooves drenched with tears.

As for the ones who had not turned into ponies, the remaining Shadowbolts plus Bon Bon and Octavia had the couches to themselves, all facing each other in serious discussion.

“...which means there’s a pattern,” Bon Bon said, holding her hands out sideways to illustrate her point. “First, it’s becoming a vegetarian. Next, weird magical stuff happens,” then frowning… “sometimes, ‘cause I didn’t see Lyra become dark-allergic.”

“Maybe it’s a disease that jumps around,” Indigo suggested. “Didn’t Mister Small Plate say something about strains?”

“Like how, for some people,” Sugarcoat added, “they get turned into ponies very soon, but for us, we haven’t reached that point yet.”

Lemon gasped, putting out half of her headphones. “It’s like you get turned into a pony without warning!”

“That’s what just happened with Sour Sweet!” Octavia said, gesturing towards Sour Sweet who had managed to get on top of the television.

The pegasus spread her wings. “Fly or else!”

Apparently, her wings chose the “or else” option, evidenced by Sour falling to the floor yet another time.

Lemon half-stood up from her couch. “I think I should help—“

“No!” Sour shouted, getting up on her hooves again and scratching her bruised freckled cheeks. “I-I’m not letting you get close to me!”

“We’ve been in the same room for hours!” Indigo said in a huff. “We haven’t turned into ponies all this time!”

Bon Bon sighed and threw her hands into the air, her explanation interrupted.

Sugarcoat leaned closer. “Continue.”

Bon Bon placed both hands on her knees, adding another sigh to her list of sighs. “So, where was I?...well, after the magical part, the final stage is neighing, whinnying or whatever—“

“But Sour didn’t do that,” Sugarcoat said. “Nor did Sunny Flare.”

“It’s a general model,” Bon Bon replied, stretching her arm out to point at an absent whiteboard. “Besides, it’s not like anyone’s researched this!”

“It never happened before, that’s why.”

Bon Bon glanced at the door, finding solace there. “The point is: If one of us starts making horse noises, she’s about to become a pony.”

Octavia nodded beside her. “That makes sense.””

Ding-dong!

And everyone looked at the door.

Bon Bon stood up, checking the clock on the wall. “I don’t remember—“

“Hello!” greeted a cheery voice from outside. “Pizza delivery!”

Bon Bon blinked, turning to the rest of the girls. “I didn’t order pizza! Lyra?”

Lyra was still crying at the corner.

Then, Lemon laughed nervously. “That was me! I wanted to have chocolate pizza for dessert, but it’d be awkward to call while we were eating.”

“You ordered chocolate pizza?!” Indigo exclaimed, recoiling at the idea of pizza she deemed too sweet. “Where’d you find that?!”

Lemon smiled as she stood up and walked to the door. “Secret menus!”

“Wait!” Octavia yelled, reaching out to her.

And everyone froze, including Lemon Zest whose hand was on the doorknob.

Lemon frowned. “What’s wrong?”

“You can’t let him see these!” Bon Bon said, pointing at the ponies. “If he sees them, we’re toast!”

Sour Sweet rubbed her head, about to climb up the TV. “Uh, is that the cue to hide?”

“Hide!” Indigo yelled.

And the ponies scampered into the kitchen, galloping and almost stumbling on their hooves and four legs.

Except for Lyra who was still crying.

Bon Bon picked her up, feeling the tears dropping to her hands. “Lemon! Take the pizza now!”

Then, she disappeared into the kitchen, her pony friend weighing down on her arms.

After putting on a smile, Lemon opened the door. The other Shadowbolts and Octavia sat in place, taking out their phones to give off the air that they were busy, and the scene was set.

Outside, the pizza delivery guy was none other than Flash Sentry in red and yellow uniform, a motorcycle whirring behind him as he held a box of pizza; plugged to his ears was a pair of earphones. “Hi! It’s a surprise to see you crashing at Bon Bon’s!”

Lemon nodded, then tilted her head. “Who are you again? You seem very familiar.”

He chuckled. “Flash. Flash Sentry. You know, from CHS?”

Lemon looked at him, rubbing her chin and then scratching her hair and then turning down the music on her headphones. Then, she opened her mouth wide and snapped some fingers. “Oh! I remember you! You’re the one who made bread in the baking contest!”

Flash rolled his eyes. “I’ve gotten better at listening to instructions since then.” He extended the box to her, wearing a smile that could only speak of pride in the job. “That’d be thirteen ninety-nine!”

Lemon took out the wallet from her pocket.

Poof! and a flash from behind Flash.

Lemon’s eyes widened as she gulped at what she saw in the front yard.

Sunny Flare, dazed as she looked around on the grass, saying, “Wh-Where am I?!”

Flash turned his head—

“Uh, wh-where am I?” Lemon copied, as she dropped a coin and pointed at her face. “What was I doing with this—“ gasped, stepping back to make the coin shine under the spotlight “—fallen money?!”

“Don’t worry!” Flash said as he crouched to pick the coin up.

Lemon then looked past Flash and saw Sunny Flare again. The unicorn was waving a hoof at her and mouthing, “What should I do?!”

Lemon gave her a thumbs up, and placed a hand on Flash’s shoulder while he was still bent. “Uh, what about you go inside? We, uh, have some free snacks for you, in the, um, kitchen!”

Inside, Indigo smacked herself on the head.

Then, Lemon felt a budge as Octavia barged in and pulled Flash inside, making him almost drop the pizza.

Sunny Flare then glowed her horn—

And she vanished.

Lemon gasped, seeing her no longer, her teeth shivering.

“What’s going on outside?” Flash asked, turning around to see nothing but a lush and well-trimmed lawn.

“It’s the weather, dude!” Lemon answered, taking the box from Octavia’s hands and opening it to reveal a pizza not of red and yellow but of brown and black, oozing with chocolate: chocolate sauce, chocolate sprinkles, chocolate candies, chocolate chips, chocolate chocolates—

And then she pushed Flash out of the house. “Thank you for coming, bye!”

Closed and locked the door.

Bon Bon then walked out of the kitchen, no longer holding Lyra. “OK, I need a good reason why Sunny Flare just popped up!”

Lemon put the pizza on the chair and smiled, hands behind her back. “Oh, haven’t you noticed? Sunny Flare appeared outside!”

“Outside?!” Bon Bon yelled.

“Teleportation, I think,” Sunny Flare said as she walked back into the living room, looking at her horn still glowing magenta. “I feel much better after having some sunshine out there...” then pouted, realizing what she just said, “and this is getting ridiculous. Is my magic based on light or what?!”

“Let’s hope Indigo doesn’t turn out the lights!” Sour cried out from inside the kitchen.

And in the middle of it all, Lyra broke down again inside the kitchen, crying once more.

Bon Bon made a fist, watching the kitchen with an anxious eye. “OK, so we have to make sure the ponies stay here while also making sure no one knocks on our door so no questions will be asked.”

“But then people will ask where we are,” Sugarcoat said, raising a flat palm. “If we have to sleepover to keep the cover up, we’d have to be very convincing. No sane parent would want their children at someone else’s house during an epidemic.”

Sunny stomped a hoof and made everyone look at her. “You know what? I’m fine with sleeping here if it means less trouble.”

Bon Bon then counted with her fingers as she said, “So, we have to keep the turning-into-ponies stuff hush-hush, ward away suspicion by going out some of the time, make good answers and alibis for why our pony friends aren’t available, and somehow not turn into ponies ourselves by a magical cold or curse or whatever.”

Everyone looked at her, showing worry in their eyes.

Octavia groaned, looking at the ceiling. “How long do we have to wait until we find the cure?”

“Until Sunset Shimmer and her friends return from Equestria,” Sugarcoat said.

“That’s the thing,” Octavia said, slowly becoming frantic. “When?”

“Your vice principal said something about a broken portal,” Sugarcoat replied. “That would usher in complications.”

“Thanks, Miss Obvious,” Indigo mumbled.

Fwip!

And they all looked at the table.

“What was that?!” Sunny asked, pointing there.

Sour Sweet and Lyra trotted into the living room, looking worried, too—especially for Lyra with her reddened eyes. “What is it?!” asked the both of them together.

Bon Bon saw the empty table. Then, hand on her head as she remembered: “The salad! Where did it go?!”

Indigo took off the goggles from her hair, remembering that little detail as well. “Magic ponies, and now magic salad. What next?”

Meanwhile, Lemon Zest chomped on her chocolate pizza.

Neither the salad nor the bowl was magical. What was magical was the portal that transported both salad and bowl through a great journey which lasted a grand and excruciating total of seventy milliseconds on to the Apple family’s dining table.

As everyone there—Big Mac, his three horses which were no longer his, and Apple Bloom—were all eating sandwiches behind closed windows and locked doors.

The salad bowl wobbled to a halt.

And everyone was silent for a while, wanting to see if the bowl would explode or do something else unusual.

“This is getting very strange very quickly,” Apple Bloom remarked, putting her half-eaten sandwich back on her plate.

“You must’ve been so exhausted from your hours-long timeout!” Cookie said in a cheery tone, devouring her seventh tomato sandwich while hoofing some of the salad to fit into her eighth.

“You’re sure you never overheard us?” Oakley said.

Cinnamon rolled her eyes. “Come on, guys. She couldn’t overhear us because she spent her timeout outdoors.”

As the three rambled on about Apple Bloom’s timeout, the freshman herself hesitated before picking up the sandwich, having just witnessed the family horses—or the family ponies—talk again in perfect English. She then spoke up, “I, uh...I’m still gettin’ used to this.”

Big Mac sighed, pawing his empty plate. “Me, too, Apple Bloom. Me, too.”

Apple Bloom turned on her phone and saw the time which was several minutes before one-thirty. Then, looking back at the horses: “How did y’all turn into magic ponies anyway? ‘Specially you, Big Mac.”

Big Mac’s ears drooped, becoming embarrassed now.

Cinnamon then patted him on his head. “Looks like he’s not entirely comfortable with it, Apple Bloom.”

“Which means it’s my turn!” Cookie exclaimed, waving her forehooves around like a pretend ghost.

Oakley glanced at her. “This isn’t a contest.”

“I call dibs!” Cookie shouted as he pulled his yellow mane.

“Ow-ow-ow-ow!” He pushed the offending hoof out of the way, now seeing it bedraggled. “Fine, you go first!”

Cookie’s eyes glittered, oblivious to Oakley’s irritation, then faced Apple Bloom with tapping forehooves. “You see, we were just minding our own business in the field trotting and grazing, then suddenly—whaplam!—we all glowed so bright, I couldn’t see! Next thing I knew, I was a little smaller, but I realized I was much more...whatcha’ call it?” Then, spreading a hoof across the air: “Alive!”

Apple Bloom tilted her head. “The whole havin’ yer’ free will and stuff, right?”

“We did have free will before it happened,” Cinnamon chimed in, “but we just never thought of doing anything more than what we needed to do to survive and stave off boredom.”

“So, ya’ never thought why we sometimes do what we do?” Apple Bloom asked, still in utter disbelief over how she was talking to horses she had ridden as a little kid.

“Some of the time,” Cinnamon replied. She levitated a cup of coffee beans and crunched a mouthful before swallowing them. “However, we could never know why you did it anyway if it didn’t fit our mindset of survival-and-care first.”

Cookie glared at her unicorn friend for interrupting the story, and then continued: “It wasn’t just being more alive than being...alive, if you know what I mean—my brain just expanded with all kinds of things, like I became smarter but not ‘practice’ or ‘dressage’ kind of smarter!”

“Basically,” Oakley said, nudging Cookie on the ear, “we were uplifted, to take a more expensive word from your vocabulary.”

“Correct,” cut in Cinnamon.

Cookie smiled at having a fellow equine being correct. Then, turning to Apple Bloom again: “I know we said it the first time, but, I promise, we’ve all thought it out the second time...this time.”

“Uh, it’s just you,” Oakley said.

Cookie bobbed her head. “Eh! I’ll represent the both of you!”

“In what?”

Cookie placed both her forehooves on the table again, looking at a still stunned Apple Bloom. “Well, we just wanted to say that we love you, Big Mac, Applejack, and Granny Smith all so much! It’s true that we weren’t born here, but we were little foals when Granny took Big Mac out to buy us—like, he just knew we would have so much fun together!” She placed a hoof on her chin like she was snuggling a pillow. “We had lots of good times together when Big Mac, Applejack, and then you came along to run around, feed us, ride us, comb our manes, and watch us roam around. Oh, all the laughs we had! It’s like one of those things you watch on the fancy screen!”

“Television,” Oakley corrected.

“B-But,” Cookie said, putting a hoof on Oakley’s head, much to his displeasure, “we never deserved to be here! Sure, our former owner was great and there was nothing wrong with him, but you were much more...I don’t know, real!”

Apple Bloom felt her eyes becoming misty.

“I don’t know why you never sold us, why you kept caring for us even though we were so much of a hassle—and we’ve had our stubborn streaks once in awhile,” as her ears folded back, those not-so-good times coming to memory “—but, you did it for us anyway...and, lately, I wanted to say thanks and the others wanted to say thanks, too, but we just didn’t know how other than—“ and neighed and whinnied “—yeah, that. Wh-When we figured out we could just say it now, we just wanted to show it to you...you know?”

Apple Bloom kept looking at Cookie’s innocent, sincere smile.

“We never, ever, want to have this new thing taken away from us,” she said, spreading her forelegs out, ready for a big hug. “I...I can’t express my feelings any other way now, and it’d be great to spend the rest of my days finally able to really understand all of you! We could share each other’s joys, struggles, in-betweens—and, of course, we’ll still love you and all the Apples!”

Cinnamon sniffed. “Aww, you’re making me sentimental!”

But it was Oakley who pushed everyone, including Big Mac and Apple Bloom, into the anticipated group hug.

Apple Bloom suffered from the grip of raw horsepower, but the hug was quick enough for her to recover before she could faint.

Then, the ponies laughed, even prompting Apple Bloom to laugh in tears of joy at a merry dream: she, Applejack, and Big Mac, all hanging out with their horses as equals, sitting at a diner while laughing over a very funny joke.

Except she imagined Big Mac with two legs and two hands.

This made her turn to the Big Mac back in reality, to her brother with no hands and four hooves.

Apple Bloom then frowned. “So, what happened to you?”

Big Mac sighed, trying to make as big a smile as he could. “What ya’ see. Turned into a pony, and—“ sighed again “—don’t know if I’ll turn back. Nothin’ frilly.”

“Doesn’t Applejack have a magical friend?” Cinnamon asked, spinning a hoof around.

Cookie gasped and slammed the table. “How could I forget?!” Flicking Oakley’s ear in excitement: “Hey, guys, remember when Applejack talked about how there’s another dimension and it’s filled with magical, talking ponies?! How I wished so hard back then that she could take me there!”

Bee-doo! Bee-doo!

Apple Bloom picked up her ringing phone as everyone looked at her standing up. “Heh-heh! It’s Sweetie Belle! Hold on!”

Then, walking out of the dining room and running back outside, she answered the call. “Yeah, Belle?”

Was it hard to sweep the streets and pick up garbage while handling a phone call?

However hard it was, Sweetie Belle was surely struggling with it, leaning her head to the side as she tried to clinch her phone between her cheek and her shoulder.

“What is it, Sweetie Belle?” Apple Bloom’s voice cracked through. “I’m kinda’ busy here!”

Sweetie gulped. “You know how you think things can’t get any worse?”

Apple Bloom gulped back. “Things jus’ got worse, didn’t they?”

“Yup.”

She heard wheezing from the phone. “OK. What’s goin’ on there?”

Sweetie faced Canterlot High on the other side of the street. “Diamond Tiara shared something with me.”

“Wait, wuh’?! She shared somethin’ with you?!”

“Uh-huh.” Sweetie gandered at the school’s glass dome on the top. “She just went back from the school library—“

“Why’s she there? Doesn’t she ‘ave books and a fancy computer at home?”

“After hearing how she has sixteen gigabytes of RAM there, I—“ then something clicked in her head. “Huh. Isn’t that inconsistent?” She shook her head. “I’ll take note of that...but she told me something and—“

“Spit it out!” Apple Bloom yelled.

“Alright, alright!” Then, a big gasp of breath later: “She saw Vice Principal Luna and Principal Cadance in the library along with a new restricted section.”

“Restricted section?” repeated Apple Bloom.

“Well, it was just a big white cloth over a part of the library, and that’s it.”

“Ok...wait, Cadance is in CHS? Why?”

“Beats me,” Sweetie said, “but maybe they’re talking about what to do with the cold.”

Apple Bloom sighed. “Makes sense. Not really that big of a deal.”

Sweetie wanted to sigh, too, but then froze. “But, you know I know you know what, so….”

Apple Bloom gasped again. “With Big Mac an’ potentially all of us becomin’ ponies.”

Sweetie stopped cleaning the sidewalk with her broom, opting to just hold it. “So, you remember how your sister raved about the crazy things Sunset told her about Equestria? Like how our principals are their princesses who raise the sun and moon everyday?”

“Yeah.”

A pause, gripping her phone tighter. “I don’t think Tiara knows about the pony stuff just yet, and she told me this off-the-cuff, but she laughed at Luna because, in Diamond’s words, ‘she said “everypony”, not “everybody”.’”

Silence from Apple Bloom.

Then: “Uh, Sweetie Belle? One question.”

“What?”

“Did Tiara see Principal Celestia at school?”

Sweetie shook her head again, hearing the blare of an ambulance and then that of a police car. “No. She asked Luna why Celestia wasn’t there, and she said her sister was really down with the cold and—“ zipped her mouth.

Dropped her broom.

Grabbed her phone and put it by her ear.

“She’s probably a princess now, isn’t she?” Apple Bloom asked.

Sweetie raised a hand over her eyes and looked indirectly at the sun. “I’m checking the sun now and there’s nothing wrong with it.”

“Yet.” A long, distressing pause. “What about Luna? Is she ponyin’ up or somethin’?”

“Just the ‘everypony’ bit,” Sweetie said. “It’s a—“

Crack!

And a yellow beam shot out of the dome, breaking more than a few glass panes, and zoomed to the sky, disappearing above.

Sweetie looked up and dropped her jaw along with the garbage bags.

Stared at the sky, then the broken dome.

“Apple Bloom?”

“What?”

“If anyone asks, we never had this call.”

Heistation in silence. “Sure.”

Call cut.

Eclipse

By now, the sky had become orange and the day was winding down to an end. Despite everyone suddenly being unable to digest any meat whatsoever, the city was close to full swing as cars chugged along, as sidewalks were decently populated with people passing by and looking for things to do in this final day of the weekend.

In other words: it was sunset.

Sweetie Belle wiped the sweat off her face as she continued her community service stint with Scootaloo by her side, cleaning Canterlot together. Their technique was a little innovative: Scootaloo threw bits of trash with her broom and Sweetie received it with the garbage bags.

“At this rate, Scoots,” she began after catching another one in a row, “you’ll be a hockey player in no time!”

Scootaloo twirled the broom around, smiling smugly. “What’re you talking about? Hockey’s no fun!”

Sweetie arched a brow at her. “Sure it is!”

“Yeah?” Scootaloo twirled the broom again, spinning it faster. “How?”

Sweetie smiled, having obtained a good answer. “It’s fast-paced, that’s number one.”

“...and?”

Then, Sweetie opened her mouth to say nothing, choosing to close her mouth as she failed to think of any more good answers. “Actually, well—“

Pow!

And a window above them broke, making the community helpers scream as they ran away from falling glass shards.

When that was over, Scootaloo and Sweetie removed their hands from their heads.

“What just happened?!” Sweetie shouted to no one in particular.

Then, from inside the building: “The Great and Powerful Trixie will show you the consequences of insulting my magic tricks!”

Scootaloo cupped her hand and hollered: “Hey, Trixie! You should be more careful next time! You could’ve hurt someone!”

Then, whispers and a few screams from inside.

Fuchsia appeared out of the window, sporting a clip on her fuchsia hair.“Sorry! It’s just Trixie trying out...wind magic!”

“Wind magic?” Scoots and Belle repeated together.

“Yeah!” Fuchsia said, nodding and smiling. “She’s, uh, testing it so we can show it off at our next concert—“

“Say the name!” Trixie’s voice called out.

Fuchsia rolled her eyes. “We’ll show it off in the next concert of—“ in a deep voice “—Trixie and the Illusions!” with a hand raised to the sky.

Then, she closed the window without realizing that it was not really closed, what with the lack of glass and all. When she finally realized that, she went back and drew the curtains.

Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle looked at each other, confused.

“How do you do wind magic, anyway?” Scootaloo asked.

Sweetie shrugged her shoulders. “I don’t know.”

They went back to cleaning in service to the community, though Sweetie Belle’s smile disapppeared as she looked back at the setting sun. “Why do I have a bad feeling about this?”

Too bad she was not prepared for a bit of trash to hit her in the face.

“Oops! Sorry, Sweets! Must’ve been too strong!”

Fuchsia frowned, seeing nothing but the curtains before her.

She turned around to see the apartment’s living room. Fallen pictures and vases, burned rugs, and a sofa split in two.

With Trixie the unicorn blushing behind one half of the sofa. “Well, how did Trixie perform?”

“Are you trying to get us in trouble?!” Fuchsia yelled, raising a broom of her own as a weapon.

Trixie scoffed. “The whole world knows about magic thanks to shimmering Sunset!” She waved her cape about, creating fake wind. “Showing myself to the world in this enhanced form will only make everyone more amazed at the plethora of tricks the Great and Powerful Trixie can now perform!”

Her bandmate was not amused, having crossed her arms. “Can you try the amazing magical trick known as sleeping?”

Knock! Knock!

Trixie yelped, scampering underneath the table. “Wh-Who’s there?!”

A cough from outside. “Uh, it’s Wallflower. Back from the gro—“

“Wallflower who?!” Trixie shouted, gaining a surge in confidence before she jumped out and landed before the door.

Fuchsia groaned as she walked to the pony. “Trixie, this is no time for a knock-knock joke.”

Trixie put one hoof on her chest, looking up towards the ceiling. “If Trixie can diversify her range of magical tricks, then she can also diversify her range of comedy—“

And she was picked up, the floor becoming distant.

“—what, what?!” Then, she threw a punch at Fuchsia’s face.

She dodged the blow, staggering a few steps back. “Trixie, could you be cooperative this once?!”

“The Great and Powerful Trixie will not be handled like a pony!” Trixie cried back.

“You are a pony,” Fuchsia said, carrying her to the kitchen.

“I am a unicorn, not a pony!” To prove her point, she lifted her hat in a glow to show her horn.

“A unicorn pony.”

Before she could be argued with, Fuchsia plopped the unicorn pony on to the counter. Placing a sharp finger right between Trixie’s eyes: “Stay there.”

“Pfft!” and Trixie stuck out her tongue.

Fuchsia shook her head as she went to the door and then opened it.

In the hallway, Walllower made a clumsy wave with one hand, holding several paper bags with the other. “Where’s Juniper?”

Fuchsia jerked a thumb towards the bedroom. “Sleeping.”

“Already?

“Montage said she’ll just wait until she magically becomes normal again,” Fuchsia then closed the door as Wallflower entered.

She took a step, approaching the room. “Well, she’s not wrong.”

Fuchsia placed a hand on a desk, giving her friend a strange look. “And how do you think sleeping early is going to turn her back?”

Wallflower blushed, true to her name once again as she faced her questioner. “Someone’s going to save the day. I should know,” and chuckled cutely, remembering the time when she made remembering a rather complicated matter.

Fuchsia gave her a blank expression in return. “That attitude is going to doom us all.”

Wallflower glanced out the window, then realized she could not since the curtains were drawn. Turning back to Fuchsia: “Sunset must be coming back home from...wherever they are now.” Becoming a little somber, she rubbed her arm, nervous.

Fuchsia smiled, looking back at the grocery bags on the table. “You’re cool with chimichangas?”

“I’m cool with it.” Then, as Wallflower yawned and stretched her arms on the way to the bedroom, she said, “Trot to it.”

“Thanks,” Fuchsia said on her own way to the table. “I hope you don’t mind if I add—“ and raised her brow, dropping the politeness. “’Trot to it’? Don’t you mean ‘hop to it’?”

Wallflower then turned around. “That’s what I said, right?”

“Nope. You said ‘Trot to it’.”

Wallflower scratched her messy green hair. “Weird. Must’ve slipped,” and she disappeared into the bed area where she could hear Juniper’s first snores as a pony.

Fuchsia brought the paper bags of ingredients to the kitchen before shooing away Trixie back into the living room. She checked the time on her phone—kicked the floor, dialed a number on the phone, and put it up, ready to berate.

“Alright, Lavender Lace!” she shouted, Juniper’s sleep not in her mind right now. “You’ve been away far too long! We need you to come over here right away!”

“Uh, I can’t...?”

Fuchsia growled. “Where are you and what are you doing?!”

“Um...charades?”

“Who plays charades half-past six in the evening?!”

“Wait...that...that looks like—yeah! A policeman! I got it, Bon Bon! Did I get it?”

Standing on the front lawn of Bon Bon’s house, Lavender Lace kept shouting at the front window, still unsure whether she had gotten the answer or not.

Behind the window, Bon Bon and Octavia were telling her, through hand signals, to get away, resorting to pointing in different directions to get the message across but to no avail.

Inside, at the dining table and under a few lights were the ponies helping themselves to another bowl of fragrant salad, one they hoped would not be whisked away by a magical portal. Lyra was done crying, eating the salad with her neck bent though her eyes were still red and her cheeks were still puffy. Sunny Flare was floating a fork with which she picked leaves and put them into her mouth, smiling at how much more delicious vegetables were today. Sour Sweet pouted, having discovered that she did not have the magic to levitate things.

“Sour,” Sunny began while glowing a fork magenta, “you must eat. We can’t let you starve.”

Sour rolled her eyes. “Says the one who doesn’t even have to touch the food.”

Sunny placed the fork down, removing her glow.. “Have you tried using your hooves?”

Sour raised a flat hoof. “You mean this?!”

“To hold the leaves up,” Sunny said, pointing at the salad with her fork.

“Oh, that’s so helpful!” Sweet said, clasping her forehooves. Then, in a bitter tone: “If my hooves were magnetic!”

While the two Shadowbolts devolved to verbal scuffles, Lyra noticed Vinyl Scratch, the fourth pony at the table, staring at her food through her thick shades.

Then, the door opened.

Everypony looked that way, seeing Bon Bon storm out to the lawn to confront Lavender Lace.

Lyra then turned to Vinyl. “Uh...” and looked at her horn, “you could use that.”

Vinyl turned back to her. She shrugged.

Lyra made a small smile. “Do you feel something strange in your horn?”

Vinyl scratched her head, then nodded.

“That something strange is...ugh, magic.” Lyra pointed at her own horn. “I-I don’t know how it really works, but I just imagine I want to move the fork above the table.” To demonstrate, she glowed her horn orange and her fork glowed orange with it. She slowly lifted it up, then put it down.

Vinyl made a silent “Ooh!”

“Yeah.” Lyra smirked. “It’s gonna be crazy if a lot of us become unicorns. Everything will float, and I’ve heard that they could also do magic spells.” She gulped, shuddering. “I don’t want to think about that, though.”

Vinyl stopped smiling as she pointed at the fork and then at Lyra’s mouth.

“I’d rather eat like an actual horse,” Lyra said. “If I have to get over being a pony, I might as well jump in.”

Vinyl rubbed her chin. Then, pulling her head back, she looked at her own salad.

Her horn flickered magenta, and then stabilized into one continuous glow.

A leaf hovered into the air, glowing, too.

Vinyl made another silent “Ooh!”, this time turning it into a grin.

Lyra smiled. “You got it!” Then, turning to Sour Sweet. “How’re you doing?”

Sour Sweet faced Lyra with a mouth messy with dressing. Sarcastically: “Smashing, thank you very much.”

They heard the door close, Bon Bon huffing and puffing back inside. Octavia, who had watched it all from the window, went to her. “Are you alright?”

“Alright?!” Bon Bon lashed out. “Who knew charades almost caused an international incident?!”

“Almost,” Octavaia said. “Be grateful that—“

Beep!

Bon Bon sighed, picking up her phone to read the new texts. “What now?”

The first text in question was beside a picture of Luna’s face. MCHS Club: This is Principal Cadance using Luna’s phone. Something will happen before sundown. I can’t tell you what, but whatever you do, don’t panic. We’ll see if we can prevent or at least control it, but none of us are entirely sure. I’ll be sending texts like this to everyone else Luna contacted.

Then, the next text:

I repeat. Do not panic.

In the school library, Cadance held Luna’s phone and began texting to the Shadowbolts, striding around in the spacious facility. Then, she looked up mid-text, seeing she was about to bump into Principal Celestia.

The alicorn was staring wistfully to the sky past the dome, looking through the panes both complete and broken. Under the orange sky, her ethereal mane glistened in its flutters.

“Are you still OK, Celestia?” asked Cadance, looking straight at the pony’s eyes which were level with hers.

Celestia made a swift turn of the head towards her. “I still can’t believe how lucky we are.”

“I know.” Cadance stared at the sky as well. “Granted, it is easy to miss the sun when you’re not aiming for it.”

They shared the moment of silence together, both appreciating the sky.

“How confident are you with what you have to do?” Cadance asked further.

Celestia sighed, muzzle lowered. “I have memorized every last word that our princess selves have written to us, and I have familiarized myself with everything I need to know with advanced magic.” Her eyes widened, staring at the floor which reflected the sunset’s brilliance. “It’s unbelievable how fast I was able to cope with it all, but I know I still have much to learn.”

“And not much time,” Cadance commented, checking the time on her phone.

Then, she walked to the vice principal herself who was sitting down at one of the computer stations in the middle of the library. She was covering her eyes from view.

Cadance halted. She glanced back at Celestia who then nudged her head towards her sister.

Taking the signal, Cadance sat down on an adjacent chair. With a heavy breath: “Luna, are you sure you’ll turn into a pony very soon?”

Luna lowered her hand, bringing her eyes back to light. “Absolutely.” She turned to the sky. “Aside from the rising difficulty of speaking normally, thou hast certainly heard us—“ and neighed on accident, then covered her mouth.

Cadance shivered, yet kept her cool and composure, resisting the urge to run away from the neighing vice principal.

Luna placed a hand on her shoulder, heard hoofsteps, saw Celestia trotting up to her.

A white hoof on Luna. “Sister, you’ll be fine. We’ve rehearsed this.”

“If only that would truly give us certainty!” Luna blurted out, fighting the tears threatening to flow. “We shall soon become responsible over numerous planets, stars—entire galaxies!” Luna then held on tight to Celestia, clinging to her neck. “Celestia, it does not matter how many times we have studied the princesses’ instructions. We are about to take on the greatest endeavor nobody in this world’s entire history has ever taken before!“

Celestia made a slow blink, batting tears of her own.

Luna’s voice trembling: “This was not what we had signed up for when we desired to become principals over this school!”

Then, the cling turned into a hug.

She did not whimper, but the tears did flow.

Celestia replied with a bow of her head, letting loose her tears.

All their tears mingling on the floor.

“It wasn’t, Luna,” Celestia whispered in a choking voice. “It w-wasn’t.” Then, slightly raising her head with a soaring voice, “But, we’ve always bounced back. At worst, we’ll be stuck like this for weeks, and at best—“

Luna whinnied.

She covered her mouth, escaping the hug.

Then, glowed.

Celestia and Cadance stepped back with their hooves and feet, shielding themselves from the brightness

Then, there was no more glow.

In the vice principal’s place was a dark blue alicorn with a flowing mane and flowing tail that both resembled the night sky with its stars, lying on the floor.

Cadance placed a hand to her head, checking the closest exit. She wrested herself away from a quick leave and continued texting the Shadowbolts.

Luna’s eyes shot open, seeing Celestia sideways.

Her irises shrank.

“It has happened, has it not?” she asked Celestia.

And the Princess of the Day answered the Princess of the Night, “Yes, sister. It has.”

Luna stayed there, staring at open space for a good while.

Whirled her head to the sky.

Still orange, still sunset.

Then, Luna’s eyes and horn glowed white.

Celestia galloped to her, horrified at what came upon her.

The glow subsided.

Luna gasped as she got up on her four hooves perfectly. She placed one on Celestia’s shoulder. “We could feel it, sister. It is terrifying.”

Celestia held her close. “You can feel the universe?”

Luna shuddered, avoiding the sky. “Without even l-looking, we could sense and surely manipulate the entire solar system—“

And both sisters blinked at the same time, their faces becoming stiffly scared.

Cadance looked up from her phone, placed a hand over her mouth in shock. “It’s happening, isn’t it?”

Celestia swallowed, unable to bring the words out of her mouth at first. Then:

“The sun’s stopped moving.”

Luna swung her head round to face Cadance. “As well as everything else in the universe!”

Cadance blinked, taking in all the certainly helpful information for just a few seconds.

She pressed the Send button on her phone.

Sending the text to everyone Luna had contacted.

Cadance felt her breathing quicken, her blood pressure rising as she looked at the door and then at both alicorns. “Aren’t you supposed to do something?!”

Luna placed a hoof to her chest. “B-But if we move everything at this very moment, everyone shall take note of it and realize what danger they are all in!”

Celestia then looked at Luna, with eyes halfway berserk. “We should at least try! What use is hiding the truth when everyone might die?”

Luna hesitated, about to hyperventilate

Then gritted her teeth, planted a hoof on the floor, cracking it, too.

“Let us do this, sister!” Luna shouted.

“Oh, we will!” Celestia yelled.

They spaced their hooves on the ground, closed their eyes, and glowed their horns blue and yellow, the lights’ intensity rising as the library rumbled and tremored, books falling off and chairs tipping over.

Cadance saw her hands glowing cyan as she was pulled towards the alicorns. “Wait, n-not—“

Phone dropped to the floor, cracking the screen.

Cadance was slammed against both ponies.

A bright white light consumed them.

“Ouch...ah!”

Pain shot through her hands and her head as Cadance slowly opened her eyes, discovering that she was lying down on the floor.

Looked around. Saw the computers, the bookshelves, the door to her right.

Cadance was definitely in the library although it was an untidy one now with books, chairs, and and even a few tables strewn on the floor.

She raised her hands into view.

Though dirty and bruised, they were still hands.

Rubbing her sore head: “What...just...happened?”

“Ah.” Luna’s pony face came into view, her flowing mane visible. “Thou hast been awakened.”

The not-yet-a-pony principal felt weightless as she was levitated in a yellow glow, letting out a short scream at suddenly being lifted.

Then, she was back on her two feet, reeling from the landing.

She dusted her shirt and pants off, then, seeing the alicorn sisters again—“Wh-What did you do? Did you save the world?”

“Actually,” Celestia said, mustering up a smirk, “you’re on your way to saving the world.”

Cadance blinked. “What?!”

Luna, still with a serious face, turned her head up towards the sky. “See for thyself.”

Thus, Cadance looked up.

The sky was still orange though a bit darker.

Celestia took a step forward as she began: “For some reason, our combined magic has attracted your magic growing inside you—“

“Growing inside me?!” she yelled, pointing at herself. “Was I about to become a pony, too?!”

“You would’ve,” Celestia replied, maintaining a calm demeanor; her ebbing mane added to it. “However, you gave up much of your magic, not only preventing you from becoming a pony yet but also allowing us to create a worldwide force field.”

“Force field?” Cadance repeated, surely experiencing a doozy after hearing what she just heard about magic and ponies and what not. Then, recomposing herself, “What are you protecting it from? Radiation? Quasars? Space magic?”

It was Luna who took another step forward. “It is an illusory force field you have helped cast.”

Instead of replying with words, Cadance replied with nothing but a continued look of shock on her face.

Also of confusion since she did not understand what “illusory force field” meant.

Celestia slowly trotted to Cadance, her horn getting awfully close to the principal’s head. “I apologize in advance for doing this, but I believe this is the only way you’ll understand.”

She placed the horn on Cadance’s forehead.

It glowed.

Cadance opened her eyes.

And saw Earth floating serenely in space. She looked down and saw that she was standing on nothing but space. Everywhere else, in fact, was space as far as she knew—she could not comprehend anything further since she was screaming, “Aaaahhh!”

Felt something on her shoulder.

She calmed down, seeing it was Celestia’s hoof.

Principal Celestia glowed her horn. “Cadance, look back at the planet.”

Cadance was in a trembling fit, nervously looking back down at her shoes and saw that she was still standing despite the lack of a surface.

Then, accepting Celestia’s request, she looked at the planet.

Slowly, a tint of yellow appeared all over Earth until it formed a yellow force field enveloping it.

“That’s a part of what happened while you were knocked out,” Celestia said. “It’s projecting an illusory sky, able to shift the weather and the temperature to match whatever it is displaying. It’s strong enough to fool even the most powerful telescopes from detecting everything else.”

“What do you mean ‘everything else’?”

Celestia sighed, looking at the principal up and down. She took a silent while, and then: “You are standing at the center of the solar system.”

Cadance stepped back from the pony, clutching her own head as the gravity of it all dawned on her. “No...it really is happening and—“

“Look the other way.”

And in her apprehension, she looked the other way.

There, she saw the moon a little to the side as well as the other planets. Among them was the sun, its position resembling more of a gas giant than that of a mammoth star.

Cadance skipped a heartbeat at the sight. “How’s that even possible?! The sun’s mass should be attracting the Earth and the other planets and the—“

“Yet it doesn’t,” Celestia said.

The principal stopped, then turned to Celestia.

The alicorn sighed. “Magic isn’t defying the rules of physics, Cadance.”

“Then what is it doing?!” she yelled, holding her hands out in fear.

Celestia stared hard at her eyes. “Magic is rewriting them.”

Silence.

A long silence.

The first thing Cadance did was sit down in space, Celestia now towering over her.

The princess looked down on the frightened principal. “I hope that this is temporary. If they don’t come back in time, then what Twilight Sparkle wrote to us would end up coming true.”

Cadance shivered, arms wrapped around her knees. “And that is…?”

Celestia looked down, seeing the stars below. “The world staying magical.”

“Wha?!”

And Cadance staggered on her two feet, realizing that she was back in the library.

Luna was levitating a chair, staying occupied by rotating it and seeing how much she could show off. Then, she dropped it and turned to Cadance and Celestia. “Ye have come back.”

Cadance nodded, visibly shivering, her legs buckling.

Luna sighed. “It has begun, then: our duty to wield the sun and the moon until help arrives.”

“That is so,” Celestia said, trotting to her side.

Luna tilted her head and gave her sister a light push. “What we have not mentioned is that we feel younger in this new figure.”

Celestia nodded, then gasped. “That’s because we’ve become...immortal!”

Luna’s eyes went wide. “Well, then. That is an interesting development.”

Cadance looked at the both of them and—

“Leave us alone,” Luna said, extending a hoof to her. “I believe that all of this and more has warranted a much-needed talk between sisters.”

Cadance pursed her lips, picking up Luna’s phone. “When shall I come back inside?”

“In about thirty minutes,” Celestia replied. “You can stay in my office. There is some canned beans I’ve stored there in case of emergencies.”

The last principal standing felt intimidated at being commanded by a magical pony princess who had supreme power over the sun, and so, with a short “Thank you”, she walked out of the library and closed the doors.

Leaving behind the two alicorn princess sisters, their manes and their tails flowing about and shining under the dimming sky.

Luna then faced her sister. “Celestia, if this shall not be resolved, does that mean we shall live forever?”

“I don’t know.” Celestia looked up at the sky. “What I do know is that if we stay like this, we’ll outlive everyone else. Our parents, whatever children we can still have, all our wonderful friends...” and then, looking at the closed doors, “Cadance….”

Luna choked.

Hugged Celestia again.

She hugged Luna back.

In that embrace, under the pressure of the sun, the moon, the planets, and so much more—with the prospect of lonely immortality—

In that embrace, they cried.

Onset of Darkness

“Ooh...”

Rarity massaged her aching head, feeling her curly mane as she slowly felt energized by an aromatic whiff. “Why...why does my head hurt so much?”

Then, a hoof on her foreleg.

A purple hoof.

“It’s just a side-effect of the spell, Rarity,” Sparkle said in a calming voice. “It’ll wear off in five minutes.”

Rarity gritted her teeth, wincing at the pain in her horn.

As Sparkle moved in closer, levitating an ice pack then placed it on her head, making sure Rarity’s horn would not tear it open.

With a bag of cold, Rarity felt much more relaxed like she was letting some steam off. “Ahh! Much better….”

Then, her eyes finally adjusted to the bright light.

She found herself in a crystally room like the ones she had seen before, feeling the soft fluff of her bed and pillow. Around her were some of her friends: Cotton was busy inflating balloon letters that would make up the message, “Get well soon!’; Starlight and Sunset stood by the door, whispering something to each other with pensive frowns; Sci-Twi was nervously biting her hoof at the one and only table present; of course, there was the bedside princess herself.

Rarity glanced out the window to her left, seeing darkness outside. “Is it nighttime already?”

“Yes,” was Sparkle’s simple reply. “You’ve been out for quite a while. Almost nine hours, in fact.”

“Nine hours?!” Rarity screamed, lifting herself and immediately sitting up, forelegs crossed and shivering, head whirling about as the blanket flew to the air only for Sparkle to catch it with her magic.

Everyone looked at the pony fashionista. Even Sci-Twi stopped chewing on her hoof out of respect.

“What did I miss?!” Rarity shouted, hooves on her head.

“Aside from becoming a zombie that wanted to produce clothes at all costs?” Cotton said fast and innocent.

The used-to-be-zombie gasped. “I-Is that what h-happened to me?”

“That’s what’s not supposed to happen,” Starlight said, trotting up to the mare with Sunset by her side. “However, since you haven’t, well, grown up with magic, the backfire must’ve been a lot stronger than usual.”

Sparkle nodded. “Usually, Facere Habitu would just knock you out if you cast it wrong, but I didn’t expect the spell to turn you like...that!”

Rarity sat still on her bed, thinking over the missing nine hours. Then: “So, what did I miss? Did you save our world while I was out?”

Starlight chuckled nervously, finding it difficult to keep a straight face. “About that….”

“It’s gotten worse,” Sunset cut in.

Rarity gasped again, this time with more volume and more exaggeration in her features. “Don’t tell me that—“

“Both our principals became ponies,” Sunset said. “Because of that, our astronomy lessons are now outdated.”

“What do you mean, they’re outdated?” Rarity said, sounding irritated. “Of course, I know we have eight planets now instead of nine!”

Starlight raised a brow. “What happened to the ninth planet? Did it blow up?”

“No, not that,” Sunset said, waving a hoof at her. “Had to do with reusing some old textbooks.”

Starlight backed away. “Oh.”

Sunset sighed and turned back to Rarity. “What I mean is: there’s something new with our sun and moon.”

Cotton snickered and snorted, now holding all the balloons with strings wrapped around one hoof. “Sunset talking about the sun! Hah!”

“Come on, Pin—I mean, Cotton!” Sparkle yelled. “Aren’t you worried about Principal Celestia dropping the sun on accident?!”

“Dropping the sun?” Rarity repeated, her eyes slowly growing wide at what that implied.

“Now you get it, Rarity?” Sunset asked with a tilted head.

Rarity was silent.

What came next was a deafening scream that rocked the room and poked all Pinkie’s balloons away, Sci-Twi jumping scared at each pop!

Then, she quieted down, leaving Sci-Twi shuddering under the table.

Sparkle removed her pair of emergency earmuffs. “That’s what you missed, Rarity.”

“B-But if you said both principals,” Rarity continued in a nigh blubbering accent, “that means Vice Principal Luna controls the moon now!

“And the stars, the meteors, the comets,” Sunset listed with her hoof despite the lack of fingers to visually enumerate them. “Basically, she’s become the Princess of the Night in our world.”

Rarity froze, rock still.

Starlight glowed her horn and made some pairs of earmuffs appear for everyone to wear. “Three, two, one—“

The double doors opened to bring Rarity and company into the dining room.

The rest of her friends sat as they looked up from their dinner of corns, flowers, and apple fritters emitting a savory, mouthwatering smell. On the walls were green stained glass windows depicting stylized trees; the big one at the back displayed a rolling green field.

Rainbow tried to suppress a chuckle at the tired mare. “Hey, Rarity! Were you the one screaming?”

Rare rolled her eyes. “It was probably her first time experiencing a true magical mishap. Believe me, darling, I have done much worse before you came along.”

“Ooh!” Pinkie balanced a carrot on her head. “Like how you wanted to burn Ponyville down because you dyed your mane wrong?”

AJ’s ears folded. “That don’t sound too good.”

In an attempt to save face, Rare rolled a tongue in her cheek. “As you can see, I have not burned down Ponyville in my moment of weakness. You could thank my restraint for averting disaster!”

Fluttershy gulped. “Oh, but if you did burn this town—think of all those poor, poor animals without a good place to call home!”

Sitting beside the sensitive pegasus, Flutters stroked her mane, comforting her.

Applejack smacked a knife on to the golden table, making everyone look at her. “Girls, shouldn’t we be, ya’ know, helpin’ out Rarity?”

It was too late, though, since Rarity was accommodated to one of the empty cushioned seats, visibly shaken.

Dragon looked at the rest of her entourage. “So, Sparkle, you told her the news, didn’t you?”|

The princess nodded, letting the others take their seats, too.

Now, fifteen were seated at the slightly overcrowded table, her Highness content with being the odd one out with no chair.

She let out a long sigh. Then, raising her head: “We all know that your world is in danger, facing a crisis it has never seen before. If we do not fix this in time, nothing will ever be the same. Your friends, families, and everyone else will be changed, both physically and more. Magic will become an undeniable fact of life and society as you know it will splinter and crumble to give way to one just like ours!”

She paused, making everyone silent with the truth heavy on their shoulders.

“That said—and I have given serious thought to what I am about to say,” and Sparkle inhaled, exhaled “—all of you are free to hang out in Ponyville tonight.”

Everyone flinched, especially Sunset. “They’re free to what?!”

Sparkle trotted to her and Starlight. “I’ll be taking these two and Spike—no, uh—Dragon with me to the library to iron out this inter-dimensional issue. I know you want to help and—“

“Of course, we wanna help!” Dash shouted, leaping out of her chair and hovering right in front of the princess. “That’s our world falling apart!”

“Dash?” Applejack asked, a little scared. “This ain’t the best time to—“

“Oh, and you think you’re safe and cool ‘cause nothing bad’s happening in your world!” continued Dash, crossing her forelegs in defiance.

“Rainbow Dash,” Sparkle said, voice somewhat softer. “I already said I gave serious thought—“

“Then you should give it more serious thought!” Dash cried out, snout inching closer to the princess’s face. “Yeah, I know I’m not as magical as a unicorn or an alicorn, but if sweeping the floor is gonna help, then I’ll do it for everyone I love back there!” and pointed at the doors. “I’m not gonna let anyone stand in my way of helping you, whether you like it or not!

Starlight stepped in. “Uh, Dash? Maybe you’re being a bit too loyal that you’re not seeing this—“

Rainbow glared at her. “That’s not how you—“

“’Too loyal’?” Dash repeated, eyes aimed at her as they twitched. “Did you just call me...too loyal?”

Starlight took a step back. “Oh, no.”

Knock! Knock!

Sparkle stood at the door, alone in the middle of a darkened hallway. She heard nothing but distant voices from across the castle.“Rainbow Dash? I know you’re there.”

“Leave me alone,” came the gruff reply from inside.

Sparkle frowned. “Come on, Dash. I know what you did out there wasn’t the best, but—“

“All thanks to you, Miss ‘Too Loyal’.”

Sparkle sighed.

Then heard wingbeats.

“No, you don’t!”

Sparkle pushed the door open and saw Dash in the rather generic bedroom, holding a key with her mouth.

Dash floated to the floor, spat the key out to the bed, and wore a face worthy of a hotshot. “What’s up, princess?”

Sparkle gulped, looking around to find anything to rest her vision on, but it all kept returning to the show-off standing right in front of her between the lights, the crystals, and the pictures.

“That was so dumb, Twilight,” Dash began, “and that’s coming from a pony who’s supposed to be a know-it-all.”

“Hey!” Sparkle pointed a hoof at her. “I admit, that probably wasn’t the best thing to say when you were in such a bad mood!”

“Took you that long to realize that, eh?” Dash then flapped her wings to hover a bit. “Oh, and is there such a thing as being, ahem, too loyal for the, ahem, Element of, ahem, Loyalty?”

Sparkle sighed, her head hung low. “Starlight shouldn’t have worded it that way, but she was right.”

Dash raised a hoof and opened her wings, and then simmered down, deciding to flick her mane at her. “That settles it. You just don’t care much about our world after all!”

Sparkle pawed a hoof on the floor, exuding anxiety. “I do care about your world as much as you do! D-Don’t you remember when I vowed to protect your world even if it meant being cut off from my friends and my home for thirty moons?”

“Well, times change!” Dash yelled. “Maybe you’re not willing to do that now!”

Sparkle gasped, clutched her chest. “Rainbow Dash! How could you?!”

“Because I’m right!” She crossed her forelegs again in mid-air. “What makes you think that we can just trot around in Ponyville while everyone back home’s turning into ponies against their wills?!”

Sparkle raised a hoof and flared her wings out. “Could you please just listen?!”

And Dash was floored by the shout.

She landed on the ground, staring at her hard. “I’m listening.”

“Thank you!”

“But, could you please hurry up?” Dash asked, tapping her hoof in impatience.

The princess sighed. Then: “The reason why I said what I said was because I thought you wouldn’t be able to contribute much—wait!” She extended a hoof at Dash who was about to tune out. “I said that because most of it involves unicorn magic. If you were in our room, you’d pretty much be bored and break our concentration.”

Dash kept hovering. “I wonder why you would leave out Rarity and Twi, then, but proceed.”

Sparkle’s ears folded. “Well, after what just happened, I gave it some second, third, seventh thoughts, and I think—“

“Yeah, you’re gonna let us in ‘cause you feel bad,” Dash said, flicking her tail.

“I feel bad because I changed my mind!” Sparkle replied louder.. “Now, I think it’s right to let you in because...oh, the times when my friends did help me like when Pinkie found the reference guide under E—”

Dash rolled her eyes and gave her a nudge on the shoulder. “Fine. I gave it some second thoughts, too, and we’re more likely to not save the world if we keep arguing like this.”

Sparkle let out a sigh of relief and hugged her. “Whoo! Glad that one worked out super quick!”

Dash let out a small smile. “Yeah. Me, too.”

“Now, come with me to the library!” Sparkle said, pulling Dash’s leg as she flew out of the bedroom with her. “I already got everypony up-to-date on what needs to be done!”

Dash rolled her eyes again, also relieved that the fight was over.

As she predicted, Dash was sweeping the library. Her wings gave her the ability to also sweep the walls and the ceiling.

“OK, I take it back,” Dash said half-jokingly. “I don’t see why cleaning the library’s getting us closer to fixing the portal.”

Rainbow, who was sweeping the ceiling with her own broom, rolled her eyes. “OCD? I mean, we have two Twilight Sparkles in the same room.”

“Yeah. That could be a problem.”

Then, Rainbow caught a glimpse of the princess which made her glare at her other self. “Let’s not forget that I have to be stuck with clean-up duty, too, thanks to you.”

Dash threw the broom up and caught it. “Hey, I made up with Sparkle so we’re fine now, right?”

It was Rainbow’s turn to cross her forelegs as both of them hovered near the ceiling. “Yeah, but that’s not gonna go down so soon. If it weren’t for Starlight, all of us would’ve ended up in the ER ‘cause of you.”

Dash scratched her head with her broom, looking down with shame. “Heh-heh.”

On the ground, those two Twilights were at it along with Starlight and Sunset, poring over various magic-focused books, scrolls, and tomes on one table all accumulating that familiar musty scent of old and dust. Not far away were the two Rarities who were also reading up on magic, reading so intensely that it had become study. The Fluttershies and the Applejacks sat farther away, closer to the doors as informal guards willing to chat freely about what was going on. This left the Pinkie Pies out of the room altogether though bouncing could be heard from time to time.

Sci-Twi became overwhelmed with what was racing through her head. Symbols, illustrations, diagrams; paragraphs, anecdotes, problems, and theories; dates, names, and spells of various kinds—all these filled her head with strange terms like derivation points, nullifier, nodes, aura, Fiducia Compelus, poison joke, Clover the Clever, Staff of Sacanas—

Dragon burped out a letter, and Sparkle levitated it to her sight without looking. “’Moon Dancer’s come up empty. She’ll try again after an hour’s rest.’” With a grumble, she threw the scroll back at him who then threw it at a nearby garbage bin.

Sunset groaned, slamming a book on the table. “What about this one? ‘Portals that span at least two different dimensions require—‘”

“’—a connection already established in order to be easily constructed and mass-produced,’” continued Sparkle, “’since, without this connection, building a portal on one side would be tantamount to shooting an arrow in the multiversal dark.’ Ugh!” She smacked her head on the table and rubbed her strained eyes. “We’re not going anywhere this slow!” A pause as the three unicorns at the table read on. “Why don’t we use portals more often? That way, we’d be have more material on the topic!”

Sci-Twi gulped, briefly glancing at Fluttershy. “What about we call in that chaos creature?”

Flutters’s ears perked up. “You mean Discord?”

Sparkle shook her head. “Not an option.”

Fluttershy raised her hoof. “But, he can just snap everything back to normal. Why can’t he just snap the portal back on?”

“Yes, he can,” Sparkle replied, “but there’s a catch: it involves magic, and since turning it back on will need lots of it, that magic will seep through to their world.”

Sci-Twi raised a brow. “So how come keeping the portal connected wasn’t causing magic to go haywire?”

“The principle of maintenance,” Sparkle said like she was reciting it out of a book. “Takes lots of magic to connect and disconnect, doesn’t take much to keep it on. Sort of like a plugging something to a socket only it takes a tremendous amount of energy to plug it in in the first place.”

Twi rubbed her chin. “What about he fixes the portal, goes through it and snaps everything back to normal before the portal’s magic alters things further, then goes back?”

“Still requires magic,” Sparkle replied.

“Then, what about making Discord use the least amount of magic?”

“Nuh-uh,” was Starlight’s answer. “Even the minimal amount necessary to turn the portal back on would still bring out enough magical residue to spread and multiply like wildfire, possibly speeding up the change.”

“So, Discord’s out,” Sunset concluded and then groaned.

“What about you call in Star Swirl?” Twi asked further suggested. “Isn’t he that guy who’s supposed to be dead but he’s here after a thousand years?”

“He’s in the middle of a very long journey,” Sparkle said. “He won’t be coming back for some time.”

“Then call him to teleport here!” Twi yelled, flailing her forehooves and about to sweep the table clean of books.

‘Twi,” Sunset started, “there are no phones here.”

Twi smacked herself on the hoof at that realization.

“And, no,” Sparkle said, “Spike the Dragon cannot send letters to just about anypony.”

To add to that, Dragon sealed his lips with an imaginary zipper, making the statement clear to Twi.

“What about we send a letter to Princess Celestia to tell Star Swirl to come here?” she then suggested, growing frantic. “Surely, she knows how to get to him!”

Sparkle shook her head again. “Last time I checked, he was in Sire’s Hollow.”

“Did you just say Sire’s Hollow?” Starlight asked. Then, without waiting for a reply: “When was this?”

“Just before sunset.”

Sunset perked her ears up. “What?”

Starlight giggled. “Now there’s something worthy of a joke!” Then, ears folded back and relinquishing her mischief, “But, Sire’s Hollow? My Dad would be all over him! Star Swirl’s not just old, he’s an antique!”

A tap from Sunset as she pointed a hoof towards the table. “I think stopping a worldwide magical fiasco is more important than calling Star Swirl old.”

Starlight bulged her cheeks. “Yup! Gotta trot to it!”

Then, the princess and her unicorn friends went back to studying and checking, each of them taking down notes with their quills and their papers. For Twi she scrawled horribly, her glowing quill bending rather clumsy as her hoofwriting turned out barely legible. In spite of the challenge, she could still read what she had written.

Which was not much. Just a basic outline on what magic was and how portals operated.

Twi groaned as she levitated another book entitled Warp Zones: Why They are a Huge Failure as a Hypothesis. Despite the not-so-promising nature of the name, she opened the book and—

“Twilight.”

She sat up. “Sparkle? Did you call me?”

The princess shook her head. “No. I didn’t say anything.”

Twi turned to Sunset and Starlight. “You?”

Both shook their heads, holding their own books with their hooves.

Twi turned to the two Spikes by the small table. “Did you call me?”

They turned to each other, then shook their heads at her. “Not a thing,” added Spike.

“Did anypony call me?!” Twi shouted at the top of her lungs.

Everyone looked at her.

“No”, was Rainbow’s reply from above, making the unicorn tilt her head up. “Heard nothing at all!”

Twi turned back to her book. “What if I’m hearing my name? What if I’m going crazy?!”

Starlight was about to say something snarky but was stopped by Sunset’s glare.

Twi moaned, lifting her glasses and then putting it back on again. “Alright, take it easy, Twilight, take it easy.” She levitated the book before her, about to open it. “Everything’s gonna be fine, everything’s gonna be—“

“Twilight.”

“Who’s there?!”

Fell off her chair with a thud!

Silence as Sparkle and Sunset glowed her back up, put her glasses back on.

Everyone stopped, looking at her with worry.

“What’s wrong?” Sparkle asked, voice tinged with concern with a hoof to her shoulder. “Is something bothering you?”

Twi was close to hyperventilating, what with her incessant wheezing. “I h-heard someone calling my name, but I don’t know who!”

“You’re sure it’s not sleep deprivation or anything like that?” Sunset asked.

“Maybe?!” Twi shouted, the wind flipping a bookmark away from its page.

“Oh.”

Sparkle levitated a wet rag and cleaned her other self’s glasses with them. “It’s probably your imagination. If it’s not, we have a way of knowing and we’ll help you.”

Twi sighed then pulled her in for a short hug. “Y-Yeah. Th-Thanks.”

With the hug done, they returned to work. Twi focused hard on the Warp Zone book to the point that she deliberately ignored what she thought was a long and floating strand of pink hair glowing white blue as a sign of getting tired.

Love Makes the Moon Go Round

In Canterlot City’s Sweet Snacks Café, an influx of customers occupied almost every table and seat despite the relatively late hour of ten o’ clock at night and, more importantly, despite the diner’s inability to sell any food that contained meat. Indeed, a lot of hungry patrons hung around in salivating anticipation for what was left: salads, soda, fries, milkshakes, pancakes, waffles, and, best of all, veggie burgers with their distinct green patties.

Sunny Sugarsocks rolled around with her rollerskates, dishing out orders here and there, noticing the meat-lacking smell everywhere she went under the lights against the darkness outside. Then, she served a tray of veggies burgers and some waffle fries with syrup to a pink-skinned woman with curly magenta hair. “Here you go!”

The customer giggled as she collected them. “Why, thank you, miss!”

Then, the waiter tapped her chin, inspecting her. “You look new. Is it alright if I ask for your name?”

“Certainly!” she said. “My name’s Sugar Belle!”

Sugarsocks shrank a little away. “Oh! You’re Big Mac’s girlfriend from out of town, aren’t you?”

“Mm-hmm,” before she took a bite off her burger. “I’m taking an apprenticeship at Sweet Shoppe since I’ve moved here.”

“So you’re officially a Canterlot citizen, huh?” she asked.

“Eeyup!” she said, then giggled softly.

The waiter rolled her eyes at the display of long-distance love. “Well, sorry we can’t sell any of our ordinary burgers. There’s been a weird cold going on lately, making our stomachs reject any meat.”

Sugar smiled. “Oh, I haven’t caught it yet. I ate some bacon for lunch.”

Sugarsocks gave her a bothered look. “Lucky you.”

Then, the waiter rolled away, leaving Sugar Belle to her food.

After her late night dinner, Sugar Belle left the café and walked her way through the city. As the minutes passed, fewer and fewer people roamed on the sidewalks. The cars diminished in number, too, reducing the lights on the streets. The urban sounds gave way to the eerie hoots of owls and the uncanny chirps of crickets.

She picked up her phone, turned it on, then—

“Huh?” She scratched her head. “What was I supposed to do again?” She grew irritated, having now experienced being at the cusp of doing something but being robbed of actually doing it due to forgetfulness.

Then, at the intersection before her, a pink car passed by.

Sugar Belle lighted up. “That’s right! Big Mac! Oh, how could I forget?”

Big Mac himself sat inside his room which did not have much. The walls were wooden and so was the floor and the ceiling. A yoke hung on his wall and so did a little gray doll. A closet and some drawers stood by the wall beside a window.

That was all.

He sat on his bed, saw his red coat and his yellowish hooves.

Then, he slowly got off of his bed, almost stumbling when he switched to four hooves mode. He closed the curtains with a light push of a hoof, blocking the moonlight from invading his time. He hung his head, sat down on the floor, then—

Creak!

Big Mac held his breath, ears folded back.

“Big brother?”

Ears rising back up, he turned around and saw Apple Bloom holding the door open with her hand.

“You’re not alright, are ya’?”

Big Mac looked down, seeing those hooves—the reminder of his new condition. “Nope.”

Apple Bloom closed the door quietly. “If you’re worried, I kept ‘em busy with more salad and my math book.”

Silence between the two, Apple Bloom by the door and Big Mac by the window.

Then, she spoke up: “What’s goin’ on in that head o’ yours?”

At first, nothing.

Big Mac sighed as he stood up. With a sluggish gait, he trotted to his little sister. “Not much. Just wonderin’ how I’m gonna get by,” as he looked down on his hooves again.

Apple Bloom clung her arms around his neck. “Well, at least you aren’t alone. There must be some others who’re already ponies and—“

Ding-dong!

They both looked at the window, both holding breath.

“I’ll go check,” whispered Apple Bloom as she slightly opened the curtains and peeked out the window.

Big Mac glanced back at the door, waiting for the answer.

She came back, shuddering and whispering, “It’s Sugar Belle!”

Big Mac whinnied, then plugged his mouth with a hoof. Then, nervously hopping on all four hooves: “This is bad! She can’t see me like this!”

“Hey!” Cookie’s voice shouted from downstairs. “Someone’s outside! Big Mac?!”

And Big Mac stood still, frozen and scared.

“You stay up here!” Apple Bloom said, rushing to the door. “I’ll tell her yer’ very sick!”

“B-But what about our h-horses?!” Big Mac cried out.

She stopped, about to step into the hallway. “I’ll figure it out some’ow. Now, lay low!”

Big Mac nodded and Apple Bloom went down the corridor, footsteps fading.

Apple Bloom sprinted her way down the stairs, avoiding a crash while hopping with one foot to keep her balance, went round the corner and—

“Oh, hey, Apple Bloom!” Cookie greeted, already at the door with the window though it was closed with a curtain; Oakley and Cinnamon were seated at the table, eating salad. “I was just going to see who this nice woman is!”

Apple Bloom bit her fingernails, hearing more knocks on the door.

“Uh, Apple Bloom?” came Sugar Belle’s soft voice from outside. “Who’s there?”

The Apple sibling stretched her bow in anxiety as she walked to Cookie’s side. Talking through the door: “Heh-heh! Um, it’s...Applejack’s cousins from A-Appleloosa! I’m, uh, hostin’ a get-together for ‘em in my sister’s a-absence!”

“Huh?” was Cookie’s reaction. “We’re not Applejack’s—“

And Apple Bloom stepped in front of her and went closer to the door, standing between a curious pony and a curious lover. “Wh-What about, um, tomorrow? You c-could visit B-Big Mac another time!”

“That’s the thing,” Sugar Belle said. “I already brought some gifts for him! I’m sure he’d love them!”

“I’ll take it myself!” Apple Bloom offered, hand ready on the knob. “B-Big Mac’s down with the fever—the cold fever!”

“Cold fever?” Sugar asked.

“You have fever when yer’ cold, right?” Apple Bloom asked.

“Don’t you mean the flu?”

And the little sister nodded. “Eeyup! That’s what I said, what I totally said!”

“Apple Bloom?” Cookie began, putting a hoof on her shoulder. “Didn’t Applejack tell you that lying is bad?”

“It’s not lyin’!” Apple Bloom whispered. “It’s...um, alterna’ive information!”

“Which is lying.”

Apple Bloom groaned, tempted to pull the pony’s hair out. “Cookie, don’t ya’ remember we’re not supposed to show ya’ ‘round ‘till it’s safe? People would freak out if they saw a talking horse.”

“But didn’t Applejack say something about a talking dog?” pointed out Cookie.

“Apple Bloom?” came Sugar again. “This is taking a long time.”

“Just a moment!” Apple Bloom yelled, leading Cookie away from the door. “I’ll tell Big Mac that you’re here! He’s probably sleeping an’ didn’t hear ya’!”

“OK!” Sugar replied rather cheerfully.

Then, Cookie was brought to the dining table where Oakley and Cinnamon had watched the scene unfold.

“Whof fhath?” Oakley asked, chewing on leaves and tomatoes.

Cinnamon moaned. “Oakley! Don’t talk when your mouth is full!”

Oakley swallowed and made a nervous chuckle. “Uh-huh.” Then, turning to Apple Bloom and a Cookie who sat down, “I’m still getting used to your table manners! Lots of rules to follow, but I guess it’s all good in the end.”

Apple Bloom kept up a good smile as Cookie gave her a little glare. “Yup! Table manners are very important!”

“Funny you should say that,” Cinnamon said, forehooves clasped over the math book as she levitated to the next page. “Back then, you didn’t care much about table manners to begin with.” Turning casually to Oakley and sounding more laid-back, “I remember when Sweetie Belle and Rarity came over. That snobby stiff neck called the family way of dining, ‘uncouth’.”

“It’s amazing Applejack’s still friends with them!” Oakley remarked before he scooped up another wingful of lettuce and cabbages.

Faced with the Apple horses becoming unruly, she gulped, then, remembering why she went down, said, “I want all o’ you to remain quiet. The person outside is Sugar Belle, Big Mac’s girlfriend—“

“W-Wait, that’s her?!” Cookie screamed. “When Big Mac said her name, I thought he liked the Cakes’ sugar bells!”

Apple Bloom smacked herself on the head. “Bells made of sugar? Was that what yer’ thinkin’?”

“Yuppity-yup-yup!” Cookie exclaimed, putting on a cute smile. “To be honest, though, my first bet was on that Cheerilee teacher!”

“I’d placed my bets on Marble Pie two Hearth’s Warmings ago,” Cinnamon quipped. “Remember when the both of us mares peeked through the window and saw those two sweethearts under the mistletoe—by the fire, no less?”

“But Fleetfoot was a good second-placer,” Cookie added, warming up to the romantic conversation. “Can’t forget when she kicked a soccer ball with a heart taped on it!”

“And she said it was an accident it crashed through his window!” Cinnamon said.

“Uh, girls?” Oakley said, tapping Cinnamon on the horn. “I don’t think AB’s happy with what you’re doing.”

They looked at Apple Bloom who had crossed her arms and closed her eyes half-way to form a dreadful expression. “This is serious! Only us an’ few others know what’s really goin’ on with people turnin’ into ponies, magic spreadin’ ‘round, and things like that! If Sugar Belle finds out, that’s another one to keep quiet, and we can’t keep everyone quiet ‘cause they’ll start talkin’, an’ if they start talkin’, they’ll panic and make things worse!” and ended with her arms flapping around.

Cinnamon rubbed her chin. Then, with a glow of her horn, closed the book. “Point taken.”

Oakley nodded. “Don’t worry! Our lips are sealed!”

Then, Apple Bloom turned to Cookie. “And, you?”

Cookie gulped, then balked, pawing her chair. “Yeah. For the world and all that.”

Apple Bloom sighed and stood up. “Good. You stay here.” Glancing at the door, “I don’t think she can see you if I keep ‘er outside.” Turning back to the ponies: “Got it?”

All three of them nodded in unison.

She walked to the door and opened it just a bit, seeing Sugar Belle shining a little under the moonlight.

“Oh, uh, here!” said Sugar as she handed a paper bag to her. “I wish I could come back and buy him some medicine, but I didn’t know he was that bad before. I tried texting him, but he never replied—and, besides, the drug stores are packed with people.”

“Packed?” Apple Bloom repeated.

“You should’ve seen the line!” Sugar Belle said, turning a bit to the side. “They almost spilled over to the road. That’s how bad things have gotten.”

“Yeah, that’s not good,” Apple Bloom commented. Then, looking over Sugar’s shoulder, she saw a pink car approaching, almost blinding with its headlights.

Sugar Belle nodded. “Thank you! I hope he gets better soon!”

Apple Bloom nodded, too, noticing the headlights growing brighter as it approached. “Yeah. I hope ‘e does, too.”

Then, Sugar Belle walked away into the night, seeing the car dim its lights as it parked by the side. She gave it a brief look, but kept on walking, disappearing around the bend.

With her car still humming, Cadance got out of the car and looked at Apple Bloom already there. She did not move to the door, preferring to stay by her vehicle. “Good evening, Apple Bloom.”

The little sister looked surprised. “Cadance? From Crystal Prep? B-But why?”

“I know you weren’t expecting me,” the principal said, clutching her hair. “However, I just need to know if Applejack is here.”

Apple Bloom raised a brow. “Ya’ could’ve just texted ‘er phone, right? It’s with me.”

Cadance sighed. “Well, I’m here. Is she back?”

Apple Bloom shook her head. “Nope.”

Cadance then walked back to her car. “That’s all I needed to know. Thank you.”

“Yer’ wel—“

But Cadance closed the door, and drove away.

Principal Cadance drove past dark and sleepy houses, sometimes finding herself the only one on the road save for some parked cars by the sidewalk. The solitary streetlights sapped the trip of any life.

She passed by the school and saw some construction workers still doing their best to fix the statue, though already there was an ambulance and a fainted Hard Hat on a stretcher. She slowed down to get a quick glance of the glass dome.

“Celestia and Luna,” she whispered, eyes focused there, “we’re all counting on you.”

With that over, she kept driving, passing by more solitary streetlights and more sleepy houses, Twilight’s manor one of them—and then it wasn’t when a light turned on. She slowed down; perhaps the student had returned, but Cadance found only disappointment when she made out the figures of Twilight’s parents.

Kept driving—

“What?!”

Skidded her car to a halt, almost hitting her head on the steering wheel yanking forward.

Looked up and saw a taxi and a motorcycle crashed in the middle of the intersection with a knife stabbed on the bike’s wheel. The cab’s driver stayed inside, visibly shaken by what just happened, while the three passengers, all women dressed up with concert-ready clothes, were arguing with the motorcycle’s owner who turned out to be Soarin.

Cadance saw no way out other than to take the long route by reversing, so she began to back up. Then, she stopped, noticing that the women looked familiar.

With those red jewel necklaces.

Cadance lowered the window a little to catch a glimpse of the conversation.

“—my fault! It wasn’t!” Soarin yelled, pointing to himself.

“Oh, and you’re gonna blame a poor old man?” Adagio Dazzle said, pointing an accusing finger at him. “What a low blow.”

“Does it matter?” Soarin said, glancing at the driver, confused with pity and anger. “He almost scratched my face!”

“So you’re not gonna notice your bruised leg or what?” Aria Blaze said, looking down on his reddening knee.

“Face it, Soarin,” Adagio began with a twirl of her hand. “Whether you meant to or not, you crashed into our taxi without thinking about what others are going through.” She extended her hand and opened and closed it. “For that, you have to pay—“ turned to Sonata Dusk. “What are you doing?”

Sonata was texting on her phone. “Calling for an ambulance! He looks really hurt!”

“I’m not that hurt!” Soarin yelled.

“Whoops! Too late!” then took the call. “Hello! Yeah, this is Sonata Dusk—no, I’m not a siren—OK, not now! I won’t sing and make you doctors fight! Hey, there’s someone who’s really hurt and he’s between Wheeler Street and….”

Adagio groaned, shaking her head and closing her eyes. “Sonata—“

Cadance closed the window, turned around, and drove away from the scene.

She did not bother parking the car inside the house’s garage. Instead, she parked it by the curb.

Once outside, she staggered to the front door and knocked hard on it. “Shiny?!”

Door immediately opened, revealing a haggard Shining Armor with a bad case of ruffled bed hair. “Wh-What? Cadance? What’re you doing here?”

“I-I brought the keys,” Cadance blathered as she wobbled her way inside, not taking in the medieval architecture of his house with wooden logs on display and a couple of knights’, well, shining armors on display.

“Why?” Shining asked, glancing at the kitchen. Then, his eyes widened when he looked back at Cadance. “Uh, did you buy hair extensions?”

Cadance looked at him odd. “What do you mean?”

Shining pointed at her hair. “It’s...long.”

Cadance grabbed it, then saw that her hair was now done in a pony tail, extending almost all the way to the floor.

She gasped. “But I’ve never went to a salon this week...or last week!”

Shining made a little smile. “Then again, it’s been almost a week since I last saw you. Maybe you didn’t notice.”

Cadance shook her head, breathing faster. “No...no, it’s not that. This is the kind of hair the R-Rainbooms have—“

“Uh, I don’t remember Twily wearing hair like that,” Shiny said confidently. Then, tracing back his steps: “Actually, I do remember her with super-long hair, but only when she ponies up—“

“That’s it!” Cadance said, voice hollowed with fear.

She grabbed both his shoulders, pulled him in closer, catching him surprised.

“What’s happening, Cady?” Shining asked, a little quieter this time though a bit wary, too.

Cadance looked deep into his eyes, pleading something to him with that stare. “I’m turning into a…into a—“

“You’re ponying up?” Shining said before he smirked. “I mean, I don’t think it’ll look that bad—and, hey, if my Twily can pony up, why can’t I—“

“No!” Cadance yelled, growing exasperated, wanting to pull away from him. “This is more than just ponying up!” She rested a hand on the wall, feeling tired and drained. “You remember the call we had about people falling in love around me?”

Shining arched a brow. “...yes?”

Cadance sighed. Then, with raised head: “Equestrian magic is spreading at an alarming rate, more than this world can handle. I think I’m slowly getting love powers...and the cold that we’re having? It’s slowly turning us into ponies!”

Shining stayed silent, looking at her across the distance.

And noticed a part of her head glowing. “Cadance, what’s happening to your—“

The glow vanished.

Close to the top of her head were triangular pony ears, her normal ones gone.

“What is it?!” Cadance shouted, becoming jittery.

Shiny slowly raised a pointed finger. “Y-Your….”

Cadance ran a hand through her head, feeling those new ears. “Aah! No, no, no!” She held both her hands to her head. “It’s coming to get me!”

As she paced about in panic, another part of her head glowed, and in its place was a pink horn on her forehead.

Shining took a step back. “Cadance, sh-should I call—“

“No!” she screamed, backing up to the wall, looking up at her horn. “I’ve been trying to hold it back—I don’t know how I’m holding it back, but I’m losing—“

Shining picked up his phone. “I’ll call Twilight and the rest! They should know—“

“They’re in Equestria!” Cadance yelled, trying to grasp the wall with her hands.

“Right, right!” He paused. “What about Celestia and Luna?” he asked, scrolling the list of his contacts on the phone.

“They’re ponies, too!”

And then, a glow from behind her back.

Shining rubbed his eyes when it was gone, dropping his jaw for a moment. “I have to call someone! You got wings!”

“Wings?!”

Then, she stepped forward and looked behind her, seeing pink wings complete with feathers attached to her.

“Aah!”

Shining held out a hand to her. “Cadance?”

Silence, both looking at each other with terrified stares.

“I w-want you to chill—“

And she ran to Shining and gave him a hug.

The tears flowing and drenching both their clothes.

“I-I d-don’t want to be a pony!” Cadance shouted. “I kn-know what this means! I’ve seen its magic corrupt Twilight, and...I don’t know how I’m going to take th-the full power of a princess! No...no….”

Then glowed.

All of her glowing.

Despite the brightness, Shining kept hugging her.

And then it stopped.

Felt the hooves slip from his shoulder.

As Cadance the alicorn fell to the floor, knocked senseless.

“Cadance!”

He knelt down, lifting her pink pony head. He slapped it, then shook it.

“Come on, wake up! Wake up! Wake—“

“Aah!”

Punched by Cadance’s hoof.

“Ow!” and then he stumbled to the carpet, feeling the ache on his cheek. After a few seconds, he got up and saw Cadance trembling on the floor in her alicorn form.

Her eyes shrank, seeing Shining. “Shiny?”

He looked scared. Then, he mustered up a smile. “Don’t worry, Cady.”

Shining hugged her.

Cadance felt surprise, then wobbled her forehooves around as she tried to see how she could hug him back.

Then, her eyes and her horn glowed white.

Shiny released the embrace, almost yelping. “Wh-What?!”

And then the glows subsided, her horn and her eyes returning to normal.

Shiny was at a loss for words. Then: “H-How do you feel?”

Cadance blinked, staring at empty space for a while. She looked at Shining and smiled. “It’s OK.” She stood up perfectly on her four hooves and spread her wings in regal fashion. “I...I don’t know how, but I know so much about how to move around as a pony now.”

“...what?”

Cadance trotted up to him and hugged him back.

Shining felt surprised, then wobbled his hands around as he tried to see how he could hug her back.

Then, they let go.

“So, that’s it?” Shining asked, looking her up and down. “You just know?”

“I’ve seen it happen with Luna,” Cadance said. “I’ve heard nothing like that from anyone else so far, so...maybe it’s just us two plus Celestia?”

Shining then sat down on the couch, scratching his head. Then, he immediately stood back up, walking to the kitchen.

“Where are you going?” Cadance asked.

“Getting some Hill Buzz,” Shining said, opening up the fridge and then downing a bottle of the energy drink in one go.

The alicorn raised a brow. “Why?”

Shining turned around and wiped his mouth. “In less than five minutes, I was told magic from another world is filling up our world, we’re all changing into ponies with the pony cold, and my girlfriend became a unicorn with wings.”

“Alicorn.”

“OK, alicorn,” Shining said, sounding tired. He went back with another bottle of the drink and sat down on the couch, rubbing his eyes. “This is gonna be a lot to take in all at once.”

Leaving himself there as Cadance trotted up to the couch and sat beside him, spending a minute together in truly taking the whole situation in for themselves.

Spread Wings

Ten in the morning. Bon Bon’s house.

“Really?!”

As Lemon Zest looked at her pink hooves in her first waking moments of the day, her shout tinged with pure confusion.

“Really what?” came Indigo’s voice as she, with Sugarcoat and Bon Bon, walked into view and were about to head down the stairs.

And saw Lemon Zest as a pony, complete with a lemon tart as her cutie mark. She did not lose the headphones on her, though they were shrunk a little to fit her new ears. Then, she smiled and waved at her friends on the second floor. “Hi!”

And the three girls slowed down and stopped midway through the stairs.

Indigo took one step up. “Staying inside sounds very nice. What about we lock ourselves up in the local bunker?”

“We don’t have a bunker,” Sugarcoat replied, crossing her arms though still giving Lemon a concerned glance.

“There should be one somewhere,” Bon Bon said.

Sugarcoat glared at her. “How do you know that?”

Bon Bon rolled her eyes, stepping farther down. “I got my sources.”

Then, a flash and Vinyl Scratch appeared right in front of them, banging her head to whatever was blaring on through her headphones.

Bon Bon flinched, having almost tripped and fell on her. “Should we, uh, get out of the way?”

Knock! Knock!

“Who’s there?!” Bon Bon screamed, running to Vinyl to shield her from view.

“Pizza delivery!” shouted Flash Sentry from outside.

Bon Bon banged her head on the wall, gaining Vinyl’s attention.”Are you kidding me?!”

Meanwhile, Lemon Zest pranced her way to the door. “Now my seconds are here! Hi Flash!”

Bon Bon outran the Shadowbolts, ran down the rest of the stairs, while whispering as loud as possible, “Lemon, no!”

The pony unlocked the door and opened it.

Flash looked straight ahead, donning the same clothes from yesterday. “Good morning—wait, Bon Bon? Why do you look so tired? And where’s Lemon Zest?”

“Here!”

And Flash looked down and saw a green-haired pony waving at him, complete with headphones.

“Woah!” Flash then dropped the pizza, only for it to be caught by Lemon with her mouth. “I-Is that a pony?!”

“No, it isn’t!” Bon Bon said, smiling and carrying Lemon back inside despite her pleas to put her down. “This must’ve been one big misunderstanding! A misorder, if you will!”

“But she’s the one who called,” Flash said, pointing at her. “…I think? Can that pony call?”

“Hah-hah-hah!” Bon Bon then looked outside, seeing not many people on the sidewalk and no one paying attention to a supposedly ordinary pizza delivery. “Listen, Flash, I bought a pony and I’ve taught it speaking lessons because parrots are overrated.”

Lemon looked up at her, still in her arms. “Yoth thif?”

“Yes, I did!” Bon Bon yelled, then laughed nervously for Flash. “That’s the, uh, Hearth’s Warming gift I’ve been saving up for!”

Flash cocked his head. “It’s not even—“

“Rich uncle!” Bon Bon shouted on the spot, raising a finger. “I haven’t told you about my rich uncle who lives in, uh, Seaward Shoals! On a yacht! In the sea!”

“Is he stranded?” Flash asked.

Bon Bon grabbed the pizza from Lemon’s mouth, then gave Flash her wallet. “There! Take the money and leave! My pony’s very sick!” and coughed.

Lemon, wanting to play along, coughed with her.

“Yeah...” Flash said in a creeped out voice, backing up to his motorcycle. “Why does she sound exactly like Lemon Zest?”

“It’s a Crystal Prep surprise!” Bon Bon told. “It’s to show how closer we are after the Friendship Games! I’m pretty sure she’ll like it!”

Flash looked at Bon Bon, then at Lemon Zest.

Who waved at him with a hoof. “Hi!”

“OK.” Flash took the money needed, handed the wallet back, and began his way to the motorcycle. “See you around, Bon—neigh!”

Bon Bon’s eyes dilated, frozen for a while at what she heard.

She threw Lemon Zest back inside, rushed to grab Flash and dragged him inside, too.

Flash struggled but without success, unable to wrench himself away from her tight grip. “What a-are you doing?! I still have to make a few more—“

“You won’t be without hands to drive a bike!”

Bon Bon threw him over to a couch.

Closed and locked the door.

Bon Bon sighed, resting her head on the wall. Then, turning to Flash—

Who was already glowing.

“OK,” came Indigo’s voice again, walking with Sugarcoat from the kitchen, “we brought Vinyl back, but I—who’s that?!”

They stood still as the glow disappeared.

In its place, a yellow pegasus lying on the floor, rubbing a sore muscle with his hoof. “Why do I feel so weird?”

Bon Bon gave the Shadowbolts strange looks, seeing Lemon Zest gallop with pizza box in her mouth. “That’s Flash Sentry. Pepperoni Box now has one employee absent without leave.”

Sugarcoat raised a brow. “Bon Bon, we have to—“

Bon Bon pointed at them. “Did you exhibit any pony-like habits lately?”

“That’s the thing,” Indigo said, throwing a thumb at herself. “I just said ‘nopony’, but I wasn’t even thinking it! It’s like it was the natural thing to say!”

Bon Bon bit her lip then faced the other Shadowbolt in terror. “Sugarcoat?”

“Nothing yet,” she said, though eyeing the door. “By the way, someone is going to notice the motorcycle running idle outside.”

“Well, what do you want me to do?!” Bon Bon yelled, now growing exasperated.

Sugarcoat glanced at Indigo who was looking at her own hand and was nervously scratching her hair.

Then, Indigo walked back to the wall, showing her teeth in despair—close to whimpering. “I’m not feeling well! None of this feels right!”

Sugarcoat walked up to her side, pursing her lips.

Indigo saw her, then jumped away. “Are you crazy?! You might turn into a pony with me!”

Sugarcoat made a wry smile. “As risky as this is, you need someone right now.”

While Bon Bon was peeking out the window, seeing if the motorcycle would be stolen or not. So riveted she was that she did not notice the glow, having noticed Fuchsia stop near the bike to take a gander at it.

When she turned back, Bon Bon saw Sugarcoat comforting a terrified light brown pegasus, goggles over her mane. No words were said, Sugarcoat holding the pony’s head close as Indigo moaned whispers to her.

“When will this stop?” Bon Bon said to herself, looking at the other ponies in sight: Lemon Zest eating her pizza by the couch and Flash Sentry having gone into sleep.

Then, Sugarcoat stood up, hugged her pony friend, put her down on another couch, dusted her own shoulders, then headed for the door.

“Where are you going?” Bon Bon asked as she sped up to keep pace with her.

“To get the motorcycle out of the way,” Sugarcoat said coolly, brisking past Bon Bon before opening the door.

Bon Bon gasped. “Are you abandoning them?!”

Sugarcoat stopped, then turned around. She looked up. Then: “There is one more thing left to do back in Crystal Prep and somepony has to do it.”

Bon Bon cringed. “Did you just say—“

But Sugarcoat hopped on to the motorcycle, put on her helmet, and drove away.

“How long does it take to fix a statue?!” Cranky Doodle complained in a gruff voice, wearing a rough sweater over an otherwise nice suit and tie; his slick hair made up for it, though.

The construction workers shrugged by the statue, trying their best to downplay the cracks and chips on it. The marble horse itself still lay on the ground, still inspected and examined by another co-worker.

“The principals did not call you here to be lazy!” Cranky yelled. “We’re trying to be presentable, especially on the first day of Floral Week!”

“We’re trying!” Steam Roller said, brushing his wavy hair with a comb.

Cranky yanked the comb out of his hands, brushed his own hair, and threw it to the grass. “We’re paying you money to do your work, not to dress up for a fashion show!”

“Can you listen to us for just a few minutes?” he asked, holding his hands out.

Cranky crossed his arms. “Fine. However, I’m mentally taking note of those minutes”

“Alright.” He stepped aside to give Cranky a clearer view of the statue’s marred base. “See, whenever we patch up one of the bad spots, it cracks again while we’re not looking. That’s what we’re having so far.”

Cranky tapped his shoe in impatience. “Are you telling me we have to pay for a new statue?”

“N-Not exactly, but—“

“I am not paying this out of my personal funds!” Cranky shouted, pointing at him.

“We’re not telling you to pay—“

“We’ll see what will happen when I take this to—“

And was zapped by the statue’s base.

Cranky fell down to the grass with a thud!

A pause as they looked upon the fainted teacher.

Steam Roller picked up his phone as his co-workers went back to the rather hopeless statue, with one other running to Cranky and then patting his shoulders to wake him up.

Then, the call began.

“Hello?” Roller asked. “Is this emergency services?”

As a pizza motorcycle passed by Canterlot High.

Inside Twilight’s manor, Twilight Velvet, with her gray skin and her striped hair, sighed by the front window with panes shaped like stars. On her lap was a Daring Do book, by her table was a cup of coffee, and behind her were pictures of the whole family rowing a boat on the way to its doom via waterfall which had supposedly merited visitor questions like, “So, did you die? Please tell me what happened next!”

Pointless questions aside, Velvet looked out the window.

“To think they should be home any minute now,” she said to herself, staring out the window and seeing some cars pass. Shaking her head, “Our Twilight, stuck in another world and it isn’t even the same universe as ours!” She plopped a hand on her head. “Poor Twily!” Effecting a smile, “At least she has friends there...and another self that’s a royal pony princess.”

She chuckled at the absurdity of the thought. “And if she has another self, I do, too!” Looking up dreamily, “I wonder what my other me’s doing, being the happy mother of a princess!”

Ding!

Velvet got up from her chair and, in a sing-song voice, “Coffee’s done!” Then, looking at the clock on the wall, “If she isn’t coming home, I guess I’ll have to cancel the family hooficure tonight—among many other things!” Moving towards the elusive coffee cup, “Should I talk with Sunset after all this is over? Nah! They’re responsible girls...in another world, but still responsible!”

She then heard the whir of a motorcycle passing by outside.

“Did you think they were actually made of crystals?!” Suri Polomare shouted before erupting in a belly laugh.

Suri and someone else stood in front of Crystal Prep Academy, the latter admiring the crystal-like columns strutting out of the structure—even the gate had crystalline spikes on it.

“They look a lot like it,” that someone else answered in a delicate voice, a light blue hand combing her own shiny red-pink hair. “It must’ve been pretty costly to build all of that.”

Suri cleared her throat. “Only a school of our prestige could raise the funds to adorn our grounds with such a, hm, delightful visage! However, even with those funds, it had to take a genius like yours truly to suggest the intricate details that truly make CPA shine.” She placed both hands on her hips, smiling and perhaps expecting some adoration in return for the little gesture.

The other woman shied a little away. “Wow! I didn’t know you had such a valuable contribution to your own school!”

“Very fortunate to be talking to me, I know.” Then, extending a hand, “I’d like to lead you through the rest of town, but recess is almost done, so until I see you again…” and retracted her hand. “Clawchella? Pommelus?”

“It’s ‘Ocellus’,” was the answer.

“Right, right!” Suri said. “Enjoy your stay and don’t catch the cold, ‘kay?!”

And they both said their goodbyes and parted wa—

A motorcycle stopped by the gate, making Ocellus and Suri stop to make way for the driver.

Sugarcoat hopped out of the vehicle, then ran up to Suri as she took off her helmet. “Did anyone access Twilight’s old lab since last week?”

Suri gulped, looking everywhere to see if there was a good place to hide. “I-Isn’t it always—“

“Answer the question.”

Suri nodded, crossing her fingers out of anxiety.

Sugarcoat looked at Ocellus. “Get out. This is important business.”

Ocellus nodded and darted out of the scene.

Sugarcoat looked back at Suri. “Have you shared the picture with anyone at all since the MyStable ban?”

Suri shook her head.

Sugarcoat adjusted her glasses, then glowered. “Tell me the truth.”

“I am, ‘kay?!”

Then, a finger was thrust to her chin.

“If you are lying,” Sugarcoat said in a quiet snarl, “then you know what to expect.”

Suri shuddered, covered her mouth with her scarf, and nodded.

“The key.”

She reached inside her pocket, retrieved the key, and handed it over.

Sugarcoat grabbed it and then ran down the concrete path to the school’s front doors.

Suri was about to comment on Sugarcoat’s noticeably longer hair, but she decided not to irritate her any further.

Sugarcoat ran through the hallways, weaving around her classmates in ever-evolving lanes. They looked at her odd, murmuring to each other about her being late for the first time ever, about her how she usually did not run in such a panic, about how her hair was longer than usual.

Sugarcoat skidded down to the intersection—

Bumped into two women as they all fell down to the floor.

Sugarcoat grunted as she got up, pulled those other two up as well, and sped away, disappearing behind more groups of students who only gave her more odd looks before resuming their conversations.

The two women gave each other strange looks, then one of them looked at the spoiled paper bag at hand.

“Ugh!” Adagio exclaimed, clenching the bag. “If only Sonata didn’t ask for rehearsals in a school, we’d be in no trouble at all!”

“Then why did you follow her suggestion?” Aria asked.

Adagio sighed, mentally chewing herself out. “What was I thinking?!”

“About how how we could try harnessing other emotions this time?” Aria asked. “And that one good way to test it is at a school?”

Adagio gave her a glare. “Are you trying to get us into trouble?”

Aria tugged on her arm. “What about we get to Sonata before things get bad?”

“I’m supposed to be the one saying that!” Adagio whispered, jerking her arm in reflex. “If we can get Sonata out of here without anyone noticing that she can’t change back to this form, we’ll be—“

“I know that already,” Aria said. “I was there.”

“I’m trying to collect my thoughts!” shouted Adagio.

And the CPA students there looked at the shouting singer.

The silence only grew as everyone exchanged looks with everyone else.

“Way to go on the ‘without anyone noticing’ part, Adagio,” Aria remarked.

Sugarcoat approached the door, took the key out, opened it, not minding the ruckus and the rumors she was causing with her schoolmates outside.

Inside was a variety of scientific equipment including test tubes, microscopes, and a wavelength detector. On the tackboard was a fresh set of photos and notes, all tied together by strings onto a picture of Canterlot High. Two big pipes decorated the drab gray walls though much of it was brightened up by the only window there.

After covering the window up with a makeshift curtain, she turned on the lights, opened the drawers and saw some food and water inside. She threw the meat-containing stuff into the trash can, leaving behind what she could stomach

“What did she say about my hair?” she asked, then looked back at her hair.

Her twin pigtails now reached to the floor with her seated.

“It’s starting!” she murmured as she turned the computer on.

First step was to open the web browser and access her e-mail. With password typed and submitted, she saw a couple of conversations in-progress with a few friends including one with Fleur de Lis on the topic of paper supply.

Then, she pressed her e-mail address fifty-seven times in quick succession.

A question appeared underneath it.

Plaid Barbells are _____________.

She typed in, forever by your side with you, beside an apple and a heart, over a tree and under the moon.

With that, she was logged in to another e-mail address which granted her access to not just a unique set of contacts but also a dedicated chatroom.

Into the chat she typed: Urgent. Turning into pony. Should we send the picture?

A few seconds, looking nervously at her hair.

Then, someone under the name of Miss Hackney wrote: We need a unanimous decision.

Sugarcoat groaned. Is everyone online?

I’m here, chimed in a Moon Dancer.

Same, typed Modus Ponens.

With you, went in Wetzel.

And I’m online, stated Rainbow Stars.

Sugarcoat sighed. Do we send the picture?

What picture? Wetzel asked. I’m out of the loop.

Sugarcoat groaned again, accessed the picture of Sunset and other familiar ponies enjoying the kite competition, and re-uploaded it to the chatroom.

Oh, that one.

I could send it to my guy at Griffonstone, suggested Modus Ponens. He will make the necessary precautions.

Why can’t you just ask him that there’s something bad coming? Rainbow Stars typed.

Like that’ll work.

We can send it as an anonymous tip to the news, Hackney suggested next. However, that will require the situation here getting out of hand first.

Sugarcoat then noticed her screen’s reflection glowing.

Then, she looked up.

Saw her new pony ears on her head.

And typed, Hurry up! I’m almost a pony!

Chat silence for a good ten seconds.

Then Moon Dancer typed, What about the S.M.I.L.E.?

Never! Sugarcoat replied, sweating and feeling very nervous. Everypony won’t survive that encounter.

More chat silence for a few more seconds.

As Sugarcoat realized what she just typed.

So, typed Hackney, to recap: No social media leaks, no sending to the news, no messages to any government except for certain positions, and no notifying military branches and secret agencies.

Sugarcoat sighed, resting her elbow on the desk. We’ll have to choose one of them. Everyone will panic if they figure it out on their own; people are going to say the world’s ending when we haven’t reached that point yet.

And she neighed.

Eyes widened

She typed,

WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO?!

Calm down! typed Wetzel. Are you a pony yet?

I just made a horse sound! It’s going to happen any moment now!

MyStable leak, now! Rainbow Stars typed.

Have you gone insane? Modus Ponens asked. They’re going to misinterpret the information!

Paralysis by analysis, Hackney typed. I just sent a private anonymous message to Micro Chips. Reputable and honest. He’ll know what to do to stem the chaos online as much as he can without getting caught by whoever’s left on the CHS Online Team.

The chat descended into an argument, but Sugarcoat quickly logged out without a goodbye.

Went out of her normal e-mail.

Then, she closed her eyes, bracing what was about to happen.

As she glowed.

Then, she stopped glowing.

Sugarcoat fell unconscious to the floor, a blue-gray Earth pony with glasses.

Flower of the Herd

Two-thirty in the afternoon and as the sun was shining down on the now crowded Canterlot High, whispers and murmurs abounded. Gone were the questions of quizzes, tests, or even almost anything about Floral Week. Instead, there were more pressing matters: Why were classes still going as planned despite one of the strangest colds in world history? Where were the principals and Cheerilee on this important day? Why was Cranky Doodle Donkey not even present, with much of the activities now being relegated solely and entirely to Gardening Club—or, rather, what’s left of it?

At any rate, most of the students were gathered at the front of the school, waiting for the clock to strike three as they struck up chit-chat, used their phones, or told a joke that was either funny or not. Wallflower, Rose, and Derpy were offering a variety of flowers to just about anyone they passed by, with Wallflower herself advertising a tour of shrubs at the school’s garden scheduled at four. Some accepted it, much to Wallflower’s relief as her interest and effort were further vindicated.

It also smelled really good, with various scents and aromas wafting around and mixing together to form a perfume pleasing to just about anyone’s nose, tickling them with the freshness of green and dew while topped with the pleasant smells of lilies, lavenders, and mock oranges.

By the statue’s broken base now void of construction moments, Octavia leaned on one of its corners, waiting for her phone’s call to connect. Then, with a click: “Bon Bon, what’s going on? Any updates?”

“Yeah. Flash won’t be coming.”

Octavia sighed. “As expected; he’s not the kind to miss this. Anyone else out of the picture?”

“Four Shadowbolts. Sugarcoat left early, though I think she’s a pony now, too.”

Sandalwood was running onto school grounds; on the way, he budged her, making Octavia almost drop her phone. After: “Never mind that. Are you coming?”

“No. It’s getting harder to make every—“ paused for emphasis “—pony stay inside.”

“You know it’s unfeasible to keep this up. You have to get outside soon.”

She heard a sigh from Bon Bon. “I know.”

“And what if you become…one of them?”

A nervous chuckle. “No matter how much I prepare, I’m still afraid. Magically becoming something else sounds horrifying.”

Octavia winced. “Alright. Anything else?”

“Hey, Octavia!” Micro Chips yelled, stopping to point both hands at her. “Nice...hair?”

She put the phone away, though keeping the call on. “What’s with my hair?”

Micro Chips gulped, then slinked away while mouthing the word “pony” at her.

He then ran into the school building, avoiding a run-in with Wallflower which would have ended with ruined, dirty flowers on the concrete.

Octavia looked at her hair, noticing that it had grown to her ankles; it even had a hair tie that turned her style into that of a pony tail.

She brought her phone up to her ear. “Bon Bon?”

“Yeah? What’s the hold-up?”

“I think I’m next on the pony list.”

“At school?!” she shouted. Then, after some quick and uneasy breathing, “OK, you need to get to a safe place now!”

Octavia picked up her cello case and, with phone in her hand—

Bumped into someone.

“Ay!” rang the thick-accented voice. “You’ve almust dropped my camerah!”

Octavia struggled to stand up, then saw Photo Finish glaring at her through those thick shades despite helping her up. “Sorry, Photo Finish but I’ve got to—“

And the necklace on Photo Finish glowed. She looked down, saw the main jewel lighting up. “What is zhis?!”

Octavia slung her cello bag on her back. “Really, I have to—“

And was zapped by the necklace.

She screamed as she glowed.

Phone dropped.

Photo Finish took a step back, staring at the bright light before her in dread.

And then, right there in front of the school, stood a gray Earth pony, cello bag around her torso.

All the noise from the floral celebrations ceased as everyone looked at Octavia.

The pony’s eyes shrunk.

She whispered, looking at the phone, “Cover’s blown.”

What followed were screams and calls for help. Students ran around, some trampling over the flowers. Many dispersed, headed as far away from the school as possible; others went inside to find safety there.

Then, Photo Finish picked a blubbering Octavia, slinging the cello bag on her back instead, and then ran inside, silent but fearful as she ran with Wallflower into the main hall.

Now, the facade of Canterlot High was deserted. Screaming could be heard in the not-so-distant distance.

Photo Finish locked the door and, with shaky hands, gently put Octavia down on the floor. She ran past the student desks, closed the curtains, plunging the classroom into semi-darkness. Then, she turned on a flashlight and aimed at the gray pony who closed her eyes at the sudden glare.

In a trembling voice: “V-Vhat happened to you? I-Is zat r-really you?!”

Octavia was shuddering in place, terrified at her new everything—her mane, her snout, her tail, her cutie mark, her hooves—

Photo Finish ran to sit down beside her, resting on the wall and putting the flashlight down.

Octavia blinked, looked at her, and, in awkward silence, shifted her hooves about and sat down in a rather uncomfortable way, almost tying her forelegs into a knot.

Photo Finish resisted the urge to move away from the strange being. Pointing at Octavia and then at herself,“A-Are you g-going to turn me into a pony, too?”

Octavia shook her head, though slow and heavy. “No. It just feels...weird.” She looked at her hoof, then cringed, teeth bare. “Having to go down to four legs...I’ll have to re-learn walking! I-It’s like starting over with e-everything….” She looked down on the floor, seeing all her four legs, and gulped, also seeing her cutie mark. “And what is this thing?!” as she pointed at her flank.

Photo Finish shook her head. “I have no idea.”

They both leaned on the wall, though the tension lingered: Photo Finish was sitting beside a pony who used to be her friend and classmate, Octavia had suddenly become a magical talking horse with all that came with it.

Meanwhile, more screaming and shouts emanated from outside.

Photo Finish removed her thick shades, put them on the floor. “Well, vhat can I do for...y-you?”

Octavia scratched her head and touched her ears now a little higher on her head. She sniffled. “I...I don’t know. P-Perhaps some time alone while I...get u-used to b-being a pony.”

That pony stood up, wobbling on her four legs. Then, she whispered to herself the pattern, “Fore-right, back-left, fore-left, back-right. Fore-right, back-left, fore-left, back-right,” as she slowly raised and lowered the correct hooves in the correct order.

Photo Finish watched Octavia move about, first in a straight line and then going around the chairs. Yet, despite being a fast learner, the pony still displayed fear. Her whispers stopped at times to give way to sentences like, “This isn’t happening, this isn’t happening….”

Then, Photo Finish looked at her hands, wriggling her fingers. She looked at Octavia whose legs were faltering—now moving her tail a little to the left, a little to the right.

She stopped right beside Photo Finish.

Eyes watery, head hung, pleading, “Help me, Ph-Photo. This is t-too much!”

Fell into her arms, leaving the woman surprised.

Photo Finish let her cry, the pony reduced to tears and sobs at what she lost. The sorrow filled the room, and the screaming and shuffles from outside only deepened the mood, stirred Photo’s heart.

She rubbed the pony on the head. “You schall be a-alright, Octavia.”

And Octavia lifted her head up from her messy eyes and mane.

Nothing said.

The pony stretched her forehooves out and hugged Photo Finish.

Taken aback at first, she replied with stretching out her arms and hugging her back.

A minute later, they let go, Octavia unsteadily trotting to Photo’s side again to sit down.

As the screaming and the shouts continued, now hearing names and the words pony and horse a lot.

“I guess more of us are changing into poniez,” Photo said, looking at the door behind her.

Octavia brought a hoof to her eyes, sniffling and moaning. “It’s all c-coming together….”

Photo raised a brow.

Octavia blocked the tears from pouring. “Don’t you get it? The cold, the strange behavior, everything else?” Then, noticing the jewelry around Photo’s neck, she snapped, “Break that!”

Photo Finish looked at her necklace. “’Cause thiz turned you into a pony, huh?”

So, she tore it out of and smashed it with her foot, not quite realizing that boots do not have an easy time breaking topaz. Having failed that, she stood up and put it inside the teacher’s desk. Clearing her hands from dust, she sat back down with Octavia.

“We have to destroy that,” Octavia said.

Photo shrugged her shoulders.

Then, sighing and looking back at her hooves, “Thing is, I knew this was coming.”

Photo did a double take. “Vhat makes you say that?”

Octavia rubbed her head in pain. Then, after taking a deep breath: “Princess Twilight from Equestria deduced that magic is leaking over to our world too fast, too much. If it doesn’t get solved soon, everyone will become a pony and there’s no turning back!”

Photo’s eyes widened as a gasp built up in her.

Octavia covered half of her face with her hoof, anxiety overwhelming. “Which is why we need Sunset, our Twilight, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy—everypony else!”

Then covered her hoof.

“D-Did I just s-say that?” she blathered. Then, all of her shivering, “It’s taken over my body, and now it’s taking over my mind! How far will this go?!”

As Octavia broke down by applying too much pressure to her head, Photo Finish watched her, the descent showing.

The pony looked left and right like a bird in danger. “I can see it h-happening now. I’ll go deranged, s-s-start pawing the ground a-and snorting and whinnying like a h-horse. What if there are flies and insects and I use my tail to push them away as part of my instincts? I-I’ll be eating hay and licking salt before the d-day’s done, and—“ raised a hoof to her head “—how can I play the cello with this?!”

And yet more screaming and shouting from outside.

Too much screaming and shouting.

Photo and Octavia looked at the door.

They could hear Wallflower cry out, “The statue’s sucking people in! Everyone, get in the classrooms!”

Midnight

Fifteen minutes later found Octavia and Photo Finish still hiding inside the darkened classroom. Footsteps were muddled with hoofsteps—they could hear the heavier fall of the latter, giving Octavia cause to bite her hoofnails in horror at who else had become ponies in such a short time.

Photo Finish, meanwhile, was adjusting her rather bulky camera, turning a wheel and adjusting her lens.

“What’re y-you doing?!” Octavia whispered, annoyed.

“I, Photo Finish, muzt prepare for any poszibility!” She struck a pose and spun her camera around without dropping it.

“Are you going to spread the word?” Octavia asked, becoming scared. “How do you know that won’t make things worse?!”

Photo wagged her finger. “No way! I von’t be using this to take picturez!”

“Huh?”

Then, finally, the door opened. “Hey! Before you say, ‘Who are you?!’, I should say it’s a long story that involved a portal and I landed up here and—“

“Flashbang!” yelled Photo Finish as she snapped a picture at the mysterious figure at maximum brightness.

“Agh!” and the figure stumbled to the ground.

Then, Photo Finish and Octavia looked at the fallen stranger, the former taking off her shades.

After her irises expanded back to normal, Cookie perked up and went back on her four hooves, returning to excitable mode. She extended a hoof at Octavia. “Howdy there! Name’s Cookie, and you look familiar! What’s your name?”

Photo Finish left her mouth hanging open. Then, putting her shades back on: “I go!” as she rushed to the teacher’s desk and tried smashing the necklace with the full brunt of her camera.

Meanwhile, Cookie, oblivious to what Photo was doing, smiled at the other pony in the room. “Are you one of Applejack’s classmates? ‘Cause, you know, you’re here in a school, right?”

The gray pony gulped. “Yes. I am Octavia M-M-Melody.”

Cookie gasped. “That cello student?!”

Octavia nodded though tinged with pain as she looked at her hooves. “Please don’t remind me.”

Felt a squeeze around her neck and was tugged into Cookie’s hug.

“Yay! Another friend to talk to! We could eat at the local hang-out whatever place and drink some apple cider when this is all over!”

Octavia wrung herself away from the hug. “Wait, who are you?”

Cookie giggled. “Whoops! Forgot to introduce myself! The name’s Cookie!”

“...just ‘Cookie’?” Octavia asked. “Or am I mishearing?”

“I could say that Rarity’s name is just ‘Rarity’ but she’s not here yet!” Cookie hummed, trying to think or remember—“Ooh!” Looked back and saw Rose, complete with a rose cutie mark, screaming around as a pony in the hallway followed by more ponies falling flat to their faces due to their lack of four-leg walking experience. Looking back at Octavia, “I get what you’re trying to do! You’re trying to sleep through the apocalypse!”

Octavia winced, incredulous. “We’re not doing that!”

“No, no, no!” Cookie waved her forehooves around as if that would make Octavia sympathetic. “I mean, you should totally do that! I don’t like it when everyone’s panicking at being a horse and then they’re galloping everywhere. And the screaming.” She rubbed her ears. “It’s very noisy!”

Octavia’s eye twitched. “How could you be so calm?!”

Cookie giggled again. “Well, I don’t want to change back!”

Currently, Octavia’s mind could not process the very thought of it. That was made evident by her mouth moving up and down before forming one word to encapsulate it all: “Why?!”

Cookie’s ears drooped as she formed a warm smile. Her forehoof hung around, swaying. “Oh, I used to be just a horse. Applejack and her family were good to us three, but we wanted more than just being obedient horsies. When we became, well, magical, we—“

Octavia held a hoof to her mouth. “I’m talking to Applejack’s horse?!” Then, turning around, seeing Photo still smacking the necklace, now with the table slowly splitting apart. “Photo Finish, any progress?”

Whack! “It lookz about done! Give me a moment!” Whack! “Nuh-uh. Another moment!”

Whack!

Crack!

A very audible crack!

As the necklace glowed, magical arcs like lightning shooting out.

Photo Finish slowly stepped back, aiming the camera at the topaz. “I think it’z—“

And was zapped, then glowed.

In her place, a blue Earth pony in a similar gaudy dress, wearing the same shades though a bit smaller.

Cookie smiled as she trotted over to the new pony. “Heya’!”

Photo’s mouth hung wide open. She slowly turned around, seeing her four legs and hooves, her mane and tail—

“Aiee!”

And Photo Finish tried to run out of the room in panic, though tripping multiple times stopped her from continuing that frightful course.

Octavia helped her up, then noticed Cookie by the chalkboard. “Look, you need help, but you have to take it slowly and—“

“I’m a pony!” and waved her head and her forehooves about.

Also slapping Octavia’s face about with those forehooves. “Photo—ow!—Finish—ouch!—would you—agh!—calm dowow?!”

Cookie gasped, galloped to Photo, and dragged her away by the tail. She put Photo on the floor, though struggling as the new pony tapped all four hooves in fear.

“Octavia!” Photo shouted, trembling. “Pleaze tell me vhat to do!”

“Well, I don’t know!” she shouted, pointing a hoof at her. “You think because I can walk on four legs that I know everything?!”

“You muzt know something!” Photo snapped back at her. “If you could do that, you could teach me how to—“

“You can ask me!” Cookie said, raising a hoof and smiling, cutting short the argument. “I was born with four hooves, so I’m obviously the perfect candidate for the job!”

Then, with the door still open, they saw a freckled green pony wearing a familiar striped sweater. She looked straight into the room and then at the ponies there. “Octavia? Photo Finish?!” Then, dreadful face towards Cookie, “You’re not from this school! How are you—never mind!”

Octavia gasped, realizing who this green pony was. “Wallflower?!”

Wallflower nodded, biting her lip. “You have to go outside! Sunset’s back with everypony else and she’s got news!”

With that, they leaped out of the room.

Or they would have if it were not for Photo Finish’s lack of four-leg walking training as could be seen by her stumbling and falling on the floor.

Octavia groaned, helping her back up. “OK: Fore-right, back-left, fore-left, back-right. You’ve listened to me? Good,” and pulled her by the mane.

“Ow! Watch it!”

Octavia, Wallflower, and Cookie galloped to the school grounds, with Photo Finish lagging behind.

What they saw was unexpected, to say the least.

The statue was truly destroyed. Not much of a trace was left. What was left were chunks of marble from the base, the horse statue itself having completely shattered.

Floating over the base was a portal, swirling with purple and thundering with magical lightning.

Watching and either standing or sitting on the concrete path and not on the flowers were the students and the teachers who had not fled, especially those who had turned into ponies.

Standing before them were Sunset, Sci-Twi, Dash, AJ, Fluttershy, Rarity, Cotton Candy—back to using the name “Pinkie Pie” as they were talking with her that way—and Spike, still in their pony (and dragon) forms.

“Everypony, please settle down!” Sunset yelled, raising both her forehooves in the air.

And then, the mumbling and the screaming ceased, though there were still ponies running on the streets.

Sunset sighed. “Long story short, we’ve returned from Equestria when the portal turned on out of nowhere, sent all the lost students back here, cast a spell on the portal to maintain it—and we’re going to do something desperate because if we don’t, the whole world will change and be filled with magic, and everycreature’s going to stay that way!”

And gasps. The screams came back.

“Quiet!” Twilight shouted.

And the screams went away, everyone including ponies now looking at her.

Then: “So, after a lot of planning a little too late, we’ve formulated a plan where, using our geodes—“ levitated her magical stone necklace and put it back on herself “—we’ll overpower this portal,” pointing at the portal right behind her, “thereby forcing it to return enough magic to Equestria, turning this world back to normal.”

“What’s the catch?!” immediately asked Micro Chips, raising a finger while checking what was going on in MyStable with his phone.

Twi lowered her head. “All seven of us have to be extremely concentrated. If we stray, we might instantly turn the whole world magic!”

Murmurs arose from the crowd, though the non-ponies kept to themselves, trying not to get near any ponies.

“It’s a great risk,” Sunset said, “but it’s the only way we can save this world while keeping the magic that’s harmless! We have to—“

Twilight’s eyes glowed blue.

Applejack stepped away from her. “Uh, I don’t think that’s a good sign right there.”

Twilight stood there, frozen, her eyes staying blue.

Sunset gasped. “Twilight! You’re not Midnight—“

Dark wings sprouted out from Twilight’s torso.

The audience backed away, beginning to panic though Rainbow Dash and Applejack rushed to herd them back in, the farmpony using her lasso as a weapon of fear to keep them in and the quick pegasus appearing before any stragglers to order them back.

Rarity, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie trotted up to Twilight who was looking at them with one scared face and two scary eyes.

“I n-need you!” Twilight yelled, tears flowing from her glowing eyes as they rested on a terror-stricken Spike. “I c-can’t hold in Midnight much l-longer!”

Her horn cracked and glowed, becoming made of magical light once again.

Sunset yelped and so did some of those in the audience.

Twilight’s glasses turned into a glowing magical mask around her eyes.

As a tear dropped.

Spike turned his face away, a tear of his own flowing.

Twi closed her eyes, gritting her teeth as her purple coat turned dark.

Then opened her eyes wide, her whimpering frown becoming a sinister grin.

Turned to the audience.

Who were staring at Midnight Sparkle by the portal.

The alicorn laughed, shaking her head. “Oh, Twilight!” she yelled, her deep voice returning. “Repeating those words to yourself isn’t going to work so easily!” With a raised hoof, “But no matter! Soon, I will study magic in a much better way.”

The crowd stood up, ready to run though Applejack was shouting at them to “Stay calm! We’re gonna handle this!”

Midnight smiled, ignoring the farmpony’s words and flapping her wings into a hover. “I was wrong back then to recklessly destroy this world in my quest to satisfy my magical curiosity, but now...why have one magical world when you can have two?!”

Blasted her horn at the portal.

“No!”

And Sunset lunged at her, then Rarity and Pinkie Pie restraining Midnight by the hooves, the horns, and the wings, Fluttershy screaming and shuddering while Spike looked on at his former owner.

Rainbow Dash stopped mid-air, looking at Midnight being held down.

The crowd looked.

And then they ran away, screaming and running and stumbling, much to the futile efforts of Applejack’s rope-handling skills, though it was probably hard to use a rope with mouth and hooves anyway.

Back to Midnight:

Sunset’s horn glowed. “Come on, Twilight! You’re not Midnight Sparkle!”

“Oh, she is!” Midnight said with a growl, and brought a hindleg out of a grip, kicked Sunset in the face, and got two more hooves free which she used to kick Pinkie and Rarity out of place.

Now unbound, Midnight floated above the portal, huge wings creating a current. Facing the dispersing crowd: “Look at your world! Magic is filling it up and soon, it’ll be ripe for study!”

Then, Sunset looked behind her.

Cookie was galloping away from huge flytraps trying to bite her hair. Ponies were running from plunderseed vines; a few had been caught, now wrapped in their grasp. Some were falling asleep at the behest of Somnambular Blooms, others were giggling by Giggling Funflowers, and Wallflower was screaming and running with a mane made not of hair but flowers thanks to some poison joke.

Sunset looked up, saw the clouds moving around erratically and—

“Ah, yes!” Midnight said, looking up, too, and grinning at the strange clouds. “Controlling the weather, just like how the pegasi among us should do!”

Then, Sunset saw her geode glow.

Caught her friends’ geodes glowing, too.

She looked up at the floating Midnight and yelled, “Twilight Sparkle! This is me and your friends! You’re not—“

Midnight blinked at her, eyes briefly back to normal.

Then blinked again, turning back to glowing blue.

And Midnight laughed as she zapped Sunset and made her fall down and tumble to the rough grass.

The last thing Sunset saw was the sky, maybe some white and blue wings.

Then, under the pain draining her of energy, she closed her eyes.

Unconscious.

A High Note Survives

In her head, everything became noise.

After Princess Twilight Sparkle left, Sci-Twi trotted through the city in a daze, eyes focused straight ahead—disoriented.

Screams, shouts, more crack!’s and bang!’s. These rang out to her ears, and that hero instinct jolted her into approaching a powerless pegasus. His wings already scratched, he was massaging them with a hoof.
Twilight touched his bunned mane. He looked up and saw her face. “I can a-accompany you back to school. That’s where Sunset’s patching everypony up.”

The pegasus shivered, recognizing her. “Tw-Twilight?!”

She nodded. “Yes, it is, Zephyr.”

Zephyr gulped. In a rattled voice, “S-So, are you gonna solve this pony problem or…?”

Twilight turned away, hiding her pained face. Breaking the truth to him was not going to be easy—so would be breaking the truth to everyone else in the world.

Then, she turned back to him. “No.”

Zephyr bent his head back. “Tell me that’s a joke.”

A sigh. “No.”

“Oh.” He looked down, continued massaging his wings. “I see….”

After helping Zephyr up and sending him on his way with some improvised bandages, Twilight resumed her solitary journey.

Hectic was the atmosphere, crack!’s and bang!’s springing up every minute or so. Pegasi crashed through windows or roofs, and more were tripping in the sky and falling to the ground. Magical plants bloomed to life with accidental thanks to the Earth ponies as they barreled through walls with their sudden strength. Unicorns were floating things around in their magic surges—or, perhaps, turning one thing into another unintentionally like an orange into a frog that landed right on a mare’s face, leaving her shrieking.

Twilight’s ears folded back at that.

More of her senses came back to her as time passed. She remembered to check the faces of everyone she passed by.

Except, of course, they did not have the same faces anymore. Good thing magical horses had colorful coats and manes with hues that matched their previous forms. Oh, and there was the “magical” part of it.

Twilight looked up at her horn. The only word she was able to mumble out in horror was, “Forever….”
Thoughts flooded her mind. Maybe her career would not be in any particular field of conventional science at all. The idea of being a masterful mage was not as far-fetched as it had sounded before. What a cruel irony it was, having built up much of her life to pursue a science, to advance technology, and now, the most likely thing to happen to her was researching magic.
A plan years, if not more than one full decade, in the making. As of fifteen minutes ago, it was thrown out the window.

She stood in front of her manor. It looked pretty normal. No shattered windows, no floating furniture, and no one being turned into potted plants. It had remained unharmed, unscathed.

The house itself, that was. That did not say anything about its inhabitants.

Twilight hesitated to raise a hoof to the glassy front doors.

Then, with one of the biggest gasps she had ever made, she knocked.

Immediately, hoofsteps came down.

The doors swung open.

Silence as she looked on her daughter. Awed silence.

Twilight rubbed her snout, then her wet eyes.

She hugged her mother, now a gray and purple unicorn.

Out of the hallway came Night Light, a unicorn, too. He wrapped the two mares in a hug as well, their embrace warming.

“You’re OK!” Twilight Velvet shouted, pulling her closer. “We were so worried!”

But Twilight herself heard none of it, as she glowed the doors closed and simply cried on their shoulders, slowly lugged through the halls.

Knock! Knock!

Nothing.

“Twilight, it’s us.”

Sniffles.

“Twi, open up.”

More sniffles, something being shuffled around.

“You’ve been in there for more than five hours. You’ve got to come out sometime.”

Nothing but sniffles.

“We know your door’s not locked, Twilight.”

Nothing.

Then, the door handle glowed red.
Sunset and her friends trotted inside.

Twilight’s room was one ornate mess. Elaborate designs with stars and galaxies as the theme over a plethora of stuff somehow uncluttered in the many shelves and cabinets there, crowding up the room yet with none of the cramped ambience one would get from such a place.

Through the window, the moon shone gray on a Twilight Sparkle seated on the bed, looking down on her blanket and her sheets.

Looking down on her hooves, that ruthless reminder of who she was now.

Spike closed the door with his claw and locked it, leaving the room to themselves.

They then approached Twilight, taking up both sides of her bed.

Twilight wept silently, levitating her glasses out of her face only to float her box of tissues up.

Sunset said nothing.

Everyone said nothing, not even Spike. No words were spoken. No gestures were made. Only looks, only nudges, as minutes elapsed under the moon’s glow, glinting on Twilight’s mane and her glasses.

Sunset drew out a long sigh. “How do you feel, Twilight?”

Nothing.

A wipe of her eyes with some tissue, then floated it away to the trash can. With eyes red and drained, with speech broken and waned, “Awful. More than a-awful.”

Sunset then hopped on to the bed.

So did everyone else, even Spike. The bed creaked under the weight, but it held up.

Twilight covered her face, guilt bubbling up. “It w-was all my fault! I sh-shouldn’t have asked y-you to take me along! After that, I-I’ve been nothing but trouble!”

Sunset pat her on the head, ruffling her mane a bit. “Twilight, it’s OK. You didn’t mean—”

“I should’ve known!” Twilight shouted, pushing Sunset away with the force of her voice. “I should’ve known that there’d be a catch! A million catches, but I let curiosity get the better of me!” and shrouded her head with both forelegs, burying herself in sorrow mingled with more tears.

Felt another hoof on her mane, tugging on her hair.

She exposed her face again, seeing Rainbow Dash slightly pulling her purple mane.

“Yeah, Twi!” she encouraged, wings flapping. “You almost did nothing wrong!”

Twilight groaned. “Thanks, Dash.”

Rainbow became nervous, baring her teeth a little and scratching her head. “What I meant was...I would’ve done the same thing, but, you know, duty calls when you’re the captain of every sports team!”

“It was nighttime,” Sunset corrected with a cutting glare at Rainbow.

Rainbow blushed. “Heh-heh!” Then, pulling Twilight closer with a hoof wrapped around her neck, “But, no matter what, we’ll still be here for you!”

“Even if it means being together as ponies this time,” Rarity said with a tiny chuckle, her eyes twinkling.

Applejack raised her head to see Twilight better, lifting her hat to do that. “It’s gonna be mighty awkward to be goin’ round as English-speakin’ ponies.”

“Who also have magic,” Fluttershy added, spreading one wing and then admiring it, “and can fly some of the time.”

“Don’t forget that we’re plucky high school teenagers!” Pinkie yelled, grinning.

Twilight opened her mouth, then looked back down at her hooves. Stuttering, “W-We’re going to h-have hooves l-longer than we’ve had h-hands!”

Buried her face again not with hands but with hooves, crying.

Seeing nothing, feeling her moist tears on her hooves.

“I’m going to live seventy or eighty years as a unicorn...and that’s if ponies live as long as we do, if not longer! What’s going to happen in a century?! Is no one going to remember—wait, they’ll remember because we have history books, but then we’ll have generations of ponies and other creatures and—” wheezed, wheezed, wheezed until her head became light.

And was immersed in a hug, her friends’ hairy hooves encasing her in loving friendship.

Silence. Beautiful silence, drowning in harmony.

“We’ll be together until th-the very end, Twilight,” Sunset said, voice choking. “No matter what happens.”

Then, Twilight opened her eyes.

Saw Spike, her faithful dragon, hugging one of her forehooves with his claws.

Surrounded by her friends, she extended both forehooves all around them and hugged them back.

As they glimmered a little under the moonlight.

Many hours later, it was ten minutes to five in the early morning.

Or ten minutes to five in the very late night.

Right outside the school, the portal still swirled, guarded by a few ponies in police uniform. Despite the unusual circumstances, the least of which was their magic and their new bodies, they stood still, ready for any threat that might come to the portal.

The front doors opened without anything touching them, Principals Celestia and Luna trotting out as Luna levitated a phone and a glove to slide screens and press buttons with. Their manes flowed and gleamed in faint grace under the night sky.

Celestia looked up, seeing the moon over there. “Luna, any updates?”

Luna cleared her throat. “All of them are more than willing to submit to us princesses.”

“Even Queen Novo from the South?”

“Even her, sister.”

Celestia shook her head, mind reeling from her jumbled thoughts. “I just wanted to give back to the school, not become a diarch of the whole world.”

“But thou knowest that we must take this responsibility, Celestia,” replied Luna, looking to the moon as well, “lest utter disaster would befall upon billions.”

“Billions…?”

Not wanting to talk about any potential disasters for the meantime, Luna glowed her horn blue. “Tend to your post, sister. Raise the sun over this fair Equestria for the first time.”

Celestia gulped. “‘Equestria’, huh? Might as well go for that.”

Her horn glowed yellow.

The moon slowly descended, causing all the guards’ heads to turn. The dark sky brightened into a comforting yellow, stars twinkling out of sight. When the moon reached the horizon, the sun appeared right beside it and poured out its light and shine for all to bask in.

The moon dipped beneath the hills and mountains. The sun rose above them.

The crow of a rooster broke many’s spell of sleep. A dozen birds flew out of their nests and chirped, welcoming the day.

And then, it was Tuesday morning on an Earth that no longer was.

Invitation

Sweet Snacks Café sat by the wall of a mall in downtown Canterlot. Right in front of a half-full parking lot, its exterior exuded everything retro it possibly could: its rail car-style making it look like it was dragged out of a train from decades ago, its flashy neon lights on the rakes shining against the dark evening, its funky color style of pink-green-blue emanating an ambience from yesteryears, and a huge vintage car on the rooftop which pretty much served as the icon of the diner. By the road, the headlights of real cars rushed in and out of view, metropolitan lights glowing from store signs and traffic signals.

Inside, customers ate and talked in the cool of conditioned air though that did not take away the mouth-watering scents of hamburgers, bacon, and garlic from the kitchen where a single chef cooked everything up in the midst of old-style doo-wop playing from vinyl records in the jukebox on the side, surrounded by black-and-white and colorized pictures of famous personalities and events from more than half a century ago.

The customers themselves, though diverse in clothes and varied in skin and hair color, had mostly two things in common: they were teenagers, and their chat was, for lack of a better word, typical for the day—How would they tackle the quiz tomorrow? Was Principal Celestia going to announce something big within the week? When will the sleepover begin? Was Vinyl Scratch about to leave her job or was it just rumors?

By the windowside sat five students munching over plates of fries, onion rings, burgers, hash, pancakes, waffles, and hotdogs.

Well, all except Fluttershy who twirled her hair, contenting herself with a green veggie burger.

“Flutters?” Rainbow asked, tapping her on the shoulder. “Honest question: What would you do if you figured out that’s actual beef?”

Fluttershy responded by dropping her smile, bulging her cheeks, and covering her mouth, ready to puke.

“Rainbow!” Rarity called out, accusing her with a pointed finger complete with a polished and painted nail.

The accused raised her shoulders and nervously laughed. “Come on! You know Pinkie won’t ever let a veggie order slip here! It’s not like she’s in any real danger.”

Fluttershy swallowed the bite in her mouth, faced Rainbow while her mouth shivered. “That’s not funny! What if Angel found out I ate meat? What if the whole shelter knew I ate meat?”

“I’m pretty sure they’ll be fine,” Rainbow reassured nonchalantly. “Twi’s got a dog,” motioning towards the only student with glasses as she chewed on her fries.

“I know that,” Fluttershy said, “but...I don’t want to betray their trust. If they found out I ate one of their kind—“ and stood up, looking down on her rainbow-haired friend, shouting, “What if you promised us you’ll never eat meat and we catch you with a steak?!”

Twilight reached her hand over the table, gesturing to her to stop. “Don’t worry.” She scrunched up her eyes at Fluttershy’s burger, examining it from afar. “It’s veggie alright; just keep eating.”

She looked at her and the other customers around in the diner. They were all staring at her with weirded out expressions, holding their food, sodas, milkshakes, and phones in mid-air.

Fluttershy sighed and sat back down on the chair.

Applejack eyed the watch on Rarity’s wrist. “When’s Sunset coming?”

“Five fifty-eight P.M.!”

All turned their heads at whoever said that.

The waiter who had shouted those words rollerskated her way down to their table and, with no spills, poured soda on Twilight’s empty glass. Fitted in her waiter’s dress complete with apron and hat, Pinkie waved at the girls, smiling. “Do you check the weather at all? The sun will set at five fifty-eight!”

Everyone chuckled at that except Fluttershy who took a dainty little bite of her veggie burger.

“You know we aren’t talking ‘bout the sun,” Applejack said, tilting her country hat back to the middle of her head.

Pinkie laughed, her high-pitched giggle filling the air. “Of course, silly! Sunset’s coming any moment now and I’m tellin’ ya’!”

Applejack looked out the window, saw that orange girl wearing her spike-studded jacket and her spike-studded headphones as she walked down the sidewalk; she was holding a journal, thumbing through it.

“Told ya’!” Pinkie said, standing by the table.

The double doors opened and in came Sunset Shimmer herself, putting her headphones inside her sling bag. Her eyes instantly met those of her friends at the windowside table. “Heya’!”

Pinkie rolled her way to the new arrival. “Glad to have you here! You want—“ scratched her chin in thought, eyes up towards the stylized metal ceiling “—half a dozen veggie burgers?”

Sunset looked surprised. “How’d you know that?”

Pinkie pointed at the bag. “Reading letters from the other Twilight! Wouldn’t feel comfortable talking to her while eating good beef!”

It was Sunset’s turn to laugh, now walking to her friends at the table. “Yeah. She’s been updating me about what’s going on lately. I heard Big Mac’s girlfriend is staying in Ponyville thrice a week.”

Then, all eyes were on the Applejack in the diner. She grunted in return, pouting. “It doesn’t mean our Sugar Belle’s staying here thrice a week.”

Sunset shook her head as she sat down, her friends scooting along and making way for her as Pinkie rollerskated her way to the counter with her waitress co-workers who had prepared a huge sundae for the curly-haired server.

Twilight adjusted her glasses, facing Sunset. “So, what did you do?”

Sunset rolled her eyes, smirking. “I’ve been busy doing nothing but talking to Twilight—uh, Princess Twilight.”

Twilight sighed, about to break out into her own laugh. “It’s still weird knowing you have another self out there, and that self is a pony princess.”

“I think it’s still weird knowing we all have our other selves out there,” Rarity quipped, looking at Sunset with interested eyes.

Applejack cleared her throat. “Uh, what else did this ‘ere Princess talk about?”

Sunset let out a diminished chuckle. “Not much really. Her school’s still running strong, she’s returning home from another friendship retreat, and she still likes the local hayburger chain at home.”

Applejack looked confused. “Uh, does she know you eat hamburgers here?”

Sunset smiled. “’Course, she does. I mean, she doesn’t mind; they have bears and crocodiles, too, so it’s not like being a carnivore’s new to them.”

Rainbow nudged Applejack on the shoulder. “Yeah, AJ. You should know.”

She groaned. “Says the one who forgot to return Sentry’s hat from practice.”

“It was an honest mistake!” Rainbow said in anxious self-defense. “Honest!”

Applejack crossed her arms. “Nice try, RD.”

Pinkie returned to the table, rolling with a tray of six juicy veggie burgers and one tall cup of softdrink all set for Sunset to enjoy.

“Thanks!” she said, waving at Pinkie who rolled away to wait on other tables.

Twilight looked back at Sunset, glancing at the bag she had put there on the table. “I don’t want to bother you, but...I can’t believe I’ve never asked you much about your old life.”

Sunset raised her brow, holding the first burger close to her mouth with both hands. “You mean before I went here?”

Rarity nodded. “Think about it, Sunset. I’ve read a couple of fantasy novels myself, and when I remember that there’s this...Equestria place that exists...not to mention their royalty….” and her eyes looked up, becoming dreamy.

Sunset smiled again, not wanting to tear Rarity out of her imagination. “Yeah...it’s strange but normal at the same time.” She turned to Twilight. “You remember what she said to you when you met each other, right?”

Twilight nodded. “Certainly!”

“And, actually,” Sunset went on, “the reason why I came here is to tell you that I’m going back to Equestria for a few hours. Starlight’s hosting a kite-flying competition and I promised weeks back I’d be one of the judges.”

“That’s OK,” Applejack replied. “When are you leavin’?”

Sunset looked at her wristwatch. “About nine. I’ll be home past one, but I have my ways of keeping awake.”

Twilight frowned, horrified at such a prospect. “You sure you don’t want to bring instant coffee with you?”

Sunset smiled and took out a few sachets from her jacket. “Like I said, I have my ways.”

As she returned the sachets and took a bite of her order, Rainbow and Applejack were looking at each other and then held their burgers to the air. “First one to finish gets a free burger,” announced Rainbow in her typical pride, “courtesy of the loser!”

Applejack narrowed her eyes at her. “Oh, you’re on!”

And they bit and chomped on their burgers, swallowing a second before the next bite.

Rarity, meanwhile, moaned in disgust as oil and ketchup splattered onto her blue dress. She took out a bottle of perfume and a clean rag. “Why must you do your silly little competitions when I’m woefully unprepared?!”

Twilight and Sunset chuckled at that, leaving Fluttershy alone with her veggie burger. She took out a piece of lettuce to feed her bunny who was hiding inside her bag.

“Kite flying at night is already spectacular enough,” commented Twilight, putting down her soda. “I myself have never seen it, but I’ve read of how they put LEDs on kites so they glow in the dark.”

“I haven’t seen it back in Equestria,” Sunset replied, “but they do fly kites there. In fact, Starlight loves kites!”

Twilight tilted her head to the side. “But...how do non-unicorn ponies hold the spool?”

Ready with an answer, Sunset smiled. “They hold it with their hooves!”

Twilight rolled her eyes, still confused. “Uh, how?”

“Trust me,” Sunset said, maintaining that smile. “They hold it with their hooves.”

Inside her little home, under the bedroom which was actually a raised platform connected to the ground floor by some stairs without railings, Sunset sat at the computer desk where the monitor was on and shining bright along with her phone which was flooded with notifications, most of them from her social media apps.

However, instead of attending to these things, she was busy writing in her journal.

...and don’t worry, Twilight. I’ll probably say one more goodbye to my friends before I go, but I won’t be late. She tapped her chin with the pencil’s eraser. Maybe five minutes late. Anyway, can’t wait to catch up on you and Starlight!

Then, her phone beeped.

Sunset sighed and looked at the phone, closing her journal and putting the pencil aside. “Ugh.” She placed her sling bag on the table. “Who is it this time?”

After getting past the lock screen, Sunset saw her messaging app with Twilight’s picture on the side—the one with the glasses. Below was the text: Are you going yet?

Sunset raised a brow. “Huh?” Tapping the buttons on her keypad, she typed off, About to.

She looked at the time on the corner of the screen. “It’s already eight-thirty?”

Sunset took her bag back and slung it around herself but kept seated.

Her phone beeped again. Have a good time! Tell your pony friends I said “Hi!”

Sunset made a mellow smile at that. Will do. Don’t worry about my sleep. I can manage.

Some seconds passed. Haha. See you soon! :)

Sunset placed her phone in her jacket and turned off her computer, nervously looking out the window where it was quite dark and the moon shone above with its stars. She could see the bright lights of the city even from here in her living room.

After shoving her journal inside another bag lying under the computer table, she approached the door, turning off the lights as she passed by each switch, plunging her house into darkness.

Then, right in front of the door, she turned the door knob and—

Beep!

Sunset took her phone out and read the message on it.

It still had Twilight’s smiling face. I know this is all sudden, but can I go with you?

Sunset froze there, eyes and mouth wide open. Read, re-read the simple request. She raised her thumbs to shoot off a reply, but she looked ahead, barely seeing the door before the phone’s glow.

A few more seconds later, she tapped off again. Sorry, but no. Not without the Princess’s permission, plus, are you sure about that?

Sunset waited. Some seconds passed, then her phone beeped again. Yes. I’m sure. I’ve given it enough thought.

Really? You’re not joking?

A longer pause than usual. I’m not. I want to see what it’s like on the other side of the mirror.

Sunset made a little moan. Then, with pursed lips, she put on a pensive face, re-reading the conversation so far. Even if I want to, I still can’t. Also, it’s late. Don’t want to see you miss your alarm out of all people.

A pause, waiting. I could bring my own coffee.

“She’s stubborn,” she whispered to herself as she fired off her next message: Even if I brought you over, I have to explain things to your other self. She has work to do and I don’t think she’d be OK having guests over without warning.

She looked at her phone, waiting. Then, seeing no reply from her yet, she added, Did you tell everyone else?

Five seconds passed. No reply. Ten seconds passed. Still no reply. Twenty seconds:

No. Just me. They’re kinda’ busy with their own stuff. I actually studied earlier than scheduled to see if you’d say yes.

Sunset placed a hand behind her head. “If she had to move her studies, she’s serious.” Then, she tapped the words: Why are you keeping this a secret? And she waited.

If they found out, they’ll want to join me, and all seven of us going through the portal would certainly be trouble waiting to happen.

Sunset sighed a breath of relief. “At least she’s using her common sense.” Alright, but it’s still a no. With that, she punched the doorknob, looked at her curled up fingers. She laughed. “Heh. I’m probably more excited than she is!”

The phone beeped again. OK, but could you send something over here as a souvenir?

Sunset moaned again. Then, she held her phone up, seeing that message and that smiling face of Twilight beside it. She turned the phone around, saw the camera on the back.

She smiled. Turned the phone back to the screen. Too dangerous to send anything back here, but I’ll bring my phone. She waited.

More seconds passed. You’ll take pictures! Please video something, too.

Sunset smiled and she placed her hand on the doorknob—

But how are you going to use a phone with hooves?

Sunset rolled her eyes. After putting the phone into her jacket, she ran through the living room, turned on some of the lights, went up the stairs without falling over the non-existent railing, entered her bed area, hurried around the bed, and pulled open a drawer. Inside along with the other random items there was a digital camera wrapped in a plastic bag. She took it out, pressed a button, and the screen on its back turned on. She quickly turned it off.

Sunset hung it around her neck. “I don’t care if they call me old-school….” She picked up her phone from her jacket and turned that one on. I’ll bring a real camera.

Some more seconds passed as Sunset went down the stairs and turned off the lights again. That’s better, but how are hooves going to work with that?

Sunset chuckled as she approached the door again, one hand turning the knob. They’ll work. I’m going now, so see you!

She stepped outside, walked down the two steps to the sidewalk, feeling the night’s chill and the rush of cars whizzing by with their glaring headlights. People with lots of different kinds of clothes walked by the lit windows of various shops and diners. Sunset looked at the end of the street and saw Sweet Shoppe, that nice diner and bakery at the corner with its umbrella-covered tables outside; she saw some diners conversing over some cakes and pies.

Her phone beeped. She pulled it out. Yeah, see you tomorrow!

Sunset smiled at the reply, seeing that beaming face of Twilight once again on her phone. She closed it, put it inside her bag, and walked down the street.

After a dozen or so minutes of walking and passing by her friends’ houses to say her goodbyes, Sunset crossed one more street and entered school grounds. There, she saw that massive brick structure of learning with its regal roofs and its stately architecture of triangles and straight lines; its surroundings were of wide open green grass which included a trimmed soccer field. Most of the windows were closed and dark, but she could see lights from inside a few rooms and the sound of deliberate conversations here and there from within.

In front of the entrance was the statue, that marble statue of a rearing horse.

She took in a deep breath. She adjusted the strap on her bag, checked her camera hanging from her neck.

Sunset took out her phone and turned the screen on to see the time.

Eight forty-seven.

“Loosen up, Sunset,” she said to herself, putting her phone back and walking her way to the statue. “Just like normal.”

As she rounded the base of the statue, she saw one of the glass doors at the front open up, revealing a blue lady in her casual uniform, her multi-blue hair flowing about in the wind.

Sunset gasped, turned to her, and waved. “Oh, uh, hi Vice Principal Luna! About to go on one of your night walks again?”

Luna nodded. “Yes, Sunset Shimmer,” she replied in a matter-of-fact tone. She raised a brow at the sight of both the student’s bag and camera. “You do know that the school is off-limits after closing time, do you not?”

Sunset nodded; she could not help but hide a grin, though. “Where do you think I’m going?”

Luna pursed her lips, put her hands on her hips as she thought about the question. Then, noticing the horse statue behind Sunset, she smiled. “Ah, returning to your home for a visit?”

“I got two homes now, so it won’t be much of a problem. Besides,” she continued, “I did promise Starlight Glimmer I’d come over for the night.”

“You mean the pink girl with the beanie?” Luna asked, still wondering.

“Yeah, her.”

Luna nodded, walking past her. “Then, I hope you have a safe time there—but, that does not excuse you from coming to classes late tomorrow morning.”

Sunset chuckled at that, inching towards the statue. “Yeah. I’ll make sure it won’t happen.”

With that, they waved each other goodbye, Luna walking out of school property and Sunset walking towards the statue.

Then, there she was, right in front of it, in front of this side of the base which looked like a mini-wall.

She placed her hand on the surface.

Felt hard at first, but she could sense the open air behind it.

She closed her eyes, took in a deep breath again.

Walked through it in a bright shine.

And she was gone. The statue was alone, the few lights in the school were still on, the air was punctuated by their conversations, and Luna was about to cross the street, standing by the corner, tapping her foot impatiently as the cars moved about.

Inside Princess Twilight’s castle, a pink unicorn was busy reading a book in the library, sitting at the wooden table by the strange contraption of wires, coils, containers, and one mirror in the middle. Reading in front of lengthy shelves of books sided by crystal walls, she flipped through the pages with her horn, the leaves glowing as they raced to the end into a slam shut.

Starlight Glimmer glanced at the mirror.

She groaned, looked at the clock on the table.

“Maybe I should’ve said something to Twilight,” Starlight said to herself. “When I said, ‘nine’, maybe she conveyed it in a way that made Sunset think the competition starts at nine.” Then, she threw that idea away with a hoof. “Eh, Twilight’s always articulate.”

Then, still looking at the mirror, she saw pink electricity glow from the top where a book laid, leaping to the top coils and then racing down through the metal horseshoe-shaped part and down the rods, bringing the energy to some pistons and the magic sped to the two lower coils which concentrated that magic together into a cloud which struck the mirror and placed in it a cloudy and twisting pink swirl.

Starlight opened her mouth, dropped her jaw as the contraption whirred.

Then, a white flash and Sunset came flying out of the mirror, hurtling towards a poor table along the way.

Starlight glowed her horn, lighting the table up in blue and floating it out of the way, giving Sunset a slightly less painful spot to crash on.

She trotted towards the new arrival, then helped the yellow unicorn up on her four hooves as Sunset dusted herself off with her hooves.

Starlight chuckled, picking up the fallen bag and giving it to her. “You want to ask Twilight to find a better exit strategy?”

Sunset chuckled back. “I get used to it.”

The pink unicorn smiled. “So, how’s your day over in no-hooves world?”

“Are you really going to call it that?” Sunset asked, giving her a glance under her wavy mane.

Starlight brushed that one off as well with a hoofwave. “But, what happened there? Anything out of the ordinary?”

“Pfft!” She raised her head. “We had a little music feud with DJ Pon-3. None of us ponied up, though, so I guess it was a pretty normal day.”

Starlight cocked her head, glancing at the mirror. “So...that’s all?”

Sunset nodded. “Yeah, that’s all.”

Starlight leaned in. “You’re absolutely sure that nothing out of the ordinary happened?”

Sunset looked at her suspiciously. “Do you want trouble to happen?”

Starlight chuckled again. “You make it sound like the dimension over there is so boring with nothing to do! I’m still amazed that an entire world could operate without magic!”

Sunset rolled her eyes. “Eh….”

Starlight looked at the clock on the table again. “Right, right...we got some kites to watch and judge!”

The two unicorns looked at the portal, still glowing. Then, Sunset took the book out of the contraption by levitating it away, turning the portal off and removing the swirl from the glass. She put the book inside one of the containers by the mirror.

Starlight smiled as she and Sunset walked to the library doors. “I was able to invite Maud and Trixie for the competition. Maud will be another judge, but I couldn’t let Trixie be up in that booth.”

“Because she’d also find her way into the competition and then make herself the winner by default?” Sunset suggested.

Starlight glowed the doors and swung them open. “Pretty much.”

And the two laughed as they left the library.

Take a Picture

“What’s the criteria for judging, anyway?” Sunset asked as they trotted past more crystal walls; they shone under the colorful lights hanging above. “It’s not too complicated, right?”

Starlight shook her head. “It would if it were up to me, but sport kiting isn’t exactly a thing here in Ponyville, so I had to tone things down a notch.”

They turned a right, seeing the big double doors leading outside. There, they saw Spike eating some candy, his purple-and-green kite resting beside him. The baby dragon stood up. “Oh, hi, Sunset!”

She waved a hoof at him, inspecting the kite from a little distance. “Wow! I didn’t know you were up for this.”

Spike raised the kite for them to see. It looked simple, just like an ordinary kite; it was even shaped like a diamond. “What do ya’ think?”

Sunset smiled. “That’s nice!”

Starlight tried to smile, her grin wavering under the thought of seeing such a simple kite enter the competition—or her life. “That’s...decent!”

Spike tilted his head to the side. “I know. I’ve seen the others’, and I don’t think I’ll win in the ‘Most Aesthetically Pleasing’ Category.”

“You don’t have to win one category,” Sunset said in a positive tone. “All you gotta do is have fun!”

Spike breathed a sigh of relief. “Thanks.”

Then, she looked at the doors. “Uh, where’s Twilight?”

The dragon lowered his kite and returned to his candy. “You know, doing her thing: organizing the competition herself outside.”

Starlight twirled a hoof around, then trotted towards the doors. She beckoned Sunset with the hoof. “Come on! I’ll explain everything on the way!”

The yellow unicorn glanced at her bag, glanced at Starlight already opening the door, and then trotted there, saying goodbye to the dragon before leaving the castle.

Outside, Ponyville itself looked rather normal with its dim and dull lights coming from its cottages and the occasional streetlight. However, if one ventured a little past the town, one would find that a great number of ponies had turned out for the kite flying competition about to take place beside Twilight’s very crystally castle which glittered under the cold moonlight. By the sound of fresh waterfalls crashing softly over by the School of Friendship—which was itself a huge and sprawling complex of learning, too, with various facilities and towers—by the sound of those waterfalls, ponies were not the only ones waiting for the event to start. Along with the town’s residents, the school’s varied students watched in awe as the participants held their spools and lines this way and that, making their kites fly and spin around in fancy styles and flourishes. Since it was nighttime, a couple of ponies on the ground operated spotlights pointed towards the sky, clearing the darkness up for the kites to be seen by all.

Also, where was the wind coming from? The pegasi, of course, who proved useful as they flapped their wings and created wind in an otherwise windless night.

“Wow!” yelled Silverstream, that pink hippogriff student awed by the numerous kites vying for her attention as she stood by the castle’s path. “I’ve never seen kites before!”

“You’ve seen them in the counselor’s office,” remarked Gallus, the gruff griffon sitting beside her, also following the kites with his eyes.

“Yeah, but I’ve never seen them...um, fly before!”

Gallus groaned, turning back to the kite spectacle above.

With the students distracted, they were unable to notice their guidance counselor walk out of the castle with Sunset, a camera hanging around the yellow unicorn’s neck.

As the unicorn duo passed by the audience, most of them too enamored by the kite show even though the competition had not started yet, Starlight pulled her eyes away from those lovely—albeit simply diamond-shaped—kites and turned her attention to Sunset’s strange camera. “Hey, it’s one of those other-world cameras!” She hovered it closer to her eyes, covering the camera in her blue glow. “Huh. It has a black screen over here.”

Sunset laughed. With her magic, she pressed one of the buttons and the screen turned on, revealing a set of pictures with her friends.

Starlight’s eyes went wide open. “So, it’s just like those phone thingies except it’s bulkier?”

“And could only take pictures and videos,” Sunset added.

Starlight squinted her eyes, trying to see what those pictures exactly were. Here, at the corner, she saw a group picture of Sunset and all her somewhat-the-same-but-not-exactly-the-same friends surrounding her. “It’s a dedicated picture-and-video-taking machine, isn’t it?”

“You could say that,” said Sunset, a little apprehended at the awkward description.

“But,” Starlight went on, approaching the judges’ table in the open grass field, “why are you bringing it over?”

Sunset chuckled. “You’ve noticed that both Twilights love knowledge, right?”

Starlight chuckled back. “No doubt about that! Ooh! Wait!” She stopped, peering at her. “She asked you to record some bits here, didn’t she?”

Sunset smiled. “Yeah, that’s pretty much it.”

Finally, they reached the table. Over there were four chairs, a gray mare in a simple gray blue shirt sitting on one of them while the rest were unoccupied.

“Hi, Maud!” Starlight greeted, waving at her.

Maud just sat there, blinking with that stoic expression on her face. “Hi.” Then, she looked at the new pony beside her.

“Oh, this is Sunset Shimmer!” Starlight said, gesturing to her as this visitor waved at Maud, too. “She’s from, uh, a very faraway place. I went there once and it was...”

Sunset looked at her, confused.

“...nice.”

Maud stared at the two of them. “Mm-hmm.”

Starlight took notice of the farthest chair which was still empty. “Uh, where’s Trixie?”

Maud turned her head towards town. “In Ponyville.”

Sunset and Starlight looked at each other. Then, Starlight looked at Maud. “Where in Ponyville? Shouldn’t she be here to watch with us?”

Maud blinked. “She’s in Sugarcube Corner.”

Starlight moaned. “Ordering a Trixie cake, isn’t she?”

“Mm-hmm.”

Sunset eyed Starlight with a subtle look. “And both our Trixies like to go that far, huh?”

Starlight giggled as they sat on the chairs. They then observed the participants running around with their kites, though some of them stood their ground and, instead of displaying rampant energy, were attempting to display cold precision with their techniques. All in all, the kites wove around each other without somehow entangling themselves into knots. The kite enthusiast herself winced at the sheer simplicity of the kites on board, but she put her smile back on.

Sunset arranged the papers on the table, complete with quills and inkwells on the side. She noticed the microphones hooked up to the speakers beside it. Then, she hovered the camera in front of her eye, surrounding it in her red glow and making sure the strap was still around her neck. That done, she snapped pictures with click!’s each time, capturing stills of the kites in flight and their pony kite fliers.

Starlight, meanwhile, grew bored, approaching despair as she endured the sight of ordinary kites fly about in clunky, uncreative fashion, sprinkled with beginner signs evident as could be seen by ponies tripping or letting their kites go from their grip on accident. Whenever a participant tried to pull a kite in a straight line, the craft would flit about to the left and the right. Whenever someone else tried to be flashy by dragging his line in all possible directions, Starlight was left with a kite wallowing in the air—and, of course, she grumbled whenever a pony somehow got a kite to tie itself into knots again.

“This is a disaster!” Starlight said, slumping her head on the table, closing her eyes in frustration. “When I stayed inside the castle, I wanted to surprise myself with what Ponyville could throw at me, and this is what they got? Is this the best they could think of here?!” She looked at Sunset who was busy with her camera, eye on the viewfinder. “I mean, look at them! None of those things could even come close to qualifying as an official sport kite! Even if they tried, I don’t see them capable of something as simple as a rectangle, let alone registers, LSI’s, wedges, split figure eights...and don’t get me started on team efforts like pick-up sticks, cascades, spin drops—“ and promptly gave up as she smacked her head on the table though careful to not crack it with her horn. “The closest thing we got to an actual competition is in kite design, so maybe we could still give out a trophy, but—“ sighed “—I guess this travesty will have to do.”

All the while, Sunset took more pictures of what was happening before her, ponies still running around on the field with their kites. Then, she turned to that forlorn, disappointed Starlight with her head on the table. “Don’t be too harsh on them. It’s the first real kite competition they have, so of course they’re not gonna take it that seriously.”

“Not gonna take it that seriously?!” Starlight yelled.

Sunset responded with a nervous look on her face. “Uh, yeah?”

Starlight slowly breathed in, breathed out. Then: “Yeah.”

Wanting to steer the topic somewhere else, Sunset flipped a switch on her camera. “OK, what about I take a video of you greeting the girls back home?”

A smile returned on Starlight’s face. “Why not?”

Sunset smiled back. “When the camera flashes red, that means the video’s started.” She readied her hoof on the switch. “Three, two, one, go!”

It flashed red.

And Starlight gulped, putting on a cheeky smile and waving a hoof at the camera. “Uh...h-hi!” Another gulp, more visible this time. “If you’re wondering why I-I look familiar, that’s because I’m Starlight Glimmer! You know...the one who watched that Daring Do movie in those high-tech cinemas!”

Sunset laughed at Starlight’s next graceless description.

The video’s subject pointed at the display of kites flying about. “Over there—“ Sunset turned the camera towards the field “—these are the kites we’ll be judging for the competition.”

Sunset kept the camera steady, recording a good ten seconds of ponies sprinting with lines and spools on their hooves, their mouths, their wings, or just floating and glowing by horns. Then, she turned the camera back to Starlight.

“Yeah, they’re pretty, right? Oh, and, Pinkie, your sister Maud also has a pony self! Here!”

She leaned far enough to give way to Maud sitting on her chair, silently watching the kites with pursed lips and half-open eyes.

“Maud,” Sunset began behind the camera, “say, ‘Hi!’”

The gray pony slowly turned her head towards the camera, maintaining that stoic expression. “Hi.”

And silence as Maud stared at the camera.

Starlight leaned back in, covering Maud who turned back towards the kites. “So, there you have it! It’s the three of us—uh, actually four, but she’s—“

“I’m here!” a haughty voice called out.

Starlight rubbed her head in misery.

Sunset looked behind her and turned the camera round. “Trixie, what do you have to say?”

The blue unicorn pumped her chest as she wore her trademark wizard’s hat and wizard’s robe, both decorated with colored stars.

“Ah, are you the Sunset Shimmer from the other world?” Trixie asked, pointing at her. “Starlight’s told me plenty of stories from her time there.” She stuck her tongue out. “No offense, but, I, the Great and Powerful Trixie, can’t stand a world where magic isn’t real and the only thing you could there is fake stage magic!”

Starlight laughed, causing her magician friend to turn her head. “Trixie, fake stage magic is your talent.”

Trixie then raised her head snooty-like. “Well, at least I could do real magic...like this!”

And she floated her hat into the air, her horn glowing pink.

Sunset grinned as she recorded that, seeing Trixie’s sly smirk as she floated the hat and turned it around.

“I bet you can’t do that over there, other me!” Trixie crowed, pointing at the camera.

Sunset and Starlight both chuckled at a claim that was actually true. Maud, on the other hoof, glanced at what was going on with those unicorns, then turned her head back towards the kites.

“And, also,” Trixie went on, “just to let you know—“

She pulled out a very tall box and set it on the ground. She gave it a light kick and the sides fell down, revealing a cake with Trixie’s colors of blue and lighter blue. On top of it was the magician’s face in frosting.

Sunset did not laugh. She roared in guffaws, still keeping her camera steady to record the cake and the face of its buyer frosted there. “Starlight wasn’t joking, huh?!”

Starlight punched her shoulder. In a playful voice: “Are you saying you don’t believe me?”

Sunset bit her lip, calming down after her laughing fit—no, her guffawing fit. “Maybe?”

Back to Maud, she possessed no desire to see what they were doing or what they were talking about, still looking at the kites.

Starlight looked at Sunset who then turned off her camera. Her gaze moved to the camera. “That’s it?”

Sunset nodded. “Yeah, that’s it. I don’t want to give them a full tour of Ponyville. That wouldn’t be healthy, considering how nosy Twilight could be.”

“You mean our Twilight or their Twilight?” Starlight asked.

Sunset rolled her eyes. “Both.”

Coming off the good times just passed, Starlight slammed the table with a hoof. “Alright, alright, enough making jokes! Let’s start the—“

And she beheld the kites flying in the sky.

Starlight groaned and slammed her head back on the table, this time cracking it with her horn. In a voice of sorrow: “—competition.”

The competition came and went. After multiple rounds of grueling shows, the overall winner of Ponyville’s first official kite flying competition was none other than Derpy who then accepted the golden trophy on the podium as the reward was hoofed to her by Starlight Glimmer. The trophy-giver put up a grin for the cameras she was familiar with, the traditional instant ones that printed out pictures on the spot. The crowd around her and Derpy thundered as the champion raised her kite which was simply gray with ribbons attached to its string.

As for Starlight herself, she braced the reporters’ equally grueling questions, grueling not because they were hard to answer but because she did it all while feigning a smile for the camera, sweat rolling down her face. Her voice was as controlled as could be; coupled with the smile and her composed demeanor, she managed to get through the media without a scratch.

As for the rest of the judges, Sunset and Maud shook hooves and exchanged pleasantries with the crowd and the rest of the participants before they said their farewells. Those ponies were all headed for their homes as they dispersed.

As for Trixie she did not lament over the competitive loss of her great and powerful kite which, for all intents and purposes, had the same diamond shape as all the other kites; as for being powerful, it now lay in shambles. Instead, she pointed a hoof at the other competitors for sabotaging an otherwise fair game, she pointed a hoof at the pegasi for changing up wind conditions when it was her turn, and, finally, she pointed a hoof at “the organizer herself, Princess Twilight Sparkle! Why, the Great and Powerful Trixie is still seen as her inferior and maybe it is true—but it definitely is not! This is a disaster in the history of Equestria since Twilight Sparkle has meddled in the affair of my Great and Powerful Kite!”

“Ahem.”

Trixie looked to her right and screamed at the sight of Twilight Sparkle herself. “Oh, uh, those words you have heard are mere rumors! Otherwise, perhaps your ears have been clogged by some unknown entity and it is only through I, the Great and Powerful—“

“I get it,” Twilight cut off, sounding worried with her purple ears drooped. “But, if your kite broke within the first minute of flight, then there’s nothing else we can do.” She mellowed the blow by smiling, though. “Anyway, at least you tried, and that’s what matters, right?”

Trixie smiled and raised her head up. “The Great and Powerful Trixie could never pass up such an opportunity to display her unmatched skill in wowing her audience!”

Twilight could not help but laugh at such a boast, though Trixie reacted with a laugh of her own. Then, passing by the final pony in the crowd leaving, she encountered Maud and Sunset trotting their way to the judges’ booth.

Sunset caught sight of the Princess. “Hi, Twilight!”

Twilight gasped. “Sunset!”

And the two of them hugged.

Maud stood there, watching the two hug. She looked back, seeing Starlight talk with Derpy who was still holding her trophy and that ever optimistic smile made unique by her cross eyes.

The two stopped hugging, Twilight beaming and flapping her wings in cheer. “I heard Derpy Hooves won! I’m so proud of her!” Then, embarrassed that she ignored the unicorn she just embraced, she cleared her throat. “How’s everything going?”

Sunset smiled. “Everything’s fine. Our geodes didn’t go haywire, the worst argument we had was over Rainbow Dash cheating on Don’t Stop Saying Words and Everyone Lives, and—“

“That’s a mouthful of a title!” Twilight said, surprised. “Is that a game?”

“It’s a bomb game.”

“A bomb game?!” repeated Twilight in horror.

“It’s not that bad,” Sunset clarified. “It’s just...lots of shouting is involved, and that’s before Rainbow’s parents arrived to cheer on her.”

“I’d like to know what that feels like in a casual setting.”

Sunset looked over her shoulder. “You don’t wanna know.”

After sending Derpy off with the golden trophy and with the honor of being Ponyville’s first ever kite champion, everything was packed up. The weather pegasi brought the weather back to a motionless evening; the chairs and lights and booth were dragged out of the fields. When it was all done, the front of Twilight’s castle was as clean as before.

Inside said castle, the halls looked as polished as ever. The two unicorns and one alicorn walked in the hallway, talking to each other as their words slightly echoed.

“...but, really, I could not believe what I was watching!” Starlight said in shock. “I don’t wanna say that Ponyville ponies are terrible at kites, but….”

Twilight glowed the library doors purple and opened them with her magic.

Inside, everything looked as it had been. The portal was still off, Starlight’s book was still closed alongside the clock on the table, and the rest of the books were still in their respective spots in their shelves.

“But, did you have fun?” Twilight asked the disappointed kite enthusiast.

Starlight looked up, pondering about it. “Y-Yeah, I guess. Having to teach ponies the basics of kite flying was hard work, but it felt good sharing your passions with so many!”

“Mm-hmm!” Twilight closed her eyes in that smile. “I was thinking along the lines of ‘Don’t stress out; just have fun!’, but that works, too!”

Then, the Princess looked at Sunset. “Really, Sunset, nothing out of the ordinary?”

Sunset shook her head. “No.”

Twilight looked longingly at the mirror. “I’d like to go there myself someday when I have the time, but...that’s the problem. I have a meeting with Thorax and Pharynx in the Changeling Hive tomorrow, and then I have to follow that up by talking with Princess Celestia about the results of that meeting.” She floated a filled up calendar into view, the current month flooded with symbols of all kinds done by pencils, ballpens, markers, and even paint. “I still have ample time for my friends here, of course, but what if an emergency happens in Equestria and I’m over there?”

Sunset raised her brows, still smiling. “You’re Twilight. I’m sure you can think up something. Besides, you don’t have to go; the girls already got me...and the other you.”

Twilight sighed, reflecting. “Yeah. It’s still really weird I have another self out there and she’s also a studious learner.”

Sunset dropped her smile and looked at the clock on the table. “It’s almost one.”

Twilight’s eyes opened wide. “Wait!”

“Huh?”

And Starlight turned to the Princess. “What’s wrong?”

Twilight looked at Sunset, taking on a serious tone. “About what Twilight—I mean, what my other self is saying about going here...”

“What about it?” asked Sunset.

Twilight shook her head. “No. Not now, at least.” She sighed. “I was about to say because of the need of balancing the dimensions this way and that, but you were there, I went there while you were there back when the sirens were there, and then there’s the whole magic-going-there thing...so, I guess keeping up the balance wouldn’t be a good enough reason.”

“So, why no?” Sunset asked further.

Starlight took a step closer.

Twilight lowered her head. “Because I don’t want to see my friends hurt.” A pause. “I mean, I’m sure they’ll get used to being ponies here and, since they already have their magic under control, I don’t think the magic here will corrupt them, but...I don’t know.” A longer pause. “The Everfree Forest is Ponyville’s backyard. That should tell you.”

Sunset nodded. “I understand. They’re probably not ready to face a world that’s so dangerous and new to them.”

“I think they are,” Twilight reassured. “But...I still feel like it’s too risky. Sure, they can handle the monsters here, but their families, their other friends—they’ll start to notice.”

Sunset furrowed her brows. “Not that I want to go against you, Twilight, but you know magic is a thing in our world now. Not on Equestria’s levels, but everyone in Canterlot knows about it—we even sped around in our ponied up forms catching a criminal and nobody called us out!”

As they talked, Starlight opened the container and levitated the book out, then placed the book at the top of the contraption, re-enabling the portal with its electricity, its flashes, and its whirs. Finally, the swirl on the mirror reappeared.

Sunset and Twilight stopped. They looked at the portal.

A pause between the three of them, Starlight standing by the swirling mirror with a mild yet uptight face.

Twilight looked at Starlight. “Sorry for leaving you out. What do you have to say about this?”

Starlight crossed her forelegs in thought. “Well, I’d say...probably?”

“What do you mean, ‘probably’?” Twilight asked, more uneasy than curious.

Starlight scratched her head. “What about taking them out for, say, a really short time? Like ten minutes?”

“Wouldn’t work,” replied Sunset. “That’d just make them crave Equestria more.”

“You’re right,” Starlight was quick to say. “What about you just tell them Twilight’s concerned for their safety and that they should be OK with your camera work?”

Sunset’s ears perked up. “I see nothing wrong with that…but what if they still want to go here?”

Twilight sighed and looked at the clock. “I don’t want to burst your bubble, Sunset, but it’s already one. Shouldn’t you be going to school on time?”

Sunset looked at the clock.

It was indeed past one by a few minutes.

She glowed her horn and levitated a few sachets from her bag. “I have my ways, Twilight.”

The Princess’s ears drooped again, her face of concern giving way to a simple frown. “So, we’ll talk about it another time?”

Sunset put the sachets back inside her bag. “Yeah.” Then, putting on a smile again, she trotted to the portal’s steps. “See you...whenever I see you?”

Twilight and Starlight waved at her, the latter saying, “Whenever!”

“Bye, Sunset!” Twilight cried out to her. “Stay safe and have a good night!”

Sunset waved back. “You, too!”

And she trotted through the swirling portal, disappearing in a white flash.

Twilight and Starlight stood there for a few seconds, looking at where Sunset had been.

“So,” Starlight said and broke the silence, “you’ve played some of their video games?”

Twilight nodded. “Yeah.”

Starlight shifted her eyes left to right. “Uh….”

“We’ll see, Starlight,” Twilight said in a chipper voice. “Me? I’d want to play them, too.”

Make Yourself Understood

In Ponyville….

The two Rainbow Dashes hovered side-by-side, flying in sync. This caused a couple of ponies to flinch and balk at this unusual sight, but they shrugged and went back to whatever work they were doing, whether it was Cheerilee pulling a wagon of books and vegetables or Trixie comparing which fireworks were better by setting them off in the early morning.

“So, what’s it like to have to wings?” Rainbow said, giving her a curious glance. “Feeling the freedom yet?”

Dash giggled, wiggling her wingtips. “I was already capable of flying when your Twilight first went through the portal!”

“You’re right,” Rainbow answered, “but here, flying around is normal, and you get to keep your wings!”

Dash smiled. “Yeah!” Then, she hovered higher into the sky, Rainbow following her from above.

There, the two pegasi experienced a light current flowing their way, drifting a few clouds their direction. For Dash, she rotated her head this way and that, seeing no obstacles at all.

“I know you haven’t developed the skills to perform a sonic rainboom,” Rainbow said as they leveled off a good distance above Ponyville, “so I’ll go easy on ya’! Show me what you got!”

Dash flicked her mane, narrowed her eyebrows, pawed the air and punched empty space. “Oh, you asked for it!”

She spread her wings and zipped around, leaving behind a trail of rainbow colors. She performed loop de loops, barrel rolls, and even knifed a nearby cottage, forcing a stallion out of his bed to open the window and wave a balled up hoof at her. With that done, she stopped right in front of Rainbow who had her mouth open agape.

Then, Rainbow grinned, holding out a hoof. “Aww, yeah! You’re a fast learner!”

Dash smiled, ignoring that hoof. “Tons of practicing, and it paid off!”

Rainbow then eyed her suspiciously, then back at her own hoof. “Uh...you don’t know what this is?”

Dash tilted her head, wrapping her mind around that mysterious hoof. “No?”

Rainbow smacked a hoof on her forehead. “It’s a hoofbump!”

Then, Dash opened her mouth: “Oh! Like a fistbump but for hooves?”

“Yup!”

Dash extended her own hoof. “I’ll take it!”

They bumped each other’s hooves, then laughed together as they held one foreleg on each other’s head.

“Hey, Dash,” Rainbow said, but then she looked down, creeped out. “Wow. Saying your own name a lot is gonna get awkward.”

“Heh-heh!” Dash pointed at her. “With the two of us, we’re going to cancel the awkwardness out and be twice the awesome!”

“That’s the Rainbow Dash I know and love!” Rainbow shouted, performing a loop de loop on her own. Then, remembering what she was supposed to say: “And, did you crash around a lot while you were practicing?”

Dash blushed at the sudden question. “Eh-heh...maybe a little.”

Rainbow went to her side in mid-air and tugged her in with a hoof. “I can’t blame you. It must be hard to learn flying when you weren’t born with a pair of wings…but better than no wings, right!”

Dash grinned, spreading them more. “Totally!”

Then, they casually flew together in the sky, appreciating the grand view of Ponyville below.

“This is way better than riding an airplane!” Dash shrieked, looking down and not thinking about whether her pony self knew what an airplane was or not. “I can see all the houses from up here, and then some!”

Rainbow smiled and nudged her on the shoulder. “You know what?”

Dash looked her way, still flapping her wings. “What?”

For a second, Rainbow hesitated. “You remind me of so many colts and fillies when they first learn how to fly. So excited, so pumped up for a life of flight. The freedom, the boundless freedom to go wherever you want...it’s breath-taking, isn’t it?”

Dash looked ahead, seeing a great mountain not too far away with a medieval-esque city attached to its side. Then, as the wind breezed by her, she felt a tear stream down her hairy cheek.

She hugged Rainbow.

“Uh...what?”

Dash rubbed her eyes and her nose. “I...I know this is all sudden, but...thank you, me! Thank you for being so awesome and...f-flying with me!”

Rainbow laughed, lightly shoving her aside. “Slow down, buddy! We’ve known each other for less than an hour and you’re already getting emotional over it?”

Dash tried to laugh it off. “S-Sorry, but...I’ve...” sniffed, “I’ve always dreamed of flying and getting recognized for it! Being a pilot in the national aerobatics team was my dream job, but I heard that studying and training to be a pilot aren’t that easy.”

Rainbow gave her other self a tap on the head. “Look. I don’t know what pilot studies are in your world, but...I had to work hard and practice everyday to get a spot in the Wonderbolts, despite being lazy—which I know you are, too!”

Dash flitted a few inches away from her.

“Don’t deny it!” Rainbow said, spreading her forehooves in flight.

Then, rolling back to her side, Dash made a brief chuckle but said nothing.

“It’s not easy,” Rainbow went on, “but it’s worth it in the end. You know this, Dash!”

Dash sniffed. “I...I guess—wow...” she gave Rainbow a hard look. “I’m taking advice from myself and I’m right!”

And both Rainbow Dashes laughed at that, their identical voices blending with each other.

Rainbow ruffled her mane. “Hey, do you know this little indie author who goes by the name of...I don’t know, A.K. Yearling?”

Dash gasped, her irises shrinking in shock. “A. K. Yearling?! Author of the Daring Do series?!”

Rainbow pointed at her, her own irises shrinking, too. “You know her?”

“Know her?!” Dash spun around in the air in joy. “I idolize her!”

Rainbow grinned, rubbing her forehooves together. “You’ve read all the books?!”

“I’m waiting for the next one to come out!”

Then, Rainbow lowered both her brows. “How many books?”

“Seventeen!”

Rainbow grinned again, letting her teeth twinkle under the sun’s light. “Your Yearling’s a bit slow. Here, she’s got twenty.”

Dash squished her cheeks. “Eee!”

“Which is the perfect segue to introduce you to my house!” Rainbow said as she nudged Dash along to a floating cloud home not too far in the horizon.

In the outskirts of Ponyville lay Fluttershy’s cottage which, as usual, was packed with animals. Rabbits and bunnies hopped around by the front path, birds of all different kinds and varieties were perched on both branches and birdhouses, and ducks waddled around on dry land and swarm around in the creek, and that’s without mentioning the other pets hanging around like raccoons, owls, beavers, and one nice bear reading a book.

As the two Fluttershies crossed the land bridge over the little river, Fluttershy craned her head about, seeing the grand diversity of animals moving around with their feet, wings, fins, and what not. “This...this is incredible!”

Flutters nodded, smiling with closed eyes. “Don’t you have your animals?”

Fluttershy blushed. “They’re not really mine.”

Flutters stopped a bit. “Huh?”

“They’re…” and a foreleg swayed around. “Well, most of them are under the care of the local animal shelter. I work there, and I get to spend time with all of them, but pet-lovers like me stop by once in a while and I have to say my goodbyes to them.”

“Knowing that they will have a good owner,” Flutters said as they resumed their walk to the front door. Gesturing with her head towards yet more animals, “Actually, ponies from far and wide sometimes find their best friends here, so it really isn’t all that different.”

“Mm-hmm.”

Flutters opened the door.

And Fluttershy gasped, almost falling backwards.

She saw the room decorated with little homes for the smaller creatures including more birds and some mice who bolted around on the floor and back through their mouseholes. The pegasus looked up and let out an “Ooh!” at the swarm of butterflies overhead, seeing past the cabinets and shelves of feed, medicine, plants, and more. Chirps, hoots, barks, meows, and cock-a-doole-do!—all these sprung up in a symphony of creatures.

Fluttershy held a hoof to her mouth, eyes watering at everything. “It’s so natural! Our house is like this, but this...this is so much more than beautiful!”

“Really?” Flutters raised a brow, looking at her other self in awe. “Pardon me, but I see it as quite modest. It’s not really much when you see where my friends live.” Listing them off with her hoof: “Applejack lives in a big barn surrounded with lots of food, Pinkie Pie lives in a bakery also surrounded with lots of food, Rarity lives on the second floor of a fancy boutique, Rainbow Dash lives in a mansion in the sky, and Twilight...well,” giggled, “you know where she lives.”

“In a castle,” added Fluttershy.

After some shared giggles, the two went over to two green couches by a window through which they can see a dozen trees and a dozen birds fly around. Flutters took the small one, Fluttershy took the big one. As they drank in the warbling melodies both inside and outside, Fluttershy noticed the pillows on her sofa, which contained a stitched pattern of Flutters and some weird mish-mash of a being.

Fluttershy gulped and held up one of those pillows for her other self to see. “Is...is this Discord?”

Flutters nodded, keeping calm. “I’ve noticed that Discord is nothing but a fictional character in your world. You already know who he is here, don’t you?”

Fluttershy nodded back, gently putting the pillow down. “Yes, but...isn’t it weird to be friends with...the spirit of chaos?” Leaning her head to the side, letting her long mane cover half of her face, “What does that even mean?”

Flutters made a little laugh. “That means he has a special kind of magic no one else has, and Twilight calls it ‘chaos magic’.” Spreading her forehooves wide, “With chaos magic, Discord could do anything. He could send you into a different dimension, trap another in a time loop, and turn all the oceans into ice—just because.” Then, rolling her eyes and lightening up: “Sometimes, he may be too over-the-top with his jokes and his pranks, but, inside, he’s really a good guy!”

Fluttershy then cringed, sinking into the back of her couch. “What about the time...before he became a good guy?”

Flutters shivered, but steeled her face. “He…wasn’t pleasant. Discord turned Ponyville upside-down—he made the clouds rain chocolate, forced buffalos to dance like ballerinas, changed rabbits into giraffe-things, and turned us against our true selves.”

“That’s bad!” Fluttershy said in horror, holding up a hoof to her chin.

“Well, we won in the end,” Flutters said, “but what’s even better is that we made him realize why he shouldn’t go the rest of his life without friendship...and he’s pretty much immortal, so living thousands of years without a single friend would be very miserable.”

While trying to fathom the notion of being friends with an immortal, Fluttershy noticed the tea on the table, all prepared. “I didn’t know you made some tea for me.”

Flutters’s eyes widened, noticing the tea just now. “I didn’t, too.”

A poof! between them and Discord appeared, fanning Flutters with a chocolate fan. “Why, yes!” Turning to Fluttershy: “You must be Fluttershy’s doppelganger!” Then, wearing a bow tie and a hat which was also wearing a bow tie, he leaned his head and bowed before her. “It’s an honor to meet you!”

Fluttershy shivered, shaking his claw and noticing the oddities about him: His claw and paw, his horn and antler, his wings of feather and skin, his uneven fangs and eyes. “Um, uh...nice to...meet you!…”

“Psh, please!” Discord poked his teeth with a toothpick—and by toothpick, it was made out of tooth. “I know what you’re thinking right now. You’re scared, you’re terrified, because chaos personified is greeting you face-to-face and you could barely use your wings to flee from me.”

“Discord!” Flutters yelled, glowering down chaos personified.

Discord snapped his claw and dropped a pillow on his friend, then stared at still-shivering Fluttershy. “Anyway, what was I saying?” He stroked his unkempt beard, spraying cologne on it. “Ah, yes—“ and he took out a light bulb from thin air and turned it on by rubbing it. “But, not for now! We’re a bit busy with Big Mac and Spike.” He took out his bow and arrow. “The Golden Sail will not retrieve itself, you know!”

Discord snapped his claw and disappeared again in a poof!

Fluttershy blinked. Then, she looked at Flutters who was inspecting the new pillow with her hooves. “Is Discord always like that?”

“Not always,” Flutters replied, putting the pillow away. “If that were true, he would be predictable and that’s not very chaotic.”

“Is...that so?” Then, shaking her head as she also shook the thought out of her mind, Fluttershy inched towards the tea table.

She saw two pink teacups and a couple of buttered biscuits to accompany them.

Flutters bit the teapot’s handle and poured hot Jasmine tea into Fluttershy’s cup, flooding the cottage with a lovely, flowery aroma.

She was thrilled to be served tea by a pony with wings, and she would have wasted no time to pick up her cup.

If she knew how to hold her cup without breaking it to pieces, that was.

Flutters noticed Fluttershy’s hesitation, seeing her, well, shy away from the table. Bending closer to her other self, she said, “Don’t worry! All you have to do is to hold the plate from the bottom with your hoof.” She demonstrated that by placing her plate with teacup on her hoof. “See?”

Fluttershy gulped and tried to do it, first nudging the plate closer and closer to the edge of the table, her other roof right under to support it. Once the plate and its cup was completely on her hoof, she slowly raised both of them, expecting them to wobble around and fall.

Except they did not. In fact, they held quite well and stable on her hoof.

Flutters gasped, flapping her wings in joy. “You’re doing it!”

Without a word, Fluttershy flapped her wings, too, holding the tea with no fingers to help her.

Flutters poured a cup of tea for herself. Still facing her other self: “Then, with one hoof under the plate, you bring the plate close to your mouth and tip the cup over with your other hoof. It’s...it’s like eating soup from a bowl, but you’re drinking soup...but it’s tea...from a cup, not a b-bowl….”

Fluttershy blinked. “Oh.”

Flutters held up her plate and cup with one hoof. “Follow me very closely.”

So Fluttershy followed her pony self’s actions, bringing the plate and cup close to her mouth and then tipping the cup to her lips with her other hoof. She was rewarded with a flow of delicious tea gushing down her throat.

They were silent, admiring the animals and their sounds, admiring the homely environment around them, admiring the quiet and sumptuous tea.

Admiring their time together.

Then, Fluttershy looked at Flutters, giving her a strange look.

“Uh, what is it?” Flutters asked, noticing that strange look.

“Oh, uh…” Fluttershy gulped, putting down her cup. “It’s just...back in our world, horses are animals, too.”

Flutters perked her ears up. “I’m an animal and I don’t mind. Aren’t we all animals here in a sense?”

“Uh...yes,” Fluttershy replied, “but horses in our world aren’t sapient.”

“I know,” Flutters said. “So?”

Fluttershy looked away. “As much as I treat them with the utmost care and as much as I can talk with them because of my magical powers, I can’t shake off the feeling that, no matter what I do...” looked down on the rug, “they’ll always be a step below us.”

Flutters stood up from her couch and flew to her side. “Oh, Fluttershy. Just because they can’t speak back doesn’t mean they—“

“I know that, too!” Fluttershy interrupted, holding out a hoof. “I...I got o-over that….”

Which made Flutters blurt out a “Huh?”

Fluttershy nodded. “I don’t want to offend you, but...it’s weird, being a pony, being an animal you always took care some of the time. It’s like I’m stepping into their world...but not really their world; more like the world of magical ponies.”

Flutters made a soft smile. “I also find your world weird at times. Your technology sounds like something a science fiction writer would make up! Devices small enough you can carry in your pockets but versatile enough to communicate with your friends instantly and take pictures and videos?”

“And almost everyone in Canterlot City has one,” Flutters said, blushing, “although, honestly, I don’t use it that much outside of texting and messaging my friends.”

“Because you have animals to take care of?” Flutters suggested.

Fluttershy giggled. “How’d you know?”

And both of them laughed at that.

When they wound down, Flutters slouched on the couch. “You know? It’s oddly interesting to talk to another...me…or you….”

Fluttershy smiled. “Me, too.” She scratched her head. “Or was it ‘You, too’?”

Flutters straightened herself, picking up her cup of tea. “To be honest, I assumed that we’d be the same, just with different bodies.” Looking at Fluttershy after sipping her tea: “This morning proved me wrong.”

Fluttershy matched that by sipping her own tea.

“While we are very similar in a lot of things,” Flutters continued, “I’ve noticed the subtle differences that make the both of us unique. For one,” pointing at her other self’s hair: “your mane clip.”

Fluttershy held her hoof to her hair clip. Then, chiming in: “And how you’re...well, older than me.”

“Only by a few years, it seems,” Flutters said. “Doesn’t make you less interesting or less responsible to me.”

Fluttershy blushed. “You don’t have to say that.”

“Oh, don’t feel so immature!” Flutters went on, gesturing around with a hoof. “Did you know? When Twilight was still new in town, Rarity went to a party Pinkie was hosting. You know what she did despite her quest to climb up the social ladder in the world of fashion?”

Fluttershy bent her head in, turning her ears to the side. “What?”

“She wanted to play Pin the Tail on the Pony!”

Fluttershy giggled at that, then stopped herself. “Wait...isn’t that mean?”

“We always share our ups and downs with each other,” Flutters said. “Rarity doesn’t mind, but that’s because we go around and do stuff like that, too. To tell you the truth,” shrinking away, “it took me some time to get over my fears of sharing embarrassing stuff with my friends...mostly because I did not want to contribute to gossip...because gossip’s bad….” Then, gaining more confidence with a deep breath, “However, if we keep it to ourselves, then it’s fine.”

Fluttershy nodded. “Yeah. I agree with—“

The door swung open.

Showing Pinkie Pie holding a couple of balloons tied to her mane. “Hey, Fluttershy!”

Both Fluttershies looked her way.

Pinkie sighed and smacked herself on the face with some cream pie. She then wiped the food out of her face, cleaning it in one swoop. “Um…I mean, that Fluttershy!” and pointed at one of them.

Both Fluttershies looked at each other, exchanging whispers about whom the hoof was pointing at.

Pinkie banged her head on the wall, cracking it. “No...the shy one!”

Flutters raised her hoof. “We’re both...uh...shy...?”

Pinkie scratched her chin, then combed her chin, than used a blow dryer against her chin. “This is a toughie!”

Fluttershy pointed at her mane clip. “Are you looking for—“

Pinkie flung two questionnaires at them, prompting the two Fluttershies to pick it up and see the array of random questions asking for favorite ice cream flavors, most disliked color, and what brand of alarm clock would they prefer if Princess Celestia would gift them one on the last Saturday of the month, among other inquiries.

“I just need to ask permission!” Pinkie said, trotting over to them and scaring some of the mice away. “I’m going to borrow a pillow, a glass of water, ten rubber bands, and some onion chives of an indeterminate number stat!”

Flutters rolled her eyes and pointed at herself. “Then you’re looking for me, Pinkie...you know, the pony who lives here?”

Pinkie took a magnifying glass and inspected Flutters’s face, examining her eyes and her mouth and her snout. Then, storing it back inside her mane, she shook her hoof, saying, “Glad that’s over! So, may I borrow—“

“Yes, Pinkie,” she replied in an amiable tone. “Anything for a friend!”

“Great!”

Pinkie zoomed around, becoming a rushing blur as she swiped everything necessary. Then, she returned to the two Fluttershies, holding everything needed in a single paper bag she balanced on her head. “Alrighty! Thanks!”

“Wait!” Fluttershy said, holding up a hoof.

Pinkie smiled. “Hey, other Fluttershy!”

Fluttershy tilted her head. “Uh, well—“

Pinkie grinned and shook her hoof. “So, what do you need? You want to eat some raw chives?”

“Uh—“

“Here!”

And she shoved some onion chives into her mouth.

Fluttershy chewed on them, felt its strong taste rising up to her nose. She gulped it down, smiling though a little conscious of her bad breath. “They’re...tastier than I remember….”

Flutters rose her hoof, catching Pinkie’s attention. “Um, what Fluttershy meant to say was...why do you need all of that?”

“Restock, silly!” Pinkie said, garnering confused looks from the both of them. “Also, Cotton Candy and I did some brainstorming and we thought we should try a challenge and make a catapult out of the items I just borrowed!”

Both Fluttershies looked at each other, still confused.

“Thanks, bye!”

And Pinkie Pie was out, flying thanks to the balloons tied to her mane.

In the middle of a sweet-smelling grass field situated not too far from Ponyville’s cozy homes, Cotton Candy was occupied with placing tape on snapped twigs and branches, connecting them together to form some kind of structure. She stuck her tongue out as her catapult-making challenge continued in full swing.

Then, Pinkie Pie fell from the sky and landed on all four hooves. “I’m back!”

Cotton Candy jumped up, almost knocking over her wooden progress. “Sweet!”

Pinkie spilled the paper bag’s contents down, somehow not knocking over the glass of water.

“We’re gonna make history here, folks!” Cotton yelled as she grabbed the onion chives and put them on a plastic spoon which served as the catapult’s bucket and arm.

As they were busy crafting their miniature siege weapons, Pinkie looked over to Cotton and asked: “How’s your pony experience so far?”

Cotton grinned, mouth stretched from cheek to cheek. “Great! I could feel all the magic going around even though I’m no pegasus or unicorn—and, for once, it’s great to not have sugar explode when you throw them around like a pitcher.”

“Really?!” Pinkie untied her balloons and put them inside her mane. “I didn’t know you girls had sugar baseball!”

Cotton pointed at her, winking. “Now that you thought about it...why not?!”

“Sugar baseball?” Pinkie said.

“Explosive sugar baseball?” added Cotton.

“Explosive fireworks sugar baseball?” Pinkie added further.

As they continued with their catapult construction, Pinkie said more: “Cotton, if you’re a lot like me…” gulping, her smile fading, “does that mean you also...uh, break down once in a while?”

At hearing the question, Cotton’s smile faded, too. She touched her mane which was curly and puffy like before—for now. “Yeah….”

Then, both of them sat down on the grass, sitting beside each other.

“So...what gets you down?” Pinkie asked, her voice having become a tad sorrowful.

Cotton sighed, studying the grass as it swayed under the light wind. “What happens when I encounter someone who’s clearly in need of cheering up, but refuses my help?” She raised her forehooves only to drop them back to the dirt. “I’ve already met some people like that, and I’ve done my best to turn those frowns upside-down, and most of the time they get happy, but...what if there’s a better way?”

Pinkie rubbed her head. “I’ve met some ponies like them, too.” She bobbed her head to the left and to the right, humming a smile-inducing song. “It depends on the pony. For some, you can step in and try to cheer them up anyway—if you ask around, you’ll find something. For others, stepping in is bad; perhaps they already have friends and...you just have to ask around.” She rolled her eyes. “Trust me. I’ve been to both places and it’s not nice when you’re wrong...but, well, being wrong is a good thing ‘cause we’re always striving to be...you know, to help others with what’s right.”

Cotton sighed again. “What about being too insensitive?”

“Yeah, me, too!” Pinkie said, pointing to herself.

“When other people just think that you’re all bubbles and laughter...” Cotton continued, spinning a hoof about, picking up a few chives. “They think that, since I smile too much, I’m just faking it.” She laughed at herself but that dripped with sarcasm. “Like...you think I’m faking bubbles and laughter since seventh grade?”

Pinkie smiled and pulled her closer. “I can see where you’re getting at.”

Cotton then pulled her closer to her side.

Both of them lied down on the grass, feeling the plants and the dirt on their backs as they rested, facing the blue sky with some clouds passing by.

“It’s comforting to confess your weaknesses to your friends,” Pinkie said. “What I wasn’t banking on was having another me to confess them to!”

“Hey!” Cotton said, poking her on the cheek. “You just took the words straight from my mind!”

The Pinkies smiled at each other, forehooves behind their backs.

“You’re thinking what I’m thinking?!” both of them yelled at each other together.

And they rolled around on the rugged dirt and in the cushiony grass, laughing and giggling at themselves and with themselves.

Zap!

“Agh!” they both screamed as they jumped out and clung to each other, their tongues zig-zagging out of their mouths.

When they got back down, they looked at their work-in-progress catapults and saw that they were burned, reeking of delicious onion smell from the spoon’s chives

Pinkie then slurped her mouth. “Grilled cheese?! Who needs that? We got fried onion catapult!”

Le Premier Cauchemar

“Euagh!”

And Sci-Twi shot up out of bed, seeing a bedroom with a strange lack of features. She looked around her and saw the rest of her friends slumbering and snoozing in their sleeping bags.

“Wh-What?” Twi asked. “W-Was it all just a bad dream?”

Then, she raised a hoof to her glasses.

“Alright...I’m still in the bedroom, so I didn’t sleep inside the library. Hope I didn’t drool on any—”

Felt a strong wind with its gust, sucking her away.

“Wait, no!” reaching a hoof out to her ignorant friends. “Everypo—“

Thud!

“Ugh….”

Silence, eyes closed, seeing noth—

“Twilight.”

“Agh!”

And shot up.

Before her, the statue of a rearing horse.

“Wh-What?”

Looked around her, saw the trimmed grass, the flowers by the paths, the houses across the street.

Saw Canterlot High.

Twi gulped, biting her lip, then looked at her hooves. “H-How come I didn’t change back? Th-This can’t be—“

The statue’s base glowed.

Revealing a humanoid creature stepping out of the portal. With dark wings, ethereal hair, glowing horn and a pair of glasses that looked like a huge menacing mask around her glowing eyes—

“Midnight Sparkle?!” Twi screamed, cowering under her mane. “I-I thought we vanquished you for g-good!”

“Well, you’re wrong!” Midnight yelled, holding a fist to the air as the wind swirled around her, kicking up dust and lightning with zap!’s. “Haven’t I told you I’ll be back?”

“...and that y-you won’t stop until you have all the m-magic?” Twi said, remembering.

Midnight launched into an evil laugh, more lightning and thunder, creating a storm around her.

Twi glowed her horn and pawed the ground. “I don’t fully understand magic yet, but I won’t stop until you’re—“

“Ah-ah!” Midnight said, wagging a finger. Looking down on her, “I’ve noticed you’re a little pony.”

Twi growled. “I’m not little!”

Midnight chuckled. “Little to me, but not for long.”

Snapped her fingers.

And in an instant glow, she became a pony, too, retaining her dark appearance as an alicorn still a little taller than her.

Each step Midnight took forward made Twi’s knees buckle as she tried to back away but finding herself closer and closer to the school’s locked doors.

“That’s the thing about being a part of you, Twilight,” Midnight said, resisting the urge to laugh again. “Every single little thing can be used against you, but the best of it all was your magical curiosity!” She glanced to the side, giving in to a chuckle. “Think about it. Sunset piqued that curiosity of yours a few days ago. That led to some photos from that oh-so magical land of Equestria, and you grew insatiable! It was a happy coincidence that Starlight Glimmer then decided to come by and pay a nice visit—and with her being a native of Equestria, you were able to get more answers about her world, but we all know that just led to more questions.”

Twi gulped, guessing where she was headed next. Sweat dripped to the floor.

“That quest for knowledge, Twilight,” Midnight continued, thunder and wind ravaging the air. “Because of that quest, you wouldn’t leave these questions unanswered.” Then, after stopping to laugh a bit, “I was actually surprised myself when you threw yourself into the portal against Sunset’s will—but the magic I felt!” She gave her a mad glare, the grin teetering on insanity. “Oh, it was within my grasp, but you just had to ruin the fun and leave on the princess’s orders!”

Twi was walking backwards up the stairs, awfully close to the doors now.

“But, I knew that if you went to Equestria once, you’ll do it again.” Midnight glanced to the ground, thinking. “I bided my time...then, I was a lot more surprised when you woke up in Equestria.” Growing that evil grin wide, “However, I’m a patient mare. I left you alone, making sure you were comfortable enough to study magic—but what you’ve read and done isn’t enough for me.”

Twi finally backed up to the doors. She griped at the doors, pawing against it, even pounding her horn but to no avail.

She looked back and saw Midnight’s horn glowing brighter.

“It is time to seize control!” she shouted. “I’ve had enough of waiting, especially when all the magic is right in front of me!” With that, she fired her horn at her.

Then, Twi was glowing.

“Wh-What?!”

Dark wings popped from her torso.

“What?!” as she looked behind her. “Midnight! You can’t do this! You’ll destroy—“

“I. Don’t. Care.”

And then, Twi’s horn cracked then glowed, becoming a horn made of magical light.

Twi closed her eyes, trying to ward her away. “Please! Think about what y-you’re doing!”

“I’ve thought about it,” Midnight said calmly. “It has not changed my mind a single bit.”

And Twi wrested her eyes open, feeling them strange.

She looked at the glass doors to see her reflection.

And saw her cyan, evil eyes.

Turned around to face Midnight. Her frightened face steeling up to one of courage, she declared, “You are not me!”

Midnight chuckled, horn still glowing. “And what makes you think that’ll work the second time?”

“We do!” Sunset’s voice cried out.

Midnight growled.

She whirled around and saw, at the base of the statue, Sunset Shimmer and the rest of her friend—all fifteen of them, with Starlight, Sparkle, and the pairs of the rest of her friends, even the Spikes.

Midnight smiled. “You and what army? What are you going to do? Blast those geodes on me?”

“We got something more than geodes!” Sunset yelled. Then, she looked at Sparkle.

The princess nodded, glowed her horn.

And Twi popped at her side, back to normal. “Wh-Wha—“

A magical necklace materialized around her neck, and then Sparkle’s neck, and the necks of her friends save for Sunset, Starlight, and the Spikes.

Midnight gasped, now backing away and up to the glass doors. “The Elements of Harmony!”

“And we got two of each!” Sparkle shouted back assuredly. “Thanks to the nature of the geodes, they—“

Were zapped.

Fell off their owners.

Broke into pieces.

“Huh?!”

They all looked at Midnight who smirked, lightning rolling around her again. “It was all a fraud, wasn’t it? As if you can bring those shiny things inside a dream, Twi.”

Then, the portal glowed and out came Princess Luna—

Luna screamed as she was pushed back inside as Midnight laughed. Then, glaring at Twi and only Twi: “See you later in your world!” before the ground and reality cracked all the way to the statue, destroying it and forming a floating portal that smelled like rejuvenating coffee—

“Euagh!”

And Twi shot out of bed.

Which was a blanket and a pillow on a table.

First thing she saw was Sunset and Sparkle looking at her worried.

“Th-That was a dr-dream?!” Twi yelled, gasping for that coffee-scented air.

Sunset nodded, ears drooped in horror. “Sounds more like a nightmare to me. What happened?”

Twi bit her hoof. Then: “I...I saw M-Midnight Sparkle...a-and sh-she a-almost t-turned me i-into her! I a-almost turned back into a power-crazed magical...thing!”

Broke into tears, flooding her face wet.

Sparkle and then Starlight, too, trotted to her and embraced her, letting her tears flow.

Meanwhile, Sunset levitated a cup of coffee and put it down on a chair, also floating an encyclopedia from the library’s bookshelf to its side. “Don’t worry, Twi. The important thing is, you defeated her again. Just remember that you’re not her.”

“Y-Yeah,” Twi repeated. “I’m Tw-Twilight Sparkle….”

Sunset sighed and smiled. “See?”

“...but what i-if that w-won’t work forever?!” Twi argued, holding her forehooves up in agony.

“It will work forever!” Starlight insisted. “If all our solutions stopped working after the first time, then we’d have no solutions at all!”

Then, Sparkle saw her other self’s eyes as they reddened, wanting to comfort her other self with some inspiring words, too.

And those eyes briefly glowed blue.

Sparkle took a step back. “Uh, Sunset?”

Sunset took a step back as well. “Yup. I saw that.”

“Saw what?!” Twi yelled, looking behind her.

Sunset gulped. “Your eyes glowing for a second.”

Twi’s irises shrunk. “Why did you remind me of that?!”

And her eyes glowed again for a second.

“OK, stay calm!” Sunset yelled, lowering a hoof down. “All we need you to do is keep remembering that you’re not Midnight Sparkle.” After a deep breath: “You. Are. Twilight. Sparkle. Is that clear?”

Twi nodded, tears still flowing but now only a little more than grunting.

Sparkle took a step forward. “You’re also above Midnight. While she doesn’t care about destroying her world to know what she wants to know, you’re not willing to stoop that low.”

“And you’re emotionally smarter than her,” Starlight added. “I mean, I wasn’t there myself, but she was willing to hurt pretty much everyone that exists in your universe without a single thought to their lives or how they would feel. You, on the other hoof, have that compassion and care for them.” Walking up to her, “She doesn’t have a heart.” Then, placed a hoof on her chest. “You do.”

Twi smiled, then sniffed. “Th-Thank you!”

Sunset then levitated the cup of coffee close to her face. “Now, what about we jog you through before we enter day two of trying to get back?”

After a quick dining hall breakfast that consisted of biscuits, coffee, and pizza, almost everypony was back inside the library, with the Pinkies absent as usual as they hopped around in the castle, serving as jolly guards. The Fluttershies and the Applejacks were back near the door, the Rarities were brushing up on their magic skills, the Spikes stood by their Twilights as they waited for anything to happen, and the unicorns plus the princess were studying intensely by the portal, tearing through volume upon volume. The Rainbow Dashes, now that the library was clean for the time being, hung out by the door with the others.

“So, how are they doing?” Sunset asked, noticing the glowing letters on Sparkle’s journal.

“Wait, hold on.” Sparkle held a hoof up as she read. Then: “The principals were able to lower the moon and raise the sun to bring on today.”

Starlight clapped her hooves. “That’s good news, right?”

“Not really,” Sparkle said, facing her with a solemn attitude. “The more they use their magic, the faster their world will break apart.”

“Then I’ll take that back!” and Starlight returned to studying a book about multiverses and ten dimensions.

Then, more letters glowed on to the page.

“What does it say?” Twi asked, leaning over the table to see for herself.

Sparkle read through, then her eyes widened. “Wait, wait...the Canterlot School Board says that they’ll continue classes today?!”

“What?!” cried out Sparkle and Sunset together.

And their same-dimension friends, too.

Sparkle held the book close to her eyes. “According to them, the strange cold is no cause for concern, and that, if there are any absences, they would most likely be at the minimum—it is only a milder case of the flu, they said.”

Starlight’s gave her friend an odd look. “Suddenly going vegan is no cause for concern? I’m not buying that.”

“They’ve always been kinda’ lenient,” Sunset explained, then with her ears folding back behind her hair, “though I didn’t expect them to be this lenient.”

Twi gasped, floating her glasses out of the way. “But, how would they start classes in Canterlot High? The principals are in no capacity to facilitate the opening ceremonies!”

“We’ve got Cheerilee,” Sunset mentioned. “They probably sent a note to her.”

“But they’ll see that the principals are nowhere to be found!” and Twi flailed her hooves about. “They’ll start asking questions, and—”

“She’ll say they’re sick,” Sunset continued. “If anything else, she can think of that excuse in five minutes.”

Sparkle levitated a book down to the table. “The question is, how long can she keep the excuse plausible? There’s got to be more ponies out there than just the two of them!”

Then, more letters glowed into appearance.

Sparkle glowed it back up to her eyes, almost planting the pages on her eyes. “And just when I was talking about them!”

And everyone looked at her, ready to hear the names there as the letters popped in.

“Alright,” she began before clearing her throat. “Celestia somehow texted everyone in the know. She’s already gotten a list of people-turned-ponies”

“What if someone intercepts the text?!” Twi screamed and yanked Sparkle off of her book, pushing and pulling her in and out.

“Can you keep it down?!” Rainbow hollered from her table, hanging with a raised hindleg on the surface.

“How can I keep it down?!” Twi shouted back, hyperventilating again. “I can’t keep it down ‘cause our friends are turning into ponies and magic’s acting up like never before, and I wanted to go here just to relax and to study magic, but no! It turns out I can’t even get a break in the vacation of a lifetime because we have to fix this!” and breathed slowly through her teeth, failing absolutely in her little adventure to calm down.

“Uh, sugarcube?” AJ asked from afar, about to get up from her chair. She put her hat down. “I don’t think yer’ OK.”

Sparkle trotted up to her other self and pat her on the head, putting the glasses back on her. “Just sit back, Twi.” She levitated the journal to where they could both read it. “What’s the worst that could ha—what?!”

And almost fell off her chair before Starlight surrounded her with a glow right before the floor. Lifted back up, she did not say thanks to Starlight, focused as the princess was on the list.

“OK, Twilight Sparkle,” she said to herself—not her other self, but herself. “Take your own advice and sit back. This isn’t the worst that can happen...it could’ve been far worse, Twilight, it could’ve been far—”

“But it’s bad, huh?” Starlight quipped, raising a brow.

Twi took a glimpse of the list, then frowned in despair. “It’s very bad.” Nudging Sunset and making her look, “We’ve got: Lyra, Vinyl Scratch, Sunny Flare, Sour Sweet—”

“Crystal Prep?” Sunset blurted out loud, glancing at the portal and half-wishing that it was back online. “Hope they’re taking this in stride.” Then, looking at Twi: “Does Principal Cadance know?”

And another word glowed into the list.

Both unicorns gasped together at this new word. “Cadance, too?!”

“Which completes the alicorn group in your world,” Sparkle said with a sigh. “Don’t know how she’s faring there, but if she can’t get a hold of her magic...” and furrowed her brows, “one possibility is subjecting half the city under a love poison!”

And Sunset jumped out of the chair and lunged straight to the portal.

Only to hit herself on the head and give herself another bruise.

Rarity and both Fluttershies propped up their fallen friend, bringing her back to the table with a careful amble. Starlight stepped forward to help her, too, but she refrained.

“Can you ask if the statue’s fixed already?!” Twi yelled at her other self, more tense than angry.

“Wait!” Sparkle yelled back, her head throbbing under the stress and the pressure. “She’s not done with the list and—”

More words appeared. That’s all.

Sunset, Starlight, Sparkle, and Twi looked at those words and breathed a collective sigh of relief.

...as far as I know of, continued the words.

The Twilights then hyperventilated together, breathing fast and with panic in their dilated eyes.

Starlight could not help but chuckle at the amusing sight. Sunset could help by giving her a glare intimidating enough to make Starlight stop.

“Sorry!” Starlight whispered before reverting to a nervous expression.

Then, Sunset looked at the two Twilights still wheezing quick. “Uh...look on the bright side?”

“What bright side?!” both Twilights yelled side by side.

“Um—”

“What if there are more ponies out there but in hiding?” Sparkle asked, pointing a careless hoof at the busted portal.

“Trixie was showing off real magic in our world!” Twi yelled, also pointing there. “I’m not surprised if she’s a pony, too! She’s probably going to school without knowing that the situation could blow up any minute because of her!”

“And what if those ponies can’t use phones?!” Sparkle added, speech tottering on the jittery. “I can see how hooves can slide screens, but how can they press the tiny little buttons on the keypad? They’ll be helpless with no way to communicate to Celestia!”

“And what if they start turning into ponies in the middle of class?!” Twi yelled. “If they can’t control that, it’ll be pure chaos!”

Sunset raised her brow and pointed a hoof. “But is Floral Week a go?”

“That’s what she wrote seven minutes ago!” Sparkle said, though turning a page back to make doubly sure.

“Which means,” Twi began, slightly cooling off, “on one hand, they’ll start in the afternoon so that’s more time for us before everyone starts noticing the discrepancies. On the other hand...it’s Floral Week!” With one final wheeze: “Flowers are everywhere!”

Sunset left her mouth hanging open. “OK, I can see why that’s gonna be a problem.”

“Then you’re thinking about how they’ll eat the flowers,” Sparkle said. Then, checking the clock hidden underneath the table, “We have until...what time, Sunset?”

“Three,” she replied as calmly as possible.

Twi stared down at the floor in troubled thought. She whispered, “That’s when we’re supposed to be h-home.”

“Can you slow down?!” Starlight said, raising a hoof and unable to hear the whisper. She got more attention by slamming her book closed as the glow dissolved. “Even I can’t keep track of all this!”

“Our world is at stake!” Twi yelled, nerves bulging. “I can’t keep track of myself!”

And her friends looked at her.

Silence. Only silence in those looks.

Then, they slowly drifted to her.

“Twilight?” Fluttershy asked, hovering over to her and then closing her wings. “Are you really sure you’re OK?”

“How could I be OK?!” Twi shouted, her friends gathering around her now.

Rarity placed a hoof on her shoulder. “We’ve always saved the world, darling, even when it seems too late. No reason to start doubting now.”

“An’ if our other selves can stop huge monsters or turn ‘em into friends like seven times a year,” AJ said, “then you can count on us stoppin’ this thing, too,” and flourished it with a hoof swing.

Twi smiled, her eyes becoming wet with tears again.
Dash floated down to her level. “You got us, Twilight! We won’t turn tail on ‘ya!”

“And we mean it!” Spike said, running to her side.

They all embraced each other, Sci-Twi the center of that warm hug. Memories rushed in, of the dream, of that final stand before the statue in that nightm—
The journal glowed. More letters were written on it.

Everyone directed their attention there, even the other ponies and the other Spike, as Sparkle read the update.
And shouted, “Cheerilee?!”

In the other world, Cheerilee stopped, shocked at what she saw in the library.

Two alicorns, the blue one sleeping and the white one floating a journal above the table.

Celestia looked at the teacher with a quiet gasp, glittering under the sunshine.

Cheerilee stepped back, hands raised. “I-I must be dreaming!”

“Dear Cheerilee,” Celestia began, slowly trotting to the startled woman, “you must understand—”

“Celestia, is that you?!” Cheerilee yelled, pointing at her.

And then, Luna roused from her sleep. She hopped up to her four hooves, and then: “What have I missed?”

“Luna?!” and the teacher made one step back, looking left and right in the hallway with only the lockers behind her.

“Cheerilee,” Celestia called, moving forward, “there is a perfect explanation for this.”

“Yes, there should be!” Cheerilee screamed. She looked at her hands, then came her final conclusion: “I’m seeing things!”

Celestia tilted her head. “Let’s roll with that.” Smirking, “Did you drink lots of caffeine lately?”

The teacher nodded, eyes mad at not comprehending the figure before her. “Why, yes, Miss Unicorn Celestia! Shall I take leave now while I go cook the papers for dinner?”

Luna blinked. “What do you say?”

“Oranges have pulp and so do paper!” Cheerilee slurred, stumbling in a tired stagger.

Then, Luna noticed her horn glowing. “Wait, wha—”

And Cheerilee fell, hitting her head with a bang! against the lockers.

Unconscious.

Celestia looked at Luna and then her glowing horn. “Sister, did you just knock her into sleep?”

Luna said nothing, seeing the snoring Cheerilee. Then, speaking up, “If that proveth truth then that means I have recklessly handled a pony’s life!”

“Wait, ‘a pony’s—’”

And Cheerilee glowed.

The alicorns galloped, moving out of the library and into the hall to get closer.

With the glow gone, there lay Cheerilee, a purple Earth pony. She was still sleeping, still snoring.

Celestia and Luna looked at each other, taking a long pause.

“Permission to move the body, sister?” Luna asked, breaking the silence.

“You may have such permission,” Celestia answered.

Luna levitated the sleeping body up and brought her inside the library.

“What’s the context?!” Starlight blabbed, flipping through the pages with her horn yet unable to find anything past the word Cheerilee.

“Nothing,” Sparkle said, grabbing the book back with her own magic. “The only thing there is that it’s the last word and nothing more.”

Twi gasped yet another time. “What if it’s just another addition to the list? Cheerilee’s a pony now, isn’t she?!”

“But Celestia would’ve added it to the list here,” Sunset said, putting her hoof on the people-turned-ponies list on the correct page. “She could’ve been interrupted; maybe trying to tell us that Cheerilee would cover for them.”

“...or maybe it’s a warning!” Twi yelled, hooves stretching her mane

Starlight cleared her throat. “Twilight, I know this is getting ugly—”

“But Cheerilee’s there!” Twi interrupted. “She’s gonna...she’s gonna—”

Her eyes snapped open.

Twi blinked. “She’s smart. She knows what’s going on without even knowing it.” Then, turning to Sunset: “Cheerilee was there when you showed us the pictures, wasn’t she?”

Sunset scratched her chin, looking up. “Now that you said it, Cheerilee was present but she was working at the other side.”

“—secretly eavesdropping on us!” Twi proclaimed, putting a forehoof on the table. “And to think about her next move...notify the school board? Talk to the county commission? Call the president?!” Then, rubbing her head, “Not even international organizations are gonna stop this—they’ll figure out the sun’s going around the Earth thanks to our principal and they’ll bow down to her, and it’s gonna be my—”

Was hugged by Sunset, Sparkle, Starlight, and Spike, panic attack suppressed only to be replaced by her tears at another display of friendship.

While everyone walked up to her to comfort the broken mare, they did not notice her eyes flashing blue and a short-lived shadow escaping from them and into the mirror.

How to Burn Your Monday in One Hour

Bzzt!

“Agh!”

And Sunset was awake, eyes dilated as she spun her head around and seeing things all a blur.

Then, eyes focusing and clearing up, she saw Pinkie beside her, holding a fresh pair of defibrillator paddles.

Sunset tilted her head at that. “Did you just—“

“Yup!” Pinkie said, using her mane to hold them up. “Who knew getting ponies back up was so easy!”

Sunset’s eyes dilated further. “It can’t possibly be that easy. You could’ve killed me!”

Pinkie laughed nervously. “Must be my Pinkie Sense!”

Sunset raised a brow. “But your Pinkie Sense shouldn’t be strong enough to do—“ and smacked a hoof on her temple. “No, no, no, no!”

Went to her four hooves, looked around.

While most of the magical flowers had been left alone, everything else was being unhinged. With so many ponies either panicking and running around or doing something to alleviate the damage, there was not a single bipedal creature in sight. Familiar faces had become new: there was Cheerilee the purple Earth pony counseling Photo Finish and Sandalwood though she was trembling as well; several police ponies were doing their best to defuse the situation but to no luck as they tripped on their hooves and dropped their now-inadequate hand cuffs; the soccer team either stayed put on the ground or crashed around with their brand new wings as pegasi, Soarin breaking through a school window snout-first.

Sunset’s eye twitched, ears drooping as she almost succumbed to hyperventilating. She pulled Pinkie to her face. “Is there anyone left? What’s happening beyond Canterlot? Any emergency news? Is it too late?!”

Pinkie gulped, shifting her eyes about, trying to buy more time. “It’s not too late, but..“ brought a phone up to her face.

It was broadcasting a live news report straight from Changeling City, the newsman all dressed up in suit and bow tie while chaos continued behind him as colorful changelings flew overhead and almost swiped him off—crash! as a store window was demolished by a particularly green one with antlers. “...with Micro Chips, a student from Canterlot High—woah!” and was nearly caught up into the air by the green one’s brother who blurted out, “Sorry there!” Visibly shaken, the anchor looked over the camera man’s shoulder and continued, gripping the microphone with dread, “This student broke the news via his MyStable feed right before the magical manifestations appeared all over the world….”

Pinkie put the phone down, giving Sunset a solemn face. “I don’t think we have much time left.”

Sunset galloped past Pinkie, moving to the statue’s broken base and the swirling portal—

Saw Twilight Sparkle moaning, resting on the ground as the principals looked after her along with the rest of her friends.

Sunset gasped, approaching her. “Twilight, are you OK?!”

Celestia brought a hoof to Sunset. In a somber mood: “She is quite alright. She’s almost done recovering.”

Sunset hesitated, looking down on her semi-conscious state. “So she’s back?”

“Most likely,” replied Luna.

As Twilight’s friends remained silent, watching her.

Sunset looked at Celestia. “A-Are you detecting a-anything?!”

Celestia nodded. “I and my sister can feel the magic spreading at an alarming rate. It’s already taken over most of the city, although there are a few who have not yet changed.”

“How far is it going?!” Sunset screamed.

“It’s gotten the whole country,” Rarity answered, stepping a hoof away from Twilight. “There’s reports of people turning into yaks, griffons, zebras, buffalo, two-legged cats—“

Sunset stomped her hoof on the ground, cutting Rarity short.

“Wuh?!” as Twilight shot up from her slumber, standing up on her hooves. “What happened? D-Did we win?”

And everyone was looking at Twilight, relieved that she was not a rampaging monster right now.

Fidgeting her hoof around, Sunset continued, “Let’s hurry up! We need to overpower the portal—“

And Sunset’s geode glowed.

So did everypony else’s.

They all looked at their glowing geodes.

Looked at the swirling portal.

Felt weightless as they were slowly lifted from the ground by the overwhelming magic of their geodes.

Celestia and Luna stepped back, beholding their students rising in the air. With a shaky hoof directed at them all, Celestia said,“I-Is that—“

“—the part where we’re going to save the day at the very last second?” Pinkie said, acting up and unmindful of her lack of personal gravity. “Absolutely-tootely! Next time, we’ll cut it down to the last millisecond, then the last microsecond, then the last yoctosecond—“

“We’ve got better things to do, Pinkie!” yelled Sunset as she pointed at the swirling portal.

As their geodes glowed brighter.

An idea struck Sunset in the head, making her turn to the principals below. “Celestia, Luna! Fly up here and fire all your magic at the portal!”

“A-All?” Celestia stammered, placing a hoof to her chest. “But what about the illusory sky? They’re going to—“

“Everything will be back to normal!” Sunset shouted, emotion welling up in her eyes as memories of her time in this world raced in—“Just go!”

And Celestia and Luna hovered, flapped their wings, powered up their horns and blasted continuous beams at the portal.

It swirled faster, the thunder roaring as lightning zapped out.

Sunset looked at everyone else around her, half-closing her eyes at the colorful glare of their geodes. There was barely anyone else nearby—only them and those brave few who stayed behind.

“Spike!” Twilight screamed, re-noticing Spike who had backed up to the school’s brick walls. “Get away from here!”

Spike saluted her. “Sure th-thing!” and he ran down the the path and into the school’s front hall.

Sunset gulped.

Portal fiercely swirling, lightning shooting past her mane and almost singing it.

Closed her eyes.

Then: “Light ‘em up, ladies. This is now or never.”

Her friends exchanged one last look with each other.

Nodded their heads.

They charged up their geodes, then fired their magic into the portal.

The portal swirled faster, faster, faster into a blur—

Sunset turned back, then saw the magical flowers fade back to normal. “I-It’s working!”

The broken window repaired itself, the clouds slowing down to normal speed—

A few ponies turning back into people who then looked at themselves, wondering how it happened but still thankful.

Now teachers and students were watching the magical light spectacle before them, though some were already headed for the doors.

“A-Almost th-there!” Twilight shouted, stretching out her hooves as the magical beams continued and—

“Twilight!”

Her eyes glowed blue. “N-No!”

Rainbow Dash glanced at her. “Wait, wha—“

A shadowy figure tackled Twilight to the ground.

“Twi!” everyone screamed.

Down there, Twilight Sparkle was punching and kicking none other than Midnight Sparkle herself, now a truly real persona with equally real terror in her appearance.

Midnight shot a beam at her, searing pain on her enemy’s knees. “Genius of you to start doubting yourself at the critical moment!”

Twilight shuddered, moaning under the anguish, struggling to stay standing. “H-How c-could you be here?!”

Midnight chuckled, then shot another beam at her, making her buckle down with double the pain on double the knees. “Simple! You said you’re not me, and you’ve said it so many times that I thought, ‘Why not?’ So, I took your advice and became my own pony!”

Twilight’s eyes shrunk, realizing that Midnight had escaped her mind and into the real world.

“Why should I tether myself to you?” Midnight asked, stepping closer to her with a crashing stomp each time. “You may be smart, but you are so nervous, so anxious about everything. I’m surprised you could do anything, really.” Then, raising a hoof and readying her glowing horn with one more beam, “Why be bothered with the little things when you can do away with them? You’ll be free to study magic without anyone to stop you!”

“Well, you’re wrong!” yelled Sunset.

“Wha—“

And was consumed with the full power of geode magic, engulfed in the increasing glow until it was blinding.

A deafening scream, and she was out, not a single trace of her left.

Twilight blinked, looking at where her evil self had been.

Her geode glowed again, floated her back up to her surprise—“Aah!”—and fired its beam at the portal.

“Come on!” Sunset screamed, struggling as the combined sounds tuned out everything else. “There’s still time—“

And all went white.

Nothing.

Then, chirping voices, muddied noises. A feeling of something soft but rough on her back, lying down. Head moving back and forth, trying to wake up.

“Sh-Should we tell her?” came Fluttershy’s quiet voice.

Behind that, someone crying, someone mourning.

Eyes flitting back open. Saw something blue and big. Probably the sky—maybe a blue ceiling that looked a lot like the sky. A bit of white sped through and was gone.

Another blink cleared up Sunset’s vision.

Sure enough, it was the sky.

“Did we do it?” asked Sunset in a frightened voice, unprepared.

“Um...” was Twilight’s very short and very basic reply.

Sunset paused, refusing to pry her eyes away from the sky. “That doesn’t sound good.”

Pinkie’s pony face came into view, dampened with a frown. “It doesn’t.”

“Yah!”

Sunset jumped up to her two feet—no, her four hooves.

She saw her friends and the principals, too, still ponies and looking at her with worry. Spike was also there, still a dragon as he tapped his claws’ fingers in restless waiting. Behind the princesses, the portal remained. It had calmed down to a normal swirl, but it was still operational.

Sunset shuddered. “It...it d-didn’t work?” but, without waiting for an answer, she spun her head around to see the school proper.

Everyone was still a pony, even the ones who had returned to normal for a while. They were all looking at her, demanding an answer from their friend.

Then, she looked at herself, noting her hooves, mane, tail, snout, ears, cutie mark….

Sunset turned around, stared at her friends dumbly with an open mouth.

They were all staring back at her.

Then, the portal flashed white as a figure came out.

It was Princess Twilight Sparkle.

She was not smiling, nor did she have the smug face of determination. She just looked straight at her friends. “Everypony?”

Twi raised a hoof. “No need, Sparkle.”

Sparkle’s ears drooped, wanting to walk forward but now having second thoughts. “So you know what,” made a huge gulp, “happened.”

Twi lowered her head. “Yes.”

Sunset took a step back, the need to breathe coming up on her. “We didn’t do it?”

Sparkle nodded. She took out her journal, showing the sun symbol emblazoned on its cover. “See this?”

She dropped it to the ground.

Sparkle kept looking at Twi, ignoring the book before her. “It’s o-over, Twi.” Sniffled.

Twi placed a hoof to her eye. She sniffled, too, and glanced away from her other self.

Sparkle trotted up to her.

Gave her a hug.

Sunset whimpered, eyes welling

Both Twilights cried on each other’s shoulder.

Everyone looked at the crying duo, tears blotching their faces and their coats.

Fluttershy placed a hoof over her mouth and snout, trying to hide her own whimpers but failed as she exploded into an outburst of tears.

“Wh-What a-are you saying?!” Rarity yelled, supporting Fluttershy’s sudden fall to her hooves. “A-Are you saying we’re ponies forever?”

Sunset nodded, yanking her in for a miserable hug with her brand of liquid gloom.

Rarity wrested away from her, then looked at the still crying Sparkle. “B-But you’re smart! C-Couldn’t you at least think of another way out?!”

Sparkle whispered something to Twi, then glanced at Rarity. Against her tears: “We tried, b-but the connection’s locked!”

Sunset gasped, the hug out of her mind for a second. “S-So...this w-world is going to stay this way until the end of time?”

Sparkle nodded. “Y-Your plan was fantastic—and then Midnight Sparkle came in.” She looked away, wincing as another tear came into view, fogging her sight. “The portal was given too much time, and then it w-went and sped up everything. Magic is so welded to the fabric of this reality now, even trying to remove it would destroy parts of its spacetime...l-like removing tape too strong from paper too weak!”

Sunset’s ears drooped, seeing Sparkle return to Twi to cry some more.

Rarity swelled with blubbers, going down on her four knees. “B-But I had a future! To grow old with all of you, have a good clothes store, and marry the man of m-my dreams!”

“Well, at least you’ll have us,” Sparkle said, smiling despite the sorrow. Then, the smile vanished. “But, the rest of your dreams won’t be the same.”

Rarity gasped, horrified at the thought of making cumbersome equine dresses and seeing that man as the unicorn of her dreams now. Flustered at Sparkle, she growled. “To think you can just waltz in and—“

Sunset blocked her path with a hoof. “Rarity, calm down!”

Rarity stopped, took in a huge breath which bulged her cheeks.

Then calmed down into grieving as the tears ruined her mascara, bringing on a black stream from her eyes.

Pinkie Pie also exploded into a stream of tears, crying beside the two alicorns who wrapped each other with a wing, holding each other close as their own tears flowed, too, in hushed sobs, the cosmos and that grand idea of immortality dawning upon them in stormy clouds. Even Spike and Rainbow Dash were on the verge of opening the floodgates; they stayed close, battling the instinct to cry.

And Sunset Shimmer looked on at the sky.

Seeing nothing but the blue horizon, the yellow sun, and a white cloud zipping around like a paper airplane.

Around her, chaos was only beginning. Earth ponies were suddenly growing plants as they ran, pegasi were crashing into people’s homes—no, ponies’ homes—and unicorns were issuing out magical beams every ten minutes or so with various side effects.

As the phone still on the ground regained an internet connection, picking up the broadcast again.

“….Wh-What’s that?! Are you telling me all of us have turned into these creatures? It’s not j-just the crew? The sun’s revolving around the Earth? And magic’s a thing now?! You’re kidding me, right?”

“Dude, you’re a changeling.”

“Don’t tell me that! Just let me pick up my micro—“

Thud!

“Oh, that’s right. No fingers! How are we supposed to report the news?!”

“...didn’t we report the news in front of a live audience just now?”

“In an unprofessional environment!”

A frustrated pause. “We became colorful flying bugs in a city burning to the ground as we speak, and you’re talking about being professional?!”

“Agh!”

Thud!

Mumbles and murmurs. Orders given to secure this or that item.

“And help me get out of here! How do insect horses move around, anyway?!”