Hands, Hooves, and Hourglassesby LifebinderChaptersAn Unexpected JourneyLyraRarityLunaAn Unexpected JourneyA loud crash was all it took to wake Spike from his dream-vacation with Rarity. The thunderous sound had come from the library, where he knew Twilight Sparkle had been practicing some new magic, but she had said it was perfectly safe. He’d never hear the end of it from Princess Celestia if Twilight wound up injured. Wiping the haze from his scaly eyelids, Spike found his way downstairs. An orange miasma faintly permeated the room, and stung Spike’s nostrils with its acrid smell. “Uh…Twilight?” Through the fog, a distracted voice came through. “In a minute, Spike. I think I almost had it.” As the cloud dissipated, Spike saw the purple unicorn standing in the middle of the library, its books in ghastly disarray. “Wow Twilight. Did you have one of your Dewey Decimal Nights again?” Spike asked. Twilight, already rummaging through piles of now-slightly-charred books, responded absently, “What? Oh – no, I was just practicing the time travel spell.” “You mean the one you cast that made you go insa- I mean, had you worrying over nothing for a week?” Spike asked incredulously. “Actually, yes,” Twilight responded matter-of-factly, still searching the piles of books for something. “I realized my fault last night – I had interacted with the past! I’m sure nothing could go wrong if I went farther back, but just to make sure nothing went wrong, I came up with a – AHA!” She pulled from the pile a smoldering piece of parchment. Spike noted to his chagrin it was the last piece of letterhead he normally used for sending word to Canterlot. Twilight trotted over and thrust the page in front of Spike. She looked as pleased with herself as Spike had ever seen her. “I came up with this.” All Spike could see were some pentagrams, a constellation, some words too big to pronounce, and a technical drawing of a sphere. “What is it?” Twilight knew she’d have to explain it more clearly. “It’s an isolation sphere! Anypony inside is rendered unnoticeable to those outside. You could even walk through it and never know it was there.” Twilight took the page back, studying it for errors. “I want to use it to go actually see history as it happens…but to do that, I have to put the sphere in place before I cast the time travel spell – don’t want to risk somepony seeing me as I appear in their time.” Spike looked incredulous. “So what’s the problem?” “The problem is it takes too much concentration to hold the sphere AND cast the time spell. I need another unicorn to cast the sphere, and then I can just transport both of us easily.” Spike looked away, but Twilight could see his cheeks flushing slightly as he said “Well, uh, what about Rarity?” Twilight chuckled softly to herself at the suggestion. She knew Spike had a crush on the fashionable unicorn, but it never ceased to amaze her when he tried to insert her into plans for the sake of seeing her. Still, Rarity had proved herself capable enough with magic to cast the isolation sphere. “Good idea, Spike. Why don’t you go ask her for me while I clean up? But first, I need to tell Princess Celestia of my discovery. Spike, take a letter.” “Uh Twilight…” he said, looking disappointedly at the last piece of parchment. * * * “Ugh Twilight! We've been at this for hours. Can't we take a break?” Rarity slumped onto the floor, and levitated a glass of water over to herself. Twilight looked quickly at the clock. “Eight hours isn't that long, Rarity. Besides, you're doing so well. I couldn't even see your hooves on that last try.” In truth, Twilight had been practicing all day every Saturday for the last month. Rarity had at first been reluctant to try her hoof at what seemed, at first blush, to be a very complicated and dangerous spell. But Twilight had won her over with something even the posh pony could not resist – the chance to give Twilight a makeover. Celestia knows the bookish filly could use it. Today had been the most trying day yet, however. Rarity's attention was elsewhere, it seemed. Twilight decided a change of tactics was in order. While Rarity was nursing her water – and her pride, Twilight slipped into the back to find Spike. She found him, of course, right behind the door, listening with solemn intent. Twilight cleared her throat, and he screamed in fright. “Everything alright, deary?” Rarity called from the next room. Twilight didn't respond. Instead, she addressed the diminutive dragon directly. “Spike, I need you to go find Pinkie Pie, and bring her back here.” “Aw, do I have to?” he whined. He pushed himself away from the door finally, and pulled out a large sapphire. “I was just about to have lunch.” “I'm sure you can chew and walk at the same time, Spike,” Twilight laughed. “Besides, I need Pinkie Pie to help cheer Rarity on. And if Rarity knew you did that for her...” Twilight let the thought sink in, and already she saw the gears turning in his head. In the blink of an eye, Spike shoved the gem in his mouth and gulped it down. Before Twilight could even ask if he had chewed, a short green and purple blur zoomed out of the house, the door slamming on his way out. When Spike returned an hour later, Twilight was flabbergasted. Pinkie Pie was in tow, of course, but so were Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and Lyra, of all ponies. “Spike?” she questioned curiously. “Well, I found Pinkie playing with the animals at Fluttershy's. On our way back, we ran into Applejack and Rainbow Dash in town.” Lyra's head bobbed up from the back of the small herd. “I just saw Spike leading them all here. I wanted to see what the hubbub was all about.” “Which is what ah'd like to know, sugar cube,” Applejack piped. Twilight explained, in as simple words as she knew (which was still probably too complex), about the time travel spell, and the isolation sphere, and how Rarity had agreed to help. “Well what are we waiting for? Let's take this thing for a spin!” Rainbow Dash cried. Twilight cleared her throat. “Ahem. I’ve officially dubbed it ‘the Thaumaturgical Applied Retractable Dimensional Isolation Sphere’. And I agree, Rainbow Dash. We should totally try it out right now.” She took a measure of salt and made a large circle on the floor. “Everypony, inside the circle." Everyone filed inside, carefully stepping over the salt, chatting quietly to each other. Fluttershy, always hesitant about new magic, fluffed her wings, and broke the salt circle. “Oh my…” she whispered. Twilight, who till then was still outside the circle, stepped over to comfort the bright yellow pegasus. “Don’t worry, Fluttershy,” she chuckled. “The salt doesn’t actually do anything –it just let everyone know where to stand.” “Thank heavens. I’m scared to think of what might happen if I’d disrupted the spell.” Spike was the last to step over the salt, and as he did so, Rarity began casting the spell. A translucent bubble appeared at the tip of her horn, and quickly expanded outward, quickly encompassing Rainbow Dash, standing next to Rarity. When she tried to push it farther, however, the bubble began to gleam with more colors than the blue pegasus’ mane, before suddenly popping like a soap bubble against a straight pin. Rarity slumped down again. “Darling, I told you. I just don’t have your fantastic talent for magic. You know my passion has always been the magic of” – Rarity lightly flipped her mane – “fashion.” Twilight shook her head and looked back at her diagrams. “No, that’s not it. It’s a simple spell. I think the real problem is that there’s just not enough power for 7 ponies and a dragon,” she said, playfully mussing the scales on Spike’s head. Lyra chimed in, “I'm sure I could lend some magic to help Rarity with the...whatchacallit.” A faint aura surrounded Lyra’s horn, and a thick band of energy arced from the tip of her horn to Rarity’s. Rarity tried the spell once again. This time the bubble ballooned out to past Applejack and Pinkie Pie before it, once again, popped in an instant. “Oh my…Twilight, could you help, too, I mean, if you can?” Fluttershy asked. But Twilight was once again looking over her notes. She finally shook her head in frustration. “It will take all the power I have to cast the time travel spell. No, we need one more unicorn.” “We could have Spike send Princess Celestia a letter,” Pinkie Pie offered. “I even have some wedding cake stashed away for her – for cake-related emergencies.” Dutifully, she reached into a nook on the wall, and pulled out a piece of white cake, inexplicably still fresh, months after the wedding of Twilight’s brother and her former foal sitter. Twilight brushed her curiosity about Pinkie Pie’s powers aside for the moment. “She’d take too long to get here. Girls, I’ll be right back. I’m off to go find another unicorn.” She had reached the door, when a booming voice shook the library-house. “Would an alicorn be sufficient, Twilight Sparkle?” Princess Luna gracefully landed just in front of the doorway, her grand wings slowing her descent. Luna’s onyx coat gleamed in the waning sunlight, and her mane seemed to sway, even without a breeze. Alicorns are such an enigma, Twilight thought, even after spending years as the Princess’ student. “We’re sure that, whatever you need unicorn magic for, our magic can certainly substitute.” “Well thank you Princess. But what brings you to Ponyville?” Twilight responded, perplexed. As smart as she was, she couldn’t figure out why the moon goddess decided to pay her a visit. “You do, in fact, Twilight. You wrote last month to our sister of your enhanced time spell. It was our wish – our hope – that you might show us some of what we missed when we were…absent.” Twilight’s heart melted a bit. She and the others, minus Lyra, had been the ones to stop Nightmare Moon from wreaking havoc on Equestria, and redeemed her to Princess Luna. Twilight agreed that it was only their responsibility to help rehabilitate her. “Of course we can, Princess – only don’t be so formal. It’s just us.” She motioned to the group just inside the door, who by this time were gathered behind the door, peeking out. As Luna entered, the other ponies backed away, allowing her a wide berth into the home. Lyra, unsure of how to act in front of such royalty, kneeled on one leg. The rest bowed their heads dutifully. Pinkie Pie, however, was a different story. “OHMYGOSHLunaitssogoodtoseeyouhowisPrincessCelestiaAreyouadjustingtolifebackinEquestriaHowareyouupatthishourareyoujustloadedwithsugarordoyoujustprefertobeupatnightdontyouhavetoraimhfffmmhmfmmmfmmhmffm,” said the pink earth pony, before Applejack covered Pinkie's muzzle with a hoof. “Ah'm sure when we have the time, the Princess can answer all our questions. Innat right, Princess?” “Indeed, Applejack. We – I – will take all inquiries when we have finished...whatever you need me for.” “Oh!” remarked Twilight. “As it happens, you're just in time. We were trying the time travel spell just as you arrived...but we needed more magic for The Applied Retractable Dimensional Isolation Sphere.” Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. “Twi, you really need a better name for this bubble. Like an acronym or something.” Twilight pretended not to hear the pegasus's comment. “Princess Luna -” “Please, just Luna for the time being.” “Right. Luna, if you'd be so kind as to funnel some energy to Rarity, who will be casting the Sphere.” Once again, they all gathered within the salt ring, and this time, a second, ebon filament of energy arced towards Rarity's horn. With Luna's power, the bubble expanded even past the salt ring. Rarity signaled that she had the bubble stable, and Twilight began to cast the time travel spell. As she did so, she took a moment to take in this motley group. Two earth ponies, two pegasi, three unicorns, a juvenile dragon, and a demigod alicorn, all within a magical sphere that would effectively remove them from the world they would observe. Even as magic went, this was far-fetched. Twilight's horn drew an aura of energy, first faint, and then almost opaque, then burning with purple-pink energy so bright, Fluttershy had to turn away. Nine entities was a lot of ponies to transport. But as long as nothing went wrong, she was confident she could pull it off. She released the spell from the tip of her horn, and the travelers felt themselves hurtling through time and space. A sound like rushing wind, torrential rain, and a migrating herd of cattle, all mixed up with each other assaulted their ears. When Twilight had travelled a week back in time to visit herself, it had seemed instantaneous. Now, it seemed to take longer – much, much longer. “Hey Twilight! Why haven't we stopped yet?” yelled Rainbow Dash. Apparently she was sharing her sentiments. “The travel must be relative. For every so many moments we feel, we travel back a certain amount!” Twilight yelled back, over the din. “How far back did you send us?” yelled Lyra. “I was aiming for about 500 years!” At this, Fluttershy's nerves got the best of her, and she bucked a leg, hitting Spike squarely in the stomach. Spike's only response was to let out a ferocious green fireball, which though harmless to the ponies, burst the bubble. The magical arcs from Lyra and Luna dissipated, and the din receded, replaced only by the rush of wind in the ponies ears. The world they had seen (though it had been blurs and smudges through the bubble) suddenly went black. Twilight felt like she was falling. She screamed, but no sound came out. Then she slammed into the ground. LyraLyra Everything hurt. That's all Lyra knew. Her back, her hoofs, her head. It felt like somepony had dropped a wagon of bricks on her. She couldn't see anything – her eyes were closed, she decided – but she still felt dizzy. She forced herself to see, and slowly her eyes fluttered open. She was on her side, in an alleyway. The pavement was damp but there weren’t any puddles she could see. The walls on either side were dark and gray and foreboding. Above them the blue sky was dappled with fluffy white clouds. A faint roar of a bustling metropolis vaguely filled her ears. She'd been to Manehattan and Baltimare before, and wherever this was, it was certainly reminiscent of its seedier parts. Right, she told herself. First thing in order was a self-check. No broken bones or cuts or anything. Still lying on her side, she looked down. She screamed bloody murder. So many details assaulted her at once; she hardly knew where to begin. Her sea-foam coat was gone, replaced with bare skin. But this skin was darker, and less pink than she was used to seeing. Whenever the mane-icurist cut too much from her coat, the skin underneath was red-pink. This was almost a pale peach. Lyra's front legs were gone – not gone, no. Relocated, moved closer to her now shorter neck. In place of her hooves were thin appendages with five stubby tendrils at the end – hands! She found they moved readily enough, and could even close upon themselves. They were also quite sensitive to touch, she found. She ran them over her face. Her muzzle was gone. All that remained was a small protrusion where her nose should be, and two tiny holes for nostrils. Absently, one of the appendages found its way in to a nostril, and Lyra jerked back from the sensation. Note to self, she thought. Never do that again. Lyra moved down to her hips, and found that her hind legs we no longer at a ninety degree angle, but were in line with her body. The newly aligned legs each ended in a foot that looked like somepony had taken the hands from her front legs – arms, she decided – and molded them like clay until they looked funny. The stubby fingers now were just stubs, but the blockier portion looked as though it might support weight. Finally, Lyra dared to look her body over. Her coat was indeed gone. No trace of green was on her body. Her chest had two bulbous lumps protruding a third of the way down. She knew immediately what they were, but she didn't remember having a foal recently. Her flank, thankfully, still bore her cutie mark, yet now it was etched into her skin. She looked up and around. She was in an alley of some sort. The pavement was damp but there weren’t any puddles she could see. The walls on either side were dark and gray and foreboding. Above them the blue sky was dappled with fluffy white clouds. A faint roar of a bustling metropolis vaguely filled her ears. But Lyra had visited Manehattan and Baltimare before – this sounded completely different. Lyra turned around and looked past her immediate location, and saw other beings lying there, just as she had been. One had long, dark purple mane with a pink streak, a headband holding back all but the bangs; her skin looked like a latte with too much milk. One had almost jet-black skin and a short, multi-colored mane. A pink headed one was lying next to Lyra; her skin was not that dissimilar from Lyra’s. On the other side was a pale pony with a purple mane. A thin strawberry-blonde pony – no, that's not right, they're not ponies, she thought – with the lightest complexion of them lay next to another who was considerably more muscular, and her skin looked a lustrous tan, and had a long golden mane. A few feet away lay another two. One, a fair size longer than the rest, had raven hair and graceful, sinewy features. The other one, with a mussed short green mane, was smaller than all the others, but lean and toned, and was the only one with a truly flat chest. All but the last one, Lyra noted, had cutie marks. That's when it clicked. Lyra rolled on to her stomach, and pushed herself up on all fours. The position felt unnatural, even though that's how she'd spent her entire life. Her head constantly wanted to fall down; it was an effort to keep it up. She bent her back knees, and put all her weight on the two back legs. Surprisingly, she readily found her balance. She pushed off the ground and shakily stood on two legs. It was as though she was walking in the clouds. The only time she'd ever been this high was on the stage in Ponyville. Suddenly Lyra snapped back to reality, and went over to the purple-haired thing, the one with three twinkling stars on her flank. She grabbed her with the new appendages – these things we so darn useful! - and shook her gently. “Twilight...something's happened. I think you need to see this.” Lyra watched as Twilight absently put a hoof up to stop Lyra from shaking her, and yelped when she saw it wasn’t a hoof. “Lyra…we have…hands…” Twilight looked up at her with that flat face, her brow wrinkling and a smile worked its way out of her lips. Lyra grabbed one of Twilight’s arms and helped her up. Twilight’s face hardened as she looked around. “We should help the others up.” One by one, the other ponies came round, each having a similar reaction to their state as Lyra. They found Princess Luna had a large gash on her head, though it wasn’t bleeding too profusely. She noted that of the group, Twilight was the only one that wasn’t aghast about their new bodies…Though now that she had spent some time with these hands, they were really fun. Dexterous and nimble, able to grasp anything they could get around. A faint daydream passed over her, never having to use magic again to levitate something down, never having to carry something in her mouth. When they woke Luna, she seemed…distant. “Twilight Sparkle? What has happened?” Lyra wondered if maybe that head wound might be worse than it looked, by the Princess’s behavior. Twilight shook her head. “I’m not sure yet. All I remember is Spike belching fire…and then this Lyra waking me up.” She knelt down by the boy and ran a hand through his hair. Such a tender action, Lyra considered. She must really care about him. “Spike,” Twilight whispered. “Spike, it’s time to wake up now.” “Why yes Rarity, it is made of diamond and chocolate…”Spike muttered, clearly still dreaming. Lyra, somewhat confused, looked at Rarity. Her pale face blushed, and she suppressed a laugh. Fluttershy turned to Pinkie Pie. “Oh my. We’re in new bodies, absolutely no idea where we are, and no idea how to get home. Whatever will we do?” Lyra stepped over to comfort her. She knew Bon-Bon would be just a worried about her as Fluttershy was right now. Lyra and Bon-Bon were almost inseparable, and a nagging thought had been in the back of her mind since she woke up: she hadn’t told Bon-Bon she was running off to jump into a time portal thingamajig, much less get stuck in some alternate dimension where everyone had hands but no hair. Bon-Bon would be a wreck until Lyra got home. That is, if she ever got home. But she put on a brave face for Fluttershy, wrapping an arm around her waist. “I’m sure Twilight’s working on something, right Twilight?” Twilight looked away from Spike to say, “Of course. We’ll be home in no time!” but Lyra saw on her face a look she’d seen on Bon-Bon’s face a hundred times. That look Bon-Bon got when Lyra had a harebrained scheme to sit more comfortably, or to do something dangerous, odd, or unnerving. On Twilight, Lyra read it clearly as “I haven’t the slightest clue what’s going on, and it’s freaking me out”. With everypony standing over him, Twilight tried rousing Spike once again. This time, he woke with a scream louder than any of the mares had made. “AHH! GET AWAY! WHO ARE YOU?!” Twilight reached out with a hand, put it on his shoulder, and gently held him down. “Spike, calm down. It’s us. Everything’s alright,” she said. Lyra once heard the care in the voice, but also a bit of annoyance, and more than a little condescension. And here I thought I had an interesting relationship with my best friend, Lyra thought. Twilight stood up, helping Spike to his feet. “Okay girls. We need to figure out what happened. Pinkie, Rarity, you’re on clue duty: Search the area; see if you can find anything that might tell us why we were dropped here. Applejack and Rainbow Dash: you’re on reconnaissance. Fluttershy, help the Princess with that cut.” Twilight hadn’t given her an assignment, so Lyra just looked around awkwardly for a moment. Twilight started to walk back towards where Lyra had woken her up, intently scanning the alley skyline. Lyra stretched her stride to catch up. “Oh, uh, Twilight? You didn’t give me anything to do.” She didn’t want to sound ungrateful for being given a pass, if that was Twilight’s intention. “Oh? Of course. Hmm.” Twilight stopped and thought for a moment. “Well, I was looking for traces of magic residue – do you know how to look for it?” Looking for magic residue wasn’t the easiest task, Lyra knew. The residue often evaporated in strong sunlight, and dawn would certainly wash it away regardless. But Lyra knew the signs – globs of transparent goo with lucent tendrils, the whole thing no more than a few millimeters across. “I think I could identify it correctly if I saw it,” Lyra affirmed. “Right, okay. I’ll keep looking this way, you check down that way. I just hope Pinkie didn’t step on any.” Lyra turned to look at her assigned direction. Sure enough, a dozen meters ahead, Pinkie Pie and Rarity were headed to the end of the alley. RarityRarity had the sense that her friend Pinkie Pie was taking their transformation much more calmly than any of the other ponies. The previously pink pony had always hopped and skipped on her way around pony with a carefree grin plastered on her face. Now, in this new place, Pinkie Pie seemed no different. She was skipping gaily ahead of Rarity, stopping only to bend at the waist and peer at something on the ground. She didn’t care if there was a puddle on the ground, or a piece of trash, or mud. Her world couldn’t be anything other than a playground. Rarity knew better. She daintily sidestepped the crumpled paper, the sticky foil bags fluttering around the alley. She tried in vain to avoid the brackish puddles left in the potholes. Frankly, Rarity felt absolutely distraught. “Pinkie, dear, do you even know what you’re looking for?” she called ahead. “It’s simple!” she said, not turning around. “I know it’s not any of these-” She promptly tossed a hair dryer, a horse shoe, a book, a jug of milk, a fork, a piñata, a bag of chips, a backpack, a pair of jeans, and a parrot over her shoulder – “So I have to keep looking! I’ll know it when it when I see it, I’m sure! OOH! Nope, not this, either.” A guitar whizzed past Rarity’s head. “Pinkie where are you keeping all of that? You don’t have any pockets or saddlebags.” Such a simple question was enough to stop Pinkie Pie dead in her track. She turned around slowly, and Rarity saw that her face was scrunched up in a most unseemly manner. Slowly, she said, “I don’t…know…” Then she turned back sharply, beginning to whistle and search once again. Rarity looked back down to the ground, and resumed searching, but she kept an eye on Pinkie, lest a hairbrush come flying at her face…although a brush wouldn’t be so horrible, all things considered. “Pinkie?” “Yeah Rarity?” Pinkie called back. “How are you in such high spirits? I must admit, being in such a…questionable locale has me, well, nervous.” “Oh it’s easy! Do you remember when we helped Twilight find the Elements of Harmony?” Rarity remembered it quite clearly. It had taken 3 months for her tail to grow back to an acceptable length, and it never curled quite the same again. But the look on that sea dragon’s face when she restored his beautiful moustache was quite worth it. Not to mention the Elements had rewarded her with the Element of Generosity. Such a fabulous necklace – a pity Twilight had forced her to put it under lock and key in Canterlot. She pushed a piece of trash out of the way with a dainty foot. “What’s your point?” “Well, when we were in the forest, I just laughed at all the scary trees until they weren’t scary anymore. This isn’t NEARLY as scary, if you ask me.” “Maybe not scary, but certainly somewhat abysmal. I mean, really. Look at these puddles!” Pinkie Pie looked down. “Yeah! Don’t they look fun?” she hopped back to Rarity, landing squarely in a series of larger and larger puddles. Rarity took a splash of rainwater runoff to the face. “Ahh!” she squealed. “My mane! And it’s only going to frizz later!” For a moment, Pinkie looked genuinely apologetic. “I’m so sorry, Rarity! I didn’t mean to splash you.” Rarity saw her trying hard to hold back a snicker. “But at least you share my sense in hairstyle!” And with that she burst out laughing. Rarity was horrified to actually see Pinkie Pie rolling around on the ground in such filth. Then she saw her reflection in a puddle. Rarity’s hair, while still sopping wet, had curled fiercely. Her bangs were now well-formed over her forehead, and the back of her hair was scrunched up to nearly her shoulders. Rarity tenderly pulled at a tendril, and when she let it go it rocketed back into the fuzz that was now Rarity’s hair. Rarity gaped at her reflection for a moment, before screaming. “AHHH! PINKIE PIE!” Pinkie stopped rolling around. “I didn’t know you’d take it this bad Rarity. I really am sorry.” Rarity realized how far over the top she had reacted. A lady never loses her cool as much as I just did, she thought. “It’s…It’s quite alright, dear. At any rate, I know a spell to restyle my coiffure.” Certain spells for unicorns come quite naturally. For a pony like Twilight, that list can be quite extensive, and takes a great deal of study and practice. But the longer a pony knows a spell, the more it becomes second nature. Rarity had learned this particular mane-styling spell when she was barely a filly – when she had first cast it, she hadn’t even found her cutie mark yet. After casting it so many times, she no longer needed to even focus on casting it, shaping the energy, willing it into existence. “Well?” she asked Pinkie proudly. “Well what?” Pinkie Pie asked. Rarity had already forgiven her for splashing her, but Rarity was nonetheless in no mood for her games. “Is my mane back to its pristine self?” she insisted. “Why would it be? You haven’t done anything to it yet!” Pinkie teased. “Well of course I did! I-” Rarity looked back to the puddle. Sure enough, her mane was still as frazzled as ever. Rarity was at a loss. The spell had never failed her in years. She concentrated on the spell once again, remembering every detail of the day she first learned the spell: The look on her face in the mirror when she saw the horrid cut the mane stylist gave her, the hours spent in her darkened bedroom pouring over an old book of beauty spells, the feel of the magic coursing around her horn, the hours of sleep lost trying to hide the burnt sheets when the spell went horribly wrong. She put all the will she could muster behind the spell. A bead of sweat ran down her temple. Her concentration was so high, she felt it inch down her face and onto her cheek. Style the hair…style the hair! She thought. With an effort she released the spell and… She looked back to the puddle. Nothing. She looked at Pinkie, who was still eyeing her quizzically. She didn’t understand. Her magic wasn’t working. “Pinkie, let’s go back and talk to Twilight,” she said decisively. “But why? We haven’t found any clues yet.” “Dear, my magic isn’t working. I’d call that a clue if I’d ever seen one.” Rarity said darkly. “That’s funny. That’s not a clue you can see.” The walk back took only a few short minutes, but during that time, the worry kept building in Rarity’s mind. What if I’ve damaged my ability to do magic? How will I ever sew again? My life’s work, ruined in a tragic accident…I wonder if I could sell my story to a director in Applewood… “Twilight! We’ve got a problem!” Rarity called out. Twilight Sparkle jogged over to meet them. “What kind of problem, girls?” Pinkie Pie responded first. “I messed up Rarity’s mane and she tried to fix it but she couldn’t so she thinks it’s a clue.” Twilight chuckled. “I’m sure we can find a brush around here somewhere, Rarity,” as she turned to walk back to Spike and Luna. “Twilight! It’s not the brush that’s the problem,” said Rarity. Twilight paused, looking back over her shoulder. “I can’t cast magic anymore.” That certainly piqued Twilight’s interest. She turned on her heels, and walked slowly back to Rarity. She grabbed her hands, and Rarity saw in her eyes a look of concern and distress. “What do you mean, you can’t use magic? You cast the bubble when we left.” “If I could use magic, don’t you think I would have restyled my mane by now?” rarity said a little rudely, then immediately regretted it. Twilight didn't deserve such treatment. It wasn’t her fault Rarity couldn't maintain her outward appearance of composure, and it was certainly Rarity's fault for losing her inner composure. “Sorry, Twilight,” she said, her head drooping. “It’s fine, Rarity, really! Look, Luna was just coming around when you called out. I'm not that skilled with fashion magic, but maybe her alicorn magic can suffice.” Rarity and the others found Luna propped up against the crumbling facade of a building. Luna's ebon hair was tousled and partially covered her left eye. She was still applying pressure to the wound over her right eye, so the net result was Rarity couldn't see her eyes. When she sat down beside her, though she realized it didn't matter much – Luna's eyes were clenched shut. She must be in horrible pain, but that cut doesn't look bad enough for how she seems, Rarity thought. Rarity decided once she got her magic working again, she'd see to Luna's wound personally. Twilight kneeled down in front of Luna, and gently took her free hand. “Luna, how's the pain?” “Uhh...Twilight Sparkle...it-it is bearable,” Luna managed to say. She opened her eyes – at least her right eye, as far as Rarity could tell – and looked straight at Twilight. She heaved a forceful breath before struggling to her feet. “Now, What can we – what can I do for you?” Twilight looked at Luna, and Rarity instantly knew she'd seen that face on Twilight before. It was that face she got when she already knew what the answer was, but she had to hear it. “I need you – I humbly ask – that you perform some magic.” “Twilight, you know that is a very wide and vague request. Did you have anything in mind?” Rarity piped up. “Can you fix my hair?” she asked expectantly. “Of course, Rarity.” Luna turned to face Rarity, and brushed her dark hair behind her shoulders, and Rarity finally saw both her eyes. She saw now the intensity in them, a fire burning behind them that she had not expected from her otherwise pleasant demeanor. Perhaps a thousand years will do that to you, Rarity decided. Either you give up, or you become intensely impassioned. Luna placed a hand on Rarity's shoulder, more out of a need to stabilize herself than any sense of mysticism, and shut her eyes tight once more. Tense moments passed by, Rarity and Twilight sharing concerned looks. Luna grunted, and opened her eyes. Rarity ran a hand through her hair. It was still frazzled. Applejack and Rainbow took that opportunity to return. “Recon, reporting in!” shouted Rainbow Dash. “We saw some large enclosed wagons, with ponies that look like we do in them. They go pretty fast.” “All them other ponies were fancied up, too. They had lotsa cloth all over them. Rarity, you'll make a killing here.” Rarity hadn't been listening. She'd been processing the results of Luna's test. If she couldn't do magic – and Rarity was quite sure Twilight had tried herself, but had been too embarrassed to say so – and Luna couldn't...then that meant... Everyone except Rarity and Luna had by now circled around Twilight, looking for an answer. Twilight sighed. “We have a problem.” A murmur went through the group, and Rarity was just praying what she had sussed out was just the wrong conclusion. “We – Luna, Rarity, and I- are unable to perform magic.” Lyra gasped, and then winced, obviously trying to cast a spell, but it too was in vain. “Without it, it seems unlikely we'll be able to return to Ponyville. Until we can figure out how to make that happen, I suggest we stay out of sight.” “Oh, of all the things that could happen! This is. The. Worst. Possible. Thing!” All the ponies were focused on her now. Spike finally spoke up. “Huh? What's going on?” The sound of a metal door slamming shut behind her made Rarity turn around. There stood a girl, staring at the nine of them, blanked faced. “Did I say worst possible? I meant second worst.” Luna“WHY ARE YOU ALL NAKED?” the girl screamed. “WHAT ARE YOU DOING OUT HERE NAKED?” Luna coolly regarded this outsider. The bags in her hands meant she was either coming or going – a good sign, as it meant she hadn’t had time to tell anyone else they were here. The distressed look on her face meant she certainly wasn’t expecting them here, which meant, if Luna acted quickly, the element of surprise could still be on her side. She needed dominance over this creature, if only to secure their safety. It must be the Voice. Luna remembered the first time she used the Royal Canterlot Voice. * * * It had been only ten years since Luna and her sister had banished the draconequus Discord from Equestria. Canterlot was still being constructed, but Luna had insisted that the throne room be finished first. That particular day, Celestia had left to raise the sun, and Luna sat to accept visitors. Luna didn’t understand why sunrise always seemed to bring out the crazies. Ponies quibbling over land, ponies asking for magic on their behalf, ponies doing nothing but being ungrateful peasants, and all of them choosing to sleep through her beautiful night. It made Luna sick. The court minister calmly opened the throne room doors, and approached Luna humbly. “Your highness, a wizard has come to-” “Minister, I do not care to accept charlatans in court. Only the magic of my sister and I is truly powerful.” The minister shrunk before her. “Yes, Lady of the Night. But he does insist on seeing you.” Luna pawed at the floor. “Very well.” The minister rushed back to the door, and showed the visitor in, a pony dressed in a dark cape and matching hat, each adorned with golden baubles, constellations, and swirls. “Greetings, your Highness. I am-” Luna cut him off abruptly. “Know this, wizard,” she said tersely. “We have no use for whatever ‘charades’ you may peddle. Leave before we have you exiled.” The wizard took in a deep breath. The throne room seemed to shrink around him, and for the first time since she had faced Discord, Luna felt a little scared. “PRINCESS LUNA!” the wizard bellowed. “DO NOT TAKE ME FOR SOME CONJURER OF CHEAP TRICKS!” The magician’s presence lessened. “Your sister summoned me here to teach both of you what I have just demonstrated. A Voice to command respect and control from those who would ignore you. A Voice fit for the royalty of Canterlot,” he said, bowing. Luna regarded him once more. He was certainly dressed funnily, but the stars on his garb showed he did not fear her Night, as most ponies did. “You may…proceed,” she said coolly. The wizard explained the process of the Voice: of imposing your will upon your voice, proper breath, and the like. Luna tried for nearly an hour, but to no avail. She simply could not recreate what the wizard had done. “Enough!” the alicorn yelled. “Wizard, you have wasted our precious time, and the time of all those who have waited patiently to meet us after you,” Luna said with iron in her voice. “In return, you will do our bidding from now on. Guards, take him away. See that he works only by moonlight.” The rear doors burst open, and a commanding voice shouted, “You will do no such thing!” Celestia strode in, placing herself between the chamber door and the guards, who now had the mage in custody. Her pink mane flowed in an invisible breeze. “Guards, release the prisoner this instant,” she commanded. The guards hesitated, and the lead guard looked back at Luna, unsure. Luna could only grunt and fume. How dare her sister countermand her, and in direct view of the court. It was absurd, and an absolute mockery. Celestia drew in power to her horn, which radiated down her entire body. Her mane began to glow in all new hues, streaking from tip to root, and her white coat gleamed, even in the still-dark throne room. “GUARDS, YOU WILL RELEASE STARSWIRL THIS INSTANT!” she called. The Voice, Luna realized. In her sister’s hooves, it was truly a powerful tool. And one Luna could not stand her wielding alone. Celestia dismissed the court, and Luna unleashed on Celestia. “CELESTIA, HOW DAREST YOU MAKE A FOOL OF US IN FRONT OF OUR SUBJECTS?” Luna called, using the Voice instinctively. Perhaps she had mastered it after all. Celestia said gently, “Sister, you were being unreasonable. You condemned a pony because he could not teach you.” Luna snorted. “IF HE COULD NOT TEACH, IT WAS NOT A FAILING ON OUR PART,” she said defensively. “Luna, do not use that voice with me. There is no more respect you can earn from me, no control you cannot ask for.” “Even…the sun?” Luna asked, knowing how loaded such a request was. “You cannot ask that of me, and you know it. Take some time to rest, sister. We will speak tomorrow.” Celestia said gently. “Very well…Tia…”Luna said gruffly, and with that she retreated to her quarters. * * * Her one thousand years within the moon had taught Luna that respect and authority, like love and friendship, had to be earned. The Voice was best used when those things already existed…or when time was short. Now, in this dank alleyway, Luna knew this situation fell under the latter. Luna drew in what will she could, and imposed it on the air around her. “WHAT IS YOUR NAME?” she said in the Royal Canterlot Voice, as calmly as possible. The girl faltered for a moment. A good start, thought Luna. The girl brushed a lock of golden hair behind her ear, no longer looking Luna in the eye. “My-my-my name?” “IT IS ALL WE HAVE REQUESTED,” said Luna. “IS IT TOO MUCH?” Twilight stepped beside Luna, and put a hand on her shoulder. Twilight smiled nervously at the girl. “What my friend means is, we don’t know how we got here, and you’re the first new person we’ve met. My name’s Twilight Sparkle. What’s yours?” The girl finally looked back up. “Twilight Sparkle, huh? Dig those vamp books a little too much?” She chuckled, but Luna didn’t understand what was so funny. “My name’s Celeste.” Luna exchanged an uncertain look with Twilight, then looked back at the girl. From behind her, Rainbow Dash spoke up. “I’m sorry, I think I misheard you.” The girl shouted, perhaps a little too loudly, “MY NAME’S CELESTE!” Luna didn’t believe in coincidences, but how this girl was related to how they got here, she still couldn’t figure out. Twilight made introductions of everyone, and the girl thought the names were all quite strange. “You never did answer me, though,” said Celeste. “Why are you all naked?” Luna smiled. “It is a long story, and I am not sure we should tell it in the open like this.” Celeste looked as though a sudden thought had occurred to her. “Well, come up to my apartment. It’s on the tenth floor, and I should have some clothes for you all. Well, maybe not him,” she pointed to Spike, who looked mildly bemused, “but I can just borrow some from my brother.” The nine dutifully followed Celeste into the building. The slick tile felt strange under Luna’s feet, but it was not a wholly unpleasant feeling. She reveled in the quiet sound of footfalls echoed infinitely down the hallway. Ponies never used tile for flooring in Equestria, because the hooves trotting on it created such a din, it was overwhelming. Here though, the soft padding of the fleshy feet sounded more like muted suction cups than the clip-clop of hooves. Celeste led them to an elevator, and pressed a button. When the door opened, they all filed in, and Celeste pressed a button. Luna felt like she was flying up for a moment, but her feet never left the ground. It was very disconcerting. Such a tiny room, Luna thought. She smiled at Celeste, who smiled nervously back, and again at Twilight when she looked as though she was about to say something. The door opened into an open-spaced apartment, no columns to obstruct sightlines, with an expansive bay window which took up one wall. A divan and matching chairs were circled on one side, and a kitchen took up the other. In the far corner, there were 3 doors, which Luna assumed were bedrooms. Luna sat down on the couch, along with Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash. Rarity took a chair, as did Twilight and Lyra. The others sat on the floor nearby. All except Pinkie Pie, who was busy staring wondrously out at the metropolitan skyline. Celeste stood behind the chair directly opposite Luna, and Lyra looked up at her when she spoke. “Okay. Private Space,” Celeste motioned. “So let’s hear it.” “We are…” Twilight began. “We are not…from here,” Luna finished. “From this world.” Celeste eyed them carefully. “I imagine you think such a claim is quite preposterous. But I assure you, we are not. I am not sure of the rules of your world, but in ours, magic is commonplace. We were attempting to travel in time, and ended up here instead.” “How do you know this isn’t your world, and you’re not just crazy?” Celeste asked. It was a valid question. “Does anyone you know have one of these?” Luna asked, rotating herself so Celeste had a clearer view of her cutie mark. Celeste snorted. “Yeah, they’re called tattoos.” “Look closer.” Celeste laughed, but when she saw all the others were serious, she straightened out, and bent in for a closer look. “But…that’s…like, you’re skin! It’s not ink or anything – that IS skin! Like a colored freckle...” Now Celeste looked positively shaken, but less than Luna imagined she would be. “Okay…okay, let’s say I do believe you,” she said. “What can I do to help?” Rainbow Dash spoke up. “Well for starters, can you do something about the heat in here?” Celeste laughed. “Sure. Too hot?” Dashie nodded. “…It needs to be about 20% cooler.” Twilight ignored Rainbow Dash’s complaint. “We need to find someone who knows about magic, if it exists here at all.” “Well, I don’t know anything about the stuff. But I think the place to start would be to go talk to Big Mac.” The ponies all looked at Applejack. “What?” asked Celeste. Luna said calmly, “There is no such thing as a coincidence.”
An Unexpected JourneyA loud crash was all it took to wake Spike from his dream-vacation with Rarity. The thunderous sound had come from the library, where he knew Twilight Sparkle had been practicing some new magic, but she had said it was perfectly safe. He’d never hear the end of it from Princess Celestia if Twilight wound up injured. Wiping the haze from his scaly eyelids, Spike found his way downstairs. An orange miasma faintly permeated the room, and stung Spike’s nostrils with its acrid smell. “Uh…Twilight?” Through the fog, a distracted voice came through. “In a minute, Spike. I think I almost had it.” As the cloud dissipated, Spike saw the purple unicorn standing in the middle of the library, its books in ghastly disarray. “Wow Twilight. Did you have one of your Dewey Decimal Nights again?” Spike asked. Twilight, already rummaging through piles of now-slightly-charred books, responded absently, “What? Oh – no, I was just practicing the time travel spell.” “You mean the one you cast that made you go insa- I mean, had you worrying over nothing for a week?” Spike asked incredulously. “Actually, yes,” Twilight responded matter-of-factly, still searching the piles of books for something. “I realized my fault last night – I had interacted with the past! I’m sure nothing could go wrong if I went farther back, but just to make sure nothing went wrong, I came up with a – AHA!” She pulled from the pile a smoldering piece of parchment. Spike noted to his chagrin it was the last piece of letterhead he normally used for sending word to Canterlot. Twilight trotted over and thrust the page in front of Spike. She looked as pleased with herself as Spike had ever seen her. “I came up with this.” All Spike could see were some pentagrams, a constellation, some words too big to pronounce, and a technical drawing of a sphere. “What is it?” Twilight knew she’d have to explain it more clearly. “It’s an isolation sphere! Anypony inside is rendered unnoticeable to those outside. You could even walk through it and never know it was there.” Twilight took the page back, studying it for errors. “I want to use it to go actually see history as it happens…but to do that, I have to put the sphere in place before I cast the time travel spell – don’t want to risk somepony seeing me as I appear in their time.” Spike looked incredulous. “So what’s the problem?” “The problem is it takes too much concentration to hold the sphere AND cast the time spell. I need another unicorn to cast the sphere, and then I can just transport both of us easily.” Spike looked away, but Twilight could see his cheeks flushing slightly as he said “Well, uh, what about Rarity?” Twilight chuckled softly to herself at the suggestion. She knew Spike had a crush on the fashionable unicorn, but it never ceased to amaze her when he tried to insert her into plans for the sake of seeing her. Still, Rarity had proved herself capable enough with magic to cast the isolation sphere. “Good idea, Spike. Why don’t you go ask her for me while I clean up? But first, I need to tell Princess Celestia of my discovery. Spike, take a letter.” “Uh Twilight…” he said, looking disappointedly at the last piece of parchment. * * * “Ugh Twilight! We've been at this for hours. Can't we take a break?” Rarity slumped onto the floor, and levitated a glass of water over to herself. Twilight looked quickly at the clock. “Eight hours isn't that long, Rarity. Besides, you're doing so well. I couldn't even see your hooves on that last try.” In truth, Twilight had been practicing all day every Saturday for the last month. Rarity had at first been reluctant to try her hoof at what seemed, at first blush, to be a very complicated and dangerous spell. But Twilight had won her over with something even the posh pony could not resist – the chance to give Twilight a makeover. Celestia knows the bookish filly could use it. Today had been the most trying day yet, however. Rarity's attention was elsewhere, it seemed. Twilight decided a change of tactics was in order. While Rarity was nursing her water – and her pride, Twilight slipped into the back to find Spike. She found him, of course, right behind the door, listening with solemn intent. Twilight cleared her throat, and he screamed in fright. “Everything alright, deary?” Rarity called from the next room. Twilight didn't respond. Instead, she addressed the diminutive dragon directly. “Spike, I need you to go find Pinkie Pie, and bring her back here.” “Aw, do I have to?” he whined. He pushed himself away from the door finally, and pulled out a large sapphire. “I was just about to have lunch.” “I'm sure you can chew and walk at the same time, Spike,” Twilight laughed. “Besides, I need Pinkie Pie to help cheer Rarity on. And if Rarity knew you did that for her...” Twilight let the thought sink in, and already she saw the gears turning in his head. In the blink of an eye, Spike shoved the gem in his mouth and gulped it down. Before Twilight could even ask if he had chewed, a short green and purple blur zoomed out of the house, the door slamming on his way out. When Spike returned an hour later, Twilight was flabbergasted. Pinkie Pie was in tow, of course, but so were Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and Lyra, of all ponies. “Spike?” she questioned curiously. “Well, I found Pinkie playing with the animals at Fluttershy's. On our way back, we ran into Applejack and Rainbow Dash in town.” Lyra's head bobbed up from the back of the small herd. “I just saw Spike leading them all here. I wanted to see what the hubbub was all about.” “Which is what ah'd like to know, sugar cube,” Applejack piped. Twilight explained, in as simple words as she knew (which was still probably too complex), about the time travel spell, and the isolation sphere, and how Rarity had agreed to help. “Well what are we waiting for? Let's take this thing for a spin!” Rainbow Dash cried. Twilight cleared her throat. “Ahem. I’ve officially dubbed it ‘the Thaumaturgical Applied Retractable Dimensional Isolation Sphere’. And I agree, Rainbow Dash. We should totally try it out right now.” She took a measure of salt and made a large circle on the floor. “Everypony, inside the circle." Everyone filed inside, carefully stepping over the salt, chatting quietly to each other. Fluttershy, always hesitant about new magic, fluffed her wings, and broke the salt circle. “Oh my…” she whispered. Twilight, who till then was still outside the circle, stepped over to comfort the bright yellow pegasus. “Don’t worry, Fluttershy,” she chuckled. “The salt doesn’t actually do anything –it just let everyone know where to stand.” “Thank heavens. I’m scared to think of what might happen if I’d disrupted the spell.” Spike was the last to step over the salt, and as he did so, Rarity began casting the spell. A translucent bubble appeared at the tip of her horn, and quickly expanded outward, quickly encompassing Rainbow Dash, standing next to Rarity. When she tried to push it farther, however, the bubble began to gleam with more colors than the blue pegasus’ mane, before suddenly popping like a soap bubble against a straight pin. Rarity slumped down again. “Darling, I told you. I just don’t have your fantastic talent for magic. You know my passion has always been the magic of” – Rarity lightly flipped her mane – “fashion.” Twilight shook her head and looked back at her diagrams. “No, that’s not it. It’s a simple spell. I think the real problem is that there’s just not enough power for 7 ponies and a dragon,” she said, playfully mussing the scales on Spike’s head. Lyra chimed in, “I'm sure I could lend some magic to help Rarity with the...whatchacallit.” A faint aura surrounded Lyra’s horn, and a thick band of energy arced from the tip of her horn to Rarity’s. Rarity tried the spell once again. This time the bubble ballooned out to past Applejack and Pinkie Pie before it, once again, popped in an instant. “Oh my…Twilight, could you help, too, I mean, if you can?” Fluttershy asked. But Twilight was once again looking over her notes. She finally shook her head in frustration. “It will take all the power I have to cast the time travel spell. No, we need one more unicorn.” “We could have Spike send Princess Celestia a letter,” Pinkie Pie offered. “I even have some wedding cake stashed away for her – for cake-related emergencies.” Dutifully, she reached into a nook on the wall, and pulled out a piece of white cake, inexplicably still fresh, months after the wedding of Twilight’s brother and her former foal sitter. Twilight brushed her curiosity about Pinkie Pie’s powers aside for the moment. “She’d take too long to get here. Girls, I’ll be right back. I’m off to go find another unicorn.” She had reached the door, when a booming voice shook the library-house. “Would an alicorn be sufficient, Twilight Sparkle?” Princess Luna gracefully landed just in front of the doorway, her grand wings slowing her descent. Luna’s onyx coat gleamed in the waning sunlight, and her mane seemed to sway, even without a breeze. Alicorns are such an enigma, Twilight thought, even after spending years as the Princess’ student. “We’re sure that, whatever you need unicorn magic for, our magic can certainly substitute.” “Well thank you Princess. But what brings you to Ponyville?” Twilight responded, perplexed. As smart as she was, she couldn’t figure out why the moon goddess decided to pay her a visit. “You do, in fact, Twilight. You wrote last month to our sister of your enhanced time spell. It was our wish – our hope – that you might show us some of what we missed when we were…absent.” Twilight’s heart melted a bit. She and the others, minus Lyra, had been the ones to stop Nightmare Moon from wreaking havoc on Equestria, and redeemed her to Princess Luna. Twilight agreed that it was only their responsibility to help rehabilitate her. “Of course we can, Princess – only don’t be so formal. It’s just us.” She motioned to the group just inside the door, who by this time were gathered behind the door, peeking out. As Luna entered, the other ponies backed away, allowing her a wide berth into the home. Lyra, unsure of how to act in front of such royalty, kneeled on one leg. The rest bowed their heads dutifully. Pinkie Pie, however, was a different story. “OHMYGOSHLunaitssogoodtoseeyouhowisPrincessCelestiaAreyouadjustingtolifebackinEquestriaHowareyouupatthishourareyoujustloadedwithsugarordoyoujustprefertobeupatnightdontyouhavetoraimhfffmmhmfmmmfmmhmffm,” said the pink earth pony, before Applejack covered Pinkie's muzzle with a hoof. “Ah'm sure when we have the time, the Princess can answer all our questions. Innat right, Princess?” “Indeed, Applejack. We – I – will take all inquiries when we have finished...whatever you need me for.” “Oh!” remarked Twilight. “As it happens, you're just in time. We were trying the time travel spell just as you arrived...but we needed more magic for The Applied Retractable Dimensional Isolation Sphere.” Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. “Twi, you really need a better name for this bubble. Like an acronym or something.” Twilight pretended not to hear the pegasus's comment. “Princess Luna -” “Please, just Luna for the time being.” “Right. Luna, if you'd be so kind as to funnel some energy to Rarity, who will be casting the Sphere.” Once again, they all gathered within the salt ring, and this time, a second, ebon filament of energy arced towards Rarity's horn. With Luna's power, the bubble expanded even past the salt ring. Rarity signaled that she had the bubble stable, and Twilight began to cast the time travel spell. As she did so, she took a moment to take in this motley group. Two earth ponies, two pegasi, three unicorns, a juvenile dragon, and a demigod alicorn, all within a magical sphere that would effectively remove them from the world they would observe. Even as magic went, this was far-fetched. Twilight's horn drew an aura of energy, first faint, and then almost opaque, then burning with purple-pink energy so bright, Fluttershy had to turn away. Nine entities was a lot of ponies to transport. But as long as nothing went wrong, she was confident she could pull it off. She released the spell from the tip of her horn, and the travelers felt themselves hurtling through time and space. A sound like rushing wind, torrential rain, and a migrating herd of cattle, all mixed up with each other assaulted their ears. When Twilight had travelled a week back in time to visit herself, it had seemed instantaneous. Now, it seemed to take longer – much, much longer. “Hey Twilight! Why haven't we stopped yet?” yelled Rainbow Dash. Apparently she was sharing her sentiments. “The travel must be relative. For every so many moments we feel, we travel back a certain amount!” Twilight yelled back, over the din. “How far back did you send us?” yelled Lyra. “I was aiming for about 500 years!” At this, Fluttershy's nerves got the best of her, and she bucked a leg, hitting Spike squarely in the stomach. Spike's only response was to let out a ferocious green fireball, which though harmless to the ponies, burst the bubble. The magical arcs from Lyra and Luna dissipated, and the din receded, replaced only by the rush of wind in the ponies ears. The world they had seen (though it had been blurs and smudges through the bubble) suddenly went black. Twilight felt like she was falling. She screamed, but no sound came out. Then she slammed into the ground.
LyraLyra Everything hurt. That's all Lyra knew. Her back, her hoofs, her head. It felt like somepony had dropped a wagon of bricks on her. She couldn't see anything – her eyes were closed, she decided – but she still felt dizzy. She forced herself to see, and slowly her eyes fluttered open. She was on her side, in an alleyway. The pavement was damp but there weren’t any puddles she could see. The walls on either side were dark and gray and foreboding. Above them the blue sky was dappled with fluffy white clouds. A faint roar of a bustling metropolis vaguely filled her ears. She'd been to Manehattan and Baltimare before, and wherever this was, it was certainly reminiscent of its seedier parts. Right, she told herself. First thing in order was a self-check. No broken bones or cuts or anything. Still lying on her side, she looked down. She screamed bloody murder. So many details assaulted her at once; she hardly knew where to begin. Her sea-foam coat was gone, replaced with bare skin. But this skin was darker, and less pink than she was used to seeing. Whenever the mane-icurist cut too much from her coat, the skin underneath was red-pink. This was almost a pale peach. Lyra's front legs were gone – not gone, no. Relocated, moved closer to her now shorter neck. In place of her hooves were thin appendages with five stubby tendrils at the end – hands! She found they moved readily enough, and could even close upon themselves. They were also quite sensitive to touch, she found. She ran them over her face. Her muzzle was gone. All that remained was a small protrusion where her nose should be, and two tiny holes for nostrils. Absently, one of the appendages found its way in to a nostril, and Lyra jerked back from the sensation. Note to self, she thought. Never do that again. Lyra moved down to her hips, and found that her hind legs we no longer at a ninety degree angle, but were in line with her body. The newly aligned legs each ended in a foot that looked like somepony had taken the hands from her front legs – arms, she decided – and molded them like clay until they looked funny. The stubby fingers now were just stubs, but the blockier portion looked as though it might support weight. Finally, Lyra dared to look her body over. Her coat was indeed gone. No trace of green was on her body. Her chest had two bulbous lumps protruding a third of the way down. She knew immediately what they were, but she didn't remember having a foal recently. Her flank, thankfully, still bore her cutie mark, yet now it was etched into her skin. She looked up and around. She was in an alley of some sort. The pavement was damp but there weren’t any puddles she could see. The walls on either side were dark and gray and foreboding. Above them the blue sky was dappled with fluffy white clouds. A faint roar of a bustling metropolis vaguely filled her ears. But Lyra had visited Manehattan and Baltimare before – this sounded completely different. Lyra turned around and looked past her immediate location, and saw other beings lying there, just as she had been. One had long, dark purple mane with a pink streak, a headband holding back all but the bangs; her skin looked like a latte with too much milk. One had almost jet-black skin and a short, multi-colored mane. A pink headed one was lying next to Lyra; her skin was not that dissimilar from Lyra’s. On the other side was a pale pony with a purple mane. A thin strawberry-blonde pony – no, that's not right, they're not ponies, she thought – with the lightest complexion of them lay next to another who was considerably more muscular, and her skin looked a lustrous tan, and had a long golden mane. A few feet away lay another two. One, a fair size longer than the rest, had raven hair and graceful, sinewy features. The other one, with a mussed short green mane, was smaller than all the others, but lean and toned, and was the only one with a truly flat chest. All but the last one, Lyra noted, had cutie marks. That's when it clicked. Lyra rolled on to her stomach, and pushed herself up on all fours. The position felt unnatural, even though that's how she'd spent her entire life. Her head constantly wanted to fall down; it was an effort to keep it up. She bent her back knees, and put all her weight on the two back legs. Surprisingly, she readily found her balance. She pushed off the ground and shakily stood on two legs. It was as though she was walking in the clouds. The only time she'd ever been this high was on the stage in Ponyville. Suddenly Lyra snapped back to reality, and went over to the purple-haired thing, the one with three twinkling stars on her flank. She grabbed her with the new appendages – these things we so darn useful! - and shook her gently. “Twilight...something's happened. I think you need to see this.” Lyra watched as Twilight absently put a hoof up to stop Lyra from shaking her, and yelped when she saw it wasn’t a hoof. “Lyra…we have…hands…” Twilight looked up at her with that flat face, her brow wrinkling and a smile worked its way out of her lips. Lyra grabbed one of Twilight’s arms and helped her up. Twilight’s face hardened as she looked around. “We should help the others up.” One by one, the other ponies came round, each having a similar reaction to their state as Lyra. They found Princess Luna had a large gash on her head, though it wasn’t bleeding too profusely. She noted that of the group, Twilight was the only one that wasn’t aghast about their new bodies…Though now that she had spent some time with these hands, they were really fun. Dexterous and nimble, able to grasp anything they could get around. A faint daydream passed over her, never having to use magic again to levitate something down, never having to carry something in her mouth. When they woke Luna, she seemed…distant. “Twilight Sparkle? What has happened?” Lyra wondered if maybe that head wound might be worse than it looked, by the Princess’s behavior. Twilight shook her head. “I’m not sure yet. All I remember is Spike belching fire…and then this Lyra waking me up.” She knelt down by the boy and ran a hand through his hair. Such a tender action, Lyra considered. She must really care about him. “Spike,” Twilight whispered. “Spike, it’s time to wake up now.” “Why yes Rarity, it is made of diamond and chocolate…”Spike muttered, clearly still dreaming. Lyra, somewhat confused, looked at Rarity. Her pale face blushed, and she suppressed a laugh. Fluttershy turned to Pinkie Pie. “Oh my. We’re in new bodies, absolutely no idea where we are, and no idea how to get home. Whatever will we do?” Lyra stepped over to comfort her. She knew Bon-Bon would be just a worried about her as Fluttershy was right now. Lyra and Bon-Bon were almost inseparable, and a nagging thought had been in the back of her mind since she woke up: she hadn’t told Bon-Bon she was running off to jump into a time portal thingamajig, much less get stuck in some alternate dimension where everyone had hands but no hair. Bon-Bon would be a wreck until Lyra got home. That is, if she ever got home. But she put on a brave face for Fluttershy, wrapping an arm around her waist. “I’m sure Twilight’s working on something, right Twilight?” Twilight looked away from Spike to say, “Of course. We’ll be home in no time!” but Lyra saw on her face a look she’d seen on Bon-Bon’s face a hundred times. That look Bon-Bon got when Lyra had a harebrained scheme to sit more comfortably, or to do something dangerous, odd, or unnerving. On Twilight, Lyra read it clearly as “I haven’t the slightest clue what’s going on, and it’s freaking me out”. With everypony standing over him, Twilight tried rousing Spike once again. This time, he woke with a scream louder than any of the mares had made. “AHH! GET AWAY! WHO ARE YOU?!” Twilight reached out with a hand, put it on his shoulder, and gently held him down. “Spike, calm down. It’s us. Everything’s alright,” she said. Lyra once heard the care in the voice, but also a bit of annoyance, and more than a little condescension. And here I thought I had an interesting relationship with my best friend, Lyra thought. Twilight stood up, helping Spike to his feet. “Okay girls. We need to figure out what happened. Pinkie, Rarity, you’re on clue duty: Search the area; see if you can find anything that might tell us why we were dropped here. Applejack and Rainbow Dash: you’re on reconnaissance. Fluttershy, help the Princess with that cut.” Twilight hadn’t given her an assignment, so Lyra just looked around awkwardly for a moment. Twilight started to walk back towards where Lyra had woken her up, intently scanning the alley skyline. Lyra stretched her stride to catch up. “Oh, uh, Twilight? You didn’t give me anything to do.” She didn’t want to sound ungrateful for being given a pass, if that was Twilight’s intention. “Oh? Of course. Hmm.” Twilight stopped and thought for a moment. “Well, I was looking for traces of magic residue – do you know how to look for it?” Looking for magic residue wasn’t the easiest task, Lyra knew. The residue often evaporated in strong sunlight, and dawn would certainly wash it away regardless. But Lyra knew the signs – globs of transparent goo with lucent tendrils, the whole thing no more than a few millimeters across. “I think I could identify it correctly if I saw it,” Lyra affirmed. “Right, okay. I’ll keep looking this way, you check down that way. I just hope Pinkie didn’t step on any.” Lyra turned to look at her assigned direction. Sure enough, a dozen meters ahead, Pinkie Pie and Rarity were headed to the end of the alley.
RarityRarity had the sense that her friend Pinkie Pie was taking their transformation much more calmly than any of the other ponies. The previously pink pony had always hopped and skipped on her way around pony with a carefree grin plastered on her face. Now, in this new place, Pinkie Pie seemed no different. She was skipping gaily ahead of Rarity, stopping only to bend at the waist and peer at something on the ground. She didn’t care if there was a puddle on the ground, or a piece of trash, or mud. Her world couldn’t be anything other than a playground. Rarity knew better. She daintily sidestepped the crumpled paper, the sticky foil bags fluttering around the alley. She tried in vain to avoid the brackish puddles left in the potholes. Frankly, Rarity felt absolutely distraught. “Pinkie, dear, do you even know what you’re looking for?” she called ahead. “It’s simple!” she said, not turning around. “I know it’s not any of these-” She promptly tossed a hair dryer, a horse shoe, a book, a jug of milk, a fork, a piñata, a bag of chips, a backpack, a pair of jeans, and a parrot over her shoulder – “So I have to keep looking! I’ll know it when it when I see it, I’m sure! OOH! Nope, not this, either.” A guitar whizzed past Rarity’s head. “Pinkie where are you keeping all of that? You don’t have any pockets or saddlebags.” Such a simple question was enough to stop Pinkie Pie dead in her track. She turned around slowly, and Rarity saw that her face was scrunched up in a most unseemly manner. Slowly, she said, “I don’t…know…” Then she turned back sharply, beginning to whistle and search once again. Rarity looked back down to the ground, and resumed searching, but she kept an eye on Pinkie, lest a hairbrush come flying at her face…although a brush wouldn’t be so horrible, all things considered. “Pinkie?” “Yeah Rarity?” Pinkie called back. “How are you in such high spirits? I must admit, being in such a…questionable locale has me, well, nervous.” “Oh it’s easy! Do you remember when we helped Twilight find the Elements of Harmony?” Rarity remembered it quite clearly. It had taken 3 months for her tail to grow back to an acceptable length, and it never curled quite the same again. But the look on that sea dragon’s face when she restored his beautiful moustache was quite worth it. Not to mention the Elements had rewarded her with the Element of Generosity. Such a fabulous necklace – a pity Twilight had forced her to put it under lock and key in Canterlot. She pushed a piece of trash out of the way with a dainty foot. “What’s your point?” “Well, when we were in the forest, I just laughed at all the scary trees until they weren’t scary anymore. This isn’t NEARLY as scary, if you ask me.” “Maybe not scary, but certainly somewhat abysmal. I mean, really. Look at these puddles!” Pinkie Pie looked down. “Yeah! Don’t they look fun?” she hopped back to Rarity, landing squarely in a series of larger and larger puddles. Rarity took a splash of rainwater runoff to the face. “Ahh!” she squealed. “My mane! And it’s only going to frizz later!” For a moment, Pinkie looked genuinely apologetic. “I’m so sorry, Rarity! I didn’t mean to splash you.” Rarity saw her trying hard to hold back a snicker. “But at least you share my sense in hairstyle!” And with that she burst out laughing. Rarity was horrified to actually see Pinkie Pie rolling around on the ground in such filth. Then she saw her reflection in a puddle. Rarity’s hair, while still sopping wet, had curled fiercely. Her bangs were now well-formed over her forehead, and the back of her hair was scrunched up to nearly her shoulders. Rarity tenderly pulled at a tendril, and when she let it go it rocketed back into the fuzz that was now Rarity’s hair. Rarity gaped at her reflection for a moment, before screaming. “AHHH! PINKIE PIE!” Pinkie stopped rolling around. “I didn’t know you’d take it this bad Rarity. I really am sorry.” Rarity realized how far over the top she had reacted. A lady never loses her cool as much as I just did, she thought. “It’s…It’s quite alright, dear. At any rate, I know a spell to restyle my coiffure.” Certain spells for unicorns come quite naturally. For a pony like Twilight, that list can be quite extensive, and takes a great deal of study and practice. But the longer a pony knows a spell, the more it becomes second nature. Rarity had learned this particular mane-styling spell when she was barely a filly – when she had first cast it, she hadn’t even found her cutie mark yet. After casting it so many times, she no longer needed to even focus on casting it, shaping the energy, willing it into existence. “Well?” she asked Pinkie proudly. “Well what?” Pinkie Pie asked. Rarity had already forgiven her for splashing her, but Rarity was nonetheless in no mood for her games. “Is my mane back to its pristine self?” she insisted. “Why would it be? You haven’t done anything to it yet!” Pinkie teased. “Well of course I did! I-” Rarity looked back to the puddle. Sure enough, her mane was still as frazzled as ever. Rarity was at a loss. The spell had never failed her in years. She concentrated on the spell once again, remembering every detail of the day she first learned the spell: The look on her face in the mirror when she saw the horrid cut the mane stylist gave her, the hours spent in her darkened bedroom pouring over an old book of beauty spells, the feel of the magic coursing around her horn, the hours of sleep lost trying to hide the burnt sheets when the spell went horribly wrong. She put all the will she could muster behind the spell. A bead of sweat ran down her temple. Her concentration was so high, she felt it inch down her face and onto her cheek. Style the hair…style the hair! She thought. With an effort she released the spell and… She looked back to the puddle. Nothing. She looked at Pinkie, who was still eyeing her quizzically. She didn’t understand. Her magic wasn’t working. “Pinkie, let’s go back and talk to Twilight,” she said decisively. “But why? We haven’t found any clues yet.” “Dear, my magic isn’t working. I’d call that a clue if I’d ever seen one.” Rarity said darkly. “That’s funny. That’s not a clue you can see.” The walk back took only a few short minutes, but during that time, the worry kept building in Rarity’s mind. What if I’ve damaged my ability to do magic? How will I ever sew again? My life’s work, ruined in a tragic accident…I wonder if I could sell my story to a director in Applewood… “Twilight! We’ve got a problem!” Rarity called out. Twilight Sparkle jogged over to meet them. “What kind of problem, girls?” Pinkie Pie responded first. “I messed up Rarity’s mane and she tried to fix it but she couldn’t so she thinks it’s a clue.” Twilight chuckled. “I’m sure we can find a brush around here somewhere, Rarity,” as she turned to walk back to Spike and Luna. “Twilight! It’s not the brush that’s the problem,” said Rarity. Twilight paused, looking back over her shoulder. “I can’t cast magic anymore.” That certainly piqued Twilight’s interest. She turned on her heels, and walked slowly back to Rarity. She grabbed her hands, and Rarity saw in her eyes a look of concern and distress. “What do you mean, you can’t use magic? You cast the bubble when we left.” “If I could use magic, don’t you think I would have restyled my mane by now?” rarity said a little rudely, then immediately regretted it. Twilight didn't deserve such treatment. It wasn’t her fault Rarity couldn't maintain her outward appearance of composure, and it was certainly Rarity's fault for losing her inner composure. “Sorry, Twilight,” she said, her head drooping. “It’s fine, Rarity, really! Look, Luna was just coming around when you called out. I'm not that skilled with fashion magic, but maybe her alicorn magic can suffice.” Rarity and the others found Luna propped up against the crumbling facade of a building. Luna's ebon hair was tousled and partially covered her left eye. She was still applying pressure to the wound over her right eye, so the net result was Rarity couldn't see her eyes. When she sat down beside her, though she realized it didn't matter much – Luna's eyes were clenched shut. She must be in horrible pain, but that cut doesn't look bad enough for how she seems, Rarity thought. Rarity decided once she got her magic working again, she'd see to Luna's wound personally. Twilight kneeled down in front of Luna, and gently took her free hand. “Luna, how's the pain?” “Uhh...Twilight Sparkle...it-it is bearable,” Luna managed to say. She opened her eyes – at least her right eye, as far as Rarity could tell – and looked straight at Twilight. She heaved a forceful breath before struggling to her feet. “Now, What can we – what can I do for you?” Twilight looked at Luna, and Rarity instantly knew she'd seen that face on Twilight before. It was that face she got when she already knew what the answer was, but she had to hear it. “I need you – I humbly ask – that you perform some magic.” “Twilight, you know that is a very wide and vague request. Did you have anything in mind?” Rarity piped up. “Can you fix my hair?” she asked expectantly. “Of course, Rarity.” Luna turned to face Rarity, and brushed her dark hair behind her shoulders, and Rarity finally saw both her eyes. She saw now the intensity in them, a fire burning behind them that she had not expected from her otherwise pleasant demeanor. Perhaps a thousand years will do that to you, Rarity decided. Either you give up, or you become intensely impassioned. Luna placed a hand on Rarity's shoulder, more out of a need to stabilize herself than any sense of mysticism, and shut her eyes tight once more. Tense moments passed by, Rarity and Twilight sharing concerned looks. Luna grunted, and opened her eyes. Rarity ran a hand through her hair. It was still frazzled. Applejack and Rainbow took that opportunity to return. “Recon, reporting in!” shouted Rainbow Dash. “We saw some large enclosed wagons, with ponies that look like we do in them. They go pretty fast.” “All them other ponies were fancied up, too. They had lotsa cloth all over them. Rarity, you'll make a killing here.” Rarity hadn't been listening. She'd been processing the results of Luna's test. If she couldn't do magic – and Rarity was quite sure Twilight had tried herself, but had been too embarrassed to say so – and Luna couldn't...then that meant... Everyone except Rarity and Luna had by now circled around Twilight, looking for an answer. Twilight sighed. “We have a problem.” A murmur went through the group, and Rarity was just praying what she had sussed out was just the wrong conclusion. “We – Luna, Rarity, and I- are unable to perform magic.” Lyra gasped, and then winced, obviously trying to cast a spell, but it too was in vain. “Without it, it seems unlikely we'll be able to return to Ponyville. Until we can figure out how to make that happen, I suggest we stay out of sight.” “Oh, of all the things that could happen! This is. The. Worst. Possible. Thing!” All the ponies were focused on her now. Spike finally spoke up. “Huh? What's going on?” The sound of a metal door slamming shut behind her made Rarity turn around. There stood a girl, staring at the nine of them, blanked faced. “Did I say worst possible? I meant second worst.”
Luna“WHY ARE YOU ALL NAKED?” the girl screamed. “WHAT ARE YOU DOING OUT HERE NAKED?” Luna coolly regarded this outsider. The bags in her hands meant she was either coming or going – a good sign, as it meant she hadn’t had time to tell anyone else they were here. The distressed look on her face meant she certainly wasn’t expecting them here, which meant, if Luna acted quickly, the element of surprise could still be on her side. She needed dominance over this creature, if only to secure their safety. It must be the Voice. Luna remembered the first time she used the Royal Canterlot Voice. * * * It had been only ten years since Luna and her sister had banished the draconequus Discord from Equestria. Canterlot was still being constructed, but Luna had insisted that the throne room be finished first. That particular day, Celestia had left to raise the sun, and Luna sat to accept visitors. Luna didn’t understand why sunrise always seemed to bring out the crazies. Ponies quibbling over land, ponies asking for magic on their behalf, ponies doing nothing but being ungrateful peasants, and all of them choosing to sleep through her beautiful night. It made Luna sick. The court minister calmly opened the throne room doors, and approached Luna humbly. “Your highness, a wizard has come to-” “Minister, I do not care to accept charlatans in court. Only the magic of my sister and I is truly powerful.” The minister shrunk before her. “Yes, Lady of the Night. But he does insist on seeing you.” Luna pawed at the floor. “Very well.” The minister rushed back to the door, and showed the visitor in, a pony dressed in a dark cape and matching hat, each adorned with golden baubles, constellations, and swirls. “Greetings, your Highness. I am-” Luna cut him off abruptly. “Know this, wizard,” she said tersely. “We have no use for whatever ‘charades’ you may peddle. Leave before we have you exiled.” The wizard took in a deep breath. The throne room seemed to shrink around him, and for the first time since she had faced Discord, Luna felt a little scared. “PRINCESS LUNA!” the wizard bellowed. “DO NOT TAKE ME FOR SOME CONJURER OF CHEAP TRICKS!” The magician’s presence lessened. “Your sister summoned me here to teach both of you what I have just demonstrated. A Voice to command respect and control from those who would ignore you. A Voice fit for the royalty of Canterlot,” he said, bowing. Luna regarded him once more. He was certainly dressed funnily, but the stars on his garb showed he did not fear her Night, as most ponies did. “You may…proceed,” she said coolly. The wizard explained the process of the Voice: of imposing your will upon your voice, proper breath, and the like. Luna tried for nearly an hour, but to no avail. She simply could not recreate what the wizard had done. “Enough!” the alicorn yelled. “Wizard, you have wasted our precious time, and the time of all those who have waited patiently to meet us after you,” Luna said with iron in her voice. “In return, you will do our bidding from now on. Guards, take him away. See that he works only by moonlight.” The rear doors burst open, and a commanding voice shouted, “You will do no such thing!” Celestia strode in, placing herself between the chamber door and the guards, who now had the mage in custody. Her pink mane flowed in an invisible breeze. “Guards, release the prisoner this instant,” she commanded. The guards hesitated, and the lead guard looked back at Luna, unsure. Luna could only grunt and fume. How dare her sister countermand her, and in direct view of the court. It was absurd, and an absolute mockery. Celestia drew in power to her horn, which radiated down her entire body. Her mane began to glow in all new hues, streaking from tip to root, and her white coat gleamed, even in the still-dark throne room. “GUARDS, YOU WILL RELEASE STARSWIRL THIS INSTANT!” she called. The Voice, Luna realized. In her sister’s hooves, it was truly a powerful tool. And one Luna could not stand her wielding alone. Celestia dismissed the court, and Luna unleashed on Celestia. “CELESTIA, HOW DAREST YOU MAKE A FOOL OF US IN FRONT OF OUR SUBJECTS?” Luna called, using the Voice instinctively. Perhaps she had mastered it after all. Celestia said gently, “Sister, you were being unreasonable. You condemned a pony because he could not teach you.” Luna snorted. “IF HE COULD NOT TEACH, IT WAS NOT A FAILING ON OUR PART,” she said defensively. “Luna, do not use that voice with me. There is no more respect you can earn from me, no control you cannot ask for.” “Even…the sun?” Luna asked, knowing how loaded such a request was. “You cannot ask that of me, and you know it. Take some time to rest, sister. We will speak tomorrow.” Celestia said gently. “Very well…Tia…”Luna said gruffly, and with that she retreated to her quarters. * * * Her one thousand years within the moon had taught Luna that respect and authority, like love and friendship, had to be earned. The Voice was best used when those things already existed…or when time was short. Now, in this dank alleyway, Luna knew this situation fell under the latter. Luna drew in what will she could, and imposed it on the air around her. “WHAT IS YOUR NAME?” she said in the Royal Canterlot Voice, as calmly as possible. The girl faltered for a moment. A good start, thought Luna. The girl brushed a lock of golden hair behind her ear, no longer looking Luna in the eye. “My-my-my name?” “IT IS ALL WE HAVE REQUESTED,” said Luna. “IS IT TOO MUCH?” Twilight stepped beside Luna, and put a hand on her shoulder. Twilight smiled nervously at the girl. “What my friend means is, we don’t know how we got here, and you’re the first new person we’ve met. My name’s Twilight Sparkle. What’s yours?” The girl finally looked back up. “Twilight Sparkle, huh? Dig those vamp books a little too much?” She chuckled, but Luna didn’t understand what was so funny. “My name’s Celeste.” Luna exchanged an uncertain look with Twilight, then looked back at the girl. From behind her, Rainbow Dash spoke up. “I’m sorry, I think I misheard you.” The girl shouted, perhaps a little too loudly, “MY NAME’S CELESTE!” Luna didn’t believe in coincidences, but how this girl was related to how they got here, she still couldn’t figure out. Twilight made introductions of everyone, and the girl thought the names were all quite strange. “You never did answer me, though,” said Celeste. “Why are you all naked?” Luna smiled. “It is a long story, and I am not sure we should tell it in the open like this.” Celeste looked as though a sudden thought had occurred to her. “Well, come up to my apartment. It’s on the tenth floor, and I should have some clothes for you all. Well, maybe not him,” she pointed to Spike, who looked mildly bemused, “but I can just borrow some from my brother.” The nine dutifully followed Celeste into the building. The slick tile felt strange under Luna’s feet, but it was not a wholly unpleasant feeling. She reveled in the quiet sound of footfalls echoed infinitely down the hallway. Ponies never used tile for flooring in Equestria, because the hooves trotting on it created such a din, it was overwhelming. Here though, the soft padding of the fleshy feet sounded more like muted suction cups than the clip-clop of hooves. Celeste led them to an elevator, and pressed a button. When the door opened, they all filed in, and Celeste pressed a button. Luna felt like she was flying up for a moment, but her feet never left the ground. It was very disconcerting. Such a tiny room, Luna thought. She smiled at Celeste, who smiled nervously back, and again at Twilight when she looked as though she was about to say something. The door opened into an open-spaced apartment, no columns to obstruct sightlines, with an expansive bay window which took up one wall. A divan and matching chairs were circled on one side, and a kitchen took up the other. In the far corner, there were 3 doors, which Luna assumed were bedrooms. Luna sat down on the couch, along with Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash. Rarity took a chair, as did Twilight and Lyra. The others sat on the floor nearby. All except Pinkie Pie, who was busy staring wondrously out at the metropolitan skyline. Celeste stood behind the chair directly opposite Luna, and Lyra looked up at her when she spoke. “Okay. Private Space,” Celeste motioned. “So let’s hear it.” “We are…” Twilight began. “We are not…from here,” Luna finished. “From this world.” Celeste eyed them carefully. “I imagine you think such a claim is quite preposterous. But I assure you, we are not. I am not sure of the rules of your world, but in ours, magic is commonplace. We were attempting to travel in time, and ended up here instead.” “How do you know this isn’t your world, and you’re not just crazy?” Celeste asked. It was a valid question. “Does anyone you know have one of these?” Luna asked, rotating herself so Celeste had a clearer view of her cutie mark. Celeste snorted. “Yeah, they’re called tattoos.” “Look closer.” Celeste laughed, but when she saw all the others were serious, she straightened out, and bent in for a closer look. “But…that’s…like, you’re skin! It’s not ink or anything – that IS skin! Like a colored freckle...” Now Celeste looked positively shaken, but less than Luna imagined she would be. “Okay…okay, let’s say I do believe you,” she said. “What can I do to help?” Rainbow Dash spoke up. “Well for starters, can you do something about the heat in here?” Celeste laughed. “Sure. Too hot?” Dashie nodded. “…It needs to be about 20% cooler.” Twilight ignored Rainbow Dash’s complaint. “We need to find someone who knows about magic, if it exists here at all.” “Well, I don’t know anything about the stuff. But I think the place to start would be to go talk to Big Mac.” The ponies all looked at Applejack. “What?” asked Celeste. Luna said calmly, “There is no such thing as a coincidence.”
