Twilight stared at her notes. The mirror was broken. She wasn’t sure how it had happened. In the wake of the mirrors destruction, Twilight had lost all hope. Equestria was going to die, and she couldn’t protect her friends or save the citizens of the planet. Until Celestia had mentioned something. There were exactly five Sphinxes on Equestria. Sphinxi? She’d worry about semantics like that later.

According to Celestia, those five Sphinxes existed in a “plain between worlds”. They weren’t actually denizens of Eques itself. They were beings “between realities.” The mirror itself had actually contained a Sphinx feather, which was what made it possible for ponies to travel between the two different worlds the mirror was attached to.

If her notes proved true, and she was right about how Sphinxes worked, this might be a way to save creatures all over the world. Looking up when a knock on the door caught her attention, she stood up and walked away from her desk. Following the familiar path from her office to the front door of the castle, Twilight used as little magic as she could to open the door. Sitting in front of them was a Sphinx. She was a glorious creature, tall and beautiful with tan fur, wings that matched the hair flowing from the top of her head.

Her face was rather pony shaped, but the rest of her body looked like a massive lion, right down to her tail. “No riddles today, Princess. I have come to answer your plight. The plight of the entire planet, in fact. I hope we can help.” She said. Twilight smiled and ushered her into the castle. The two of them chatted about the situation as they walked to the map room. Waiting for them was Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie, engrossed in a game of checkers. The two mares looked up as Twilight and the Sphinx entered the room.

“Is this her, Twilight?” Pinkie asked. Twilight just nodded.

“I’ll be the one going. This was my idea after all and…”

“No Twilight. I’ll go. Let’s all face it… if Equestria is going to die… I want to stay here with my animal friends. I can’t abandon them like that. So… if something goes wrong… at least I can wait for them.” Fluttershy said, stopping Twilight from making a decision that could be dangerous.

“How will you tell us if it works?” Pinkie asked and Fluttershy paused to think about it for a minute.

“If it works, she will be returned here when I return to this body.” The sphinx said. “I will eject her, and she can inform you. If it does not… I suppose I will not have to worry about finding a meal on the way home.”

“Don’t joke about that.” Twilight said, her voice was almost dangerously low. “This is one of my friends we’re talking about. This has to work.” There was a rather pregnant pause as the ponies all thought about the situation. “Is there any way to know what world she’ll wind up in?” The Sphinx shook her head.

“I do not decide where I go when I leave this body. I merely go where I will be needed when a being is asking a question.” She said and Twilight nodded.

“You can release Fluttershy before giving the other being their riddle, right?”

“Of course. It will seem strange to the one asking the question, but it is quite possible. Your friend will have taken on the appearance of the denizens of that world as well, if the magic of that world allows it.”

“So she might remain a pony.” The Sphinx nodded and Twilight stared at her notes for a minute. Not really reading them, simply to stare at something other than the creature that was about to devour one of her friends alive.

“We do not have time to contemplate, Princess. You and I both know that Equestria is dying. Contemplation, planning and discussion will merely waste time. We do this with or without your permission.” The Sphinx said and Twilight blinked, looking up at her. Fluttershy was already sitting between the massive creatures front legs, staring up at her. Twilight wanted to stop them. She wanted to tell them to wait, to not be hasty. But they were both right. There was no time to wait.

Without another word said, the Sphinx ducked her head down, taking Fluttershy’s head in her maw and lifting her up. Sitting back further on her own haunches, the Sphinx used her lion paws, claws tucked away in her paws, to lift Fluttershy up further. Tipping her head back, the Sphinx pushed on Fluttershy’s rump until a mighty gulp sent the timid mare into the larger creature’s stomach.

The other ponies present all watched as the Sphinx turned into stone, her formerly squirming stomach becoming just as stone as the rest of her.

~~~~~~~~

Fluttershy squirmed. It felt strange. Her entire body felt different. Reaching up with her hooves, she paused. Those weren’t hooves. They were hands. Pink hands. Had she turned into Pinkie Pie somehow? She’d figure that out later. Moving those hands, she touched herself. She couldn’t see well. The stomach was tight around her body. Breasts. Still female, thankfully. Flat tight tummy. Abs? A squeak escaped her as her hand wandered further down. Definitely female.

Suddenly the stomach squeezed around her, and she found herself being forced upward, feet first. She wasn’t sure she wanted to be out of the Sphinx this way, the way her body currently was. If there were other creatures around, the first thing they’d see of her was her bare ass. And everything else. A tickle against her spine paused that train of thought. She had a tail? It didn’t feel pony-like though. So maybe they’d only get a glimpse. She could cover herself with her tail. She didn’t have much more time to think of it as her rear suddenly felt the cold air outside of the Sphinx’s mouth.

She hit the ground rather rough and looked around. There wasn’t anycreature nearby, but she was naked. She looked, for the most part, like her human self from Sunset’s world. A few minor differences was fur covering her arms from her elbows to her hands, ending in sharp claws. As well as digitigrade feet also ending in sharp claws. A tail swayed behind her, flicking spittle from the fur. Her breasts were exposed but a tuft of fur covered her crotch almost like underwear.

“First question… what am I?” she asked herself, thinking she was alone.

“Well you must be a demon.” A voice said. She jumped slightly and looked around until she spotted a girl that looked a lot like Twilight, just without the fur, ears and tail. “Because I have never seen a woman that looks like you crawl out of the mouth of a Sphinx because someone asked a question. Speaking of, the answer is sand.” The girl said. The Sphinx stared at her before bowing down and placing a small sphere on the ground in front of her. The girl picked it up, bowed to the Sphinx, and placed the sphere in her purse.

“So… where am I?”

“Equestria. Unless you meant this specific place, in which case you’re in the Garden of the Sphinx.” The other girl said. Fluttershy stared at her for a minute, trying to think of things Twilight would ask her, before a rumble behind her drew her attention to the Sphinx.

“You have twelve hours to explore this world, Timid Pony. Before that time is up, return here so you may be returned to your world.”

“That’s new. No riddles… and she said you’re a pony?”

“Y...yes. My name is Fluttershy. I’m friends with a princess of Equestria, from a different world. My world is dying because the... magic keeping it stable is wearing out. I think that's what Twilight said..."

“I see. Well I don’t think we can help you. Resources in this world are running low as it is. Over population is a problem that, with luck, this jewel will help solve.”

“What’s it supposed to do?”

“If my research is correct, if used correctly it will stunt the reproductive abilities of every creature on the planet for a period of time long enough for the planet to recover and produce resources again to stabilize itself and our lives.”

"Oh dear. I'm sorry it's not working right. Did... are you sure you did everything the way it's supposed to be done?"

“I did. Mostly. Resources are low right now and projected numbers indicate in the next hundred years or so they will be so much lower that the current population will struggle to simply continue living, let alone produce more children.” Twilight nodded. If this other Twilight had calculated numbers to take into consideration the future expansion of life, she knew what she was doing. And telling her that there wouldn’t be room on her planet for ponies wasn’t just her being greedy. She was being scientifically honest. A planet with dwindling resources couldn’t sustain a population that suddenly doubled in size.

“Thank you for helping. We'll have to keep looking for a potential new home, but it warms my heart to know there are creatures like yourself willing to talk instead of just fight.” Fluttershy said as she returned to the Sphinx. “Do I need to solve another riddle to return home?” Fluttershy asked it.

The Sphinx stared at her for a moment before letting out a dramatic roar and lunging downwards. The completely human Twilight watched in shock and amazement as the demonic-looking version of one of her friends was swallowed alive by the Sphinx. As the bulge shaped like a girl she knew well vanished into the Sphinx’s stomach, it looked at her. “You… don’t have to eat me too, do you?” she asked. “I won’t tell anyone what just happened, I swear.”

The Sphinx stared at her for a moment before simply turning back to stone, the bulge in its stomach vanishing. “That’s… a no then.”

Twilight watched as the Sphinx in the middle of the throne room turned back into a creature. It hadn’t been a statue long, but it had been long enough. She was about to ask if Fluttershy was ok when the creature started choking, much like a cat when it was spitting out a hairball. Stepping away so she didn’t get in the Sphinx’s way, Twilight watched as Fluttershy was brought up and out of the great beasts mouth.

“That world won’t do either. Resource problems.” Fluttershy said after a beat of silence. Sighing, Twilight walked over to her chart and marked a no next to a blank spot. A quick inquiry and she marked the spot as "Demon World". A new world of demons, though it seemed humans and demons mingled there rather freely.

Author's Note

I hope I didn't miss any alterations I needed to make. At some point down the line, I forgot it was Fluttershy that went instead of Twilight.