Vacation for Three Please

Chapters

1: The First Steps
2: A Humane Induction
3: Not a Nudist Beach
4: The Relationship Dilemma
4.5: Fashion's Choices
5: What Happens At Home...
5.5: Concern
6: A Couple of Equestria Lands
7: The Diary
8: The Mirror
9: The Door With The Key
10: We're A Work In Progress
Prologue: The Holiday Dream
HIATUS CATCH UP

1: The First Steps

It was a still day at Canterlot High.

The early morning sun was just starting to rise behind the school. The still Sunday morning air was light and breezy. Far down the avenue came the distant sounds of an early morning runner. Other than the rustle of the trees, the street was quiet.

Nobody got up this early in the morning.

A shining noise echoed in the courtyard of Canterlot High.
The light magic swirling sound filled the air for just a moment before dissipating.

The square statue base outside the school started to shake. A blue-purple boot stepped out from the statue and then lost its balance and fell to the floor. Rarity was bemused. She knew of the changes that would take place but never expected anything like this.

Her hooves were soft and dangly. Her neck felt light and weak. The concrete below her was cold on her limbs as she tried to recover from the disorientating feeling. She felt like her body was covered with fabric, like clothes, but she wasn't wearing any clothes a minute ago.

She moved her new limbs like hooves. One at a time to get uses to the new feeling, crawling a few feet away from the portal to allow Applejack and Rainbow Dash to make their way through. She took in her new environment pulling her head up from her thin neck.

A concrete path lay before her, heading towards what she assumed was Canterlot High School. The tall three story building surrounded the courtyard. Between the path and the school lay well kempt grass. The architecture was very different to Equestria. There was a lot more concrete around. Even the trees behind her were surrounded by the concrete path.

She could not see Sunset Shimmer anywhere. She was supposed to be here to greet them.

Behind her the orange leg of Applejack carefully trod its way into the world. As the swirling noise of the portal rose and fell again. Applejack held herself up by the corner of the portal. Taking in the sights and trying to stay balanced on two legs. Remembering the training Twilight and Sunset had put them through the day before.

Twilight aimed her pointing stick at the chalk board next to her.

"So this is a rough approximation of what a "human" looks like. Sunset will be over soon with some photos she can show you." Indeed on the chalk board was a chalk outline of a rather weird figure. It seemed to have a large head on a disproportionately thin body.

There were four legs but in a rather confusing formation. Twilight pointed to the anatomy of the 'human'.
"These two legs, are legs. But these two near head are referred to as 'hands' or 'arms'. Instead of hooves or magic, humans lift things with their hands and they only stand by balancing on these two legs."

Rarity tried to take all the information in on how to use each limb, but it seemed confusing.

Then Sunset entered the room carrying a small stack of photos. She had demonstrated how humans walk by standing up only on her two back hooves. Then she stumbled down a couple of times. "It's a lot easier with human legs, trust me."

She had also explained to them how humans always wear clothes and refer to each other as "EveryBODY or anyBODY, not anyPONY or everyCREATURE." All in all, it hadn't seemed so far away from the normality of Equestria. Apart from the whole, new body kind of thing.

Sunset came running down the path to their left.

Rarity and Applejack turned their heads to find the sound of the calling.

"Rarity, Applejack! I'm so sorry I'm late, my alarm didn't go off properly!" Sunset panted, seeming so sturdy in this human form. For the first time, Rarity took in the sight of a human properly. This new body didn't look all that bad.

The first thing she noticed were the clothes. Sunset's leather jacket and pink skirt complimented her orange shirt and yellow complexion nicely. Her long red and yellow hair flowing behind her as she ran which reminded Rarity of pony's manes.

Sunset arrived at the statue. She offered a hand to Rarity on the floor. It was the first time Rarity had seen a hand. Instinctively she bought her own hand up to meet Sunset's. She analysed the fingers on her limb. They seemed fragile and delicate. Her white skin, she noticed, felt light too.

Taking in the delicate feeling of skin on skin, hand on hand, Rarity passed her hands onto Sunset. Sunset tightened her fingers around Rarity's hand.

"Here let me pull you up." She said.

"Oh okay yes, um, yes please." Rarity stumbled over her words. Sunset offered a strong grip and pulled Rarity to her feet. Rarity struggled to keep her balance and tumbled straight into Sunset who supported her.

"Here, lean on me using your arms and just take a second to find your balance on two feet." Sunset said, turning to Applejack. "Has Rainbow Dash made it through yet?"

Applejack looked like she did whenever human Applejack got seasick, green shading her face. She shook her head. Applejack felt light headed and dizzy, so shaking didn't help.

"Don't worry, the nausea wears off in about five minutes." Sunset consoled. "This is so exciting, It's the first time since Starlight that anypony has come through to the human world."

After one more moment Rainbow Dash shot through the portal and instantly tripped on her feet, flying onto the grass next to the path.

"Woahoahoahaohahaaaaaa, I was not expecting THAT!" She yelled rolling on the ground. She came to a stop. Sunset giggled for a moment and slowly let Rarity get used to just standing still on her feet. The she went to go help the downed Rainbow.

The portal rippled once more, and very carefully, Twilight stepped through with confidence, moving both feet into a standing position and keeping herself supported. "Everything okay out here?" She noticed Sunset helping Rainbow up. "Sorry about Rainbow. I tried to warn her, but she didn't listen."

Sunset laughed. "It's okay Twilight, it was kinda funny."

"Thank you for doing this for them Sunset."

"Indeed.... Thank you kindly." Rarity replied weakly. She pulled her back muscles up and supported her head on top of her neck, recovering from the wild ride of the portal.

"I'm looking forward to this week. We have a lot to do and a good mix of adventure and relaxation." Sunset reassured, walking Rainbow over to the group stood around the stone statue.

She gave Twilight a one armed hug, supporting Rainbow with the other. "Make sure they don't get into any trouble. If you need me, you know how to contact me."

"Yes Twilight, don't worry. They'll be okay."

"Okay." She nodded, pulling away from their embrace reassured. "Have a good time you guys."

"Thanks yall Twilight." Applejack slurred, "Just wish this holiday didn't have to START with the headache." she joked.

"Let's get you all settled into walking. There'll be no-one around at this time in the morning. Then we can head back to my place and I'll talk you through the plans."

As the three pony-girls recovered, they slowly came to appreciate the new world and the height that their new body offered, growing in confidence through walking. As they made their way to Sunset's maisonette they fiddled with some of their new features. Exploring what they could do with hands, zips, buttons, hair, arms. All manner of new things that they couldn't do before.

2: A Humane Induction

Pony Rarity made her way to the Friendship Castle.

Applejack and Rainbow Dash were waiting outside.

She scanned the Friendship school to her right.

Across the path that broke the waters between the school and the castle were trotting Twilight and Starlight. Twilight seemed a bit wary while Starlight looked a might concerned. From a distance, she could make out their conversation as she approached.

"And you're definitely sure about this?" Starlight questioned.

"I'm not, not sure about it. Sunset has the plans in preparation. She's pretty sure about it. I think."

"But she's going to come here first to give them an induction?" Starlight queried.

"There's a plan. I'm going over basic human biology with them now though."

"Do we know if the mirror still works?" Starlight quizzed.

"I'm pretty sure it does." Twilight chuckled.

Rarity met them at the front door to the Friendship Castle.

"Howdy yall," Applejack greeted.

"So are you all ready?" Twilight investigated.

"Oh so many questions darling." Rarity dismissed. "I am so ready for this getaway. A time to relax and finally get away from all the hustle and bustle without anypony asking for autographs or friendship advice." Rarity quelled. "Now shall we get in and get ready to go?"

"One step at a time Rarity. I'll talk you through it." Twilight also quelled.

Starlight unlocked the door to her friendship castle and the five ponies made their way inside.

Sunset left her keys resting in the lock of her front door. She turned to face the three pony-girls behind her.

"This is my house, well flat. I live in a maisonette on the top floor. I have a few things I need to go through with you if you're going to blend in around here."

"Darling didn't we just go through all this with you and Twilight back in Equestria?"

"Yeah!" Rainbow Dash perked up behind her, "yada yada, legs, yada yada, everyONE and so on. Come on! let's get to the chillaxing and exploring!"

"Now hold your horses yall." Applejack said. She felt funny for saying 'horses', could she say horses? She looked to Sunset confused, who gave her a chuckle and a nod.

"Yes Applejack, you can say that. We use that expression quite a lot here." Sunset reassured.

"Akay, well, ah think we all need to hear what Sunset has to teach us." She finished.

"Yes, I know you've been through all that, but there's a little more to this than there seems." She said intriguingly. "Here, come, I'll show you."

Rainbow, Rarity and Applejack followed Sunset up the stairs to her maisonette. On the table next to the door lay three different outfits, which Rarity could make out were definitely for each of them. Blue for her, green for Applejack and some kind of sporty tracksuit for Rainbow. The skirt / shirt design was starting to grow on her.

Sunset went to open a door next to her staircase and waited for Rarity to settle in from the sight of the clothes.

"I have three main things I need to cover with you now that we are here. This is the first."

She swung open the door next to the stairs.

"This is a human toilet. You're going to have to get used to them for the next week." She chuckled, amused by their reactions to her surprise.

"Oh, oh yes, I suppose that is rather useful information." Rarity uttered under her breath.

Rainbow Dash burst into a laughing fit. Applejack put an firm, calming arm around her in an attempt to prevent the outburst lasting too long.
It didn't work.

"I know, I know, it's rather similar to pony toilets. However, because of legs, we have to sit on them in a slightly different way. See rather than sitting with four hooves, you have to sit with your butt. It's the same difference between how a human and pony might sit on a chair." Sunset finished the introduction.

Despite her efforts to stay empathetic about the situation for Rarity, she couldn't help but crack a smile by the way Rainbow treated the situation.

"I see..." Rarity approached slowly, taking in the sight of the small cubical containing a ceramic toilet, sink, and shower in the corner. She studied the object for another moment. "And how will we know when we have to use the toilet in these bodies...?" She broached the question with vague embarrassment.

Rainbow tried to muffle the chuckle by closing her mouth. Applejack shot her a dirty look for laughing at a personal issue.

"Well that part is pretty much the same as being a pony. You will feel you need to go because your bladder will start to kick in. You'll feel it." She assured Rarity. "Here, come have a look at the clothes." Sunset called to the three.

"These are some outfits I borrowed from your counterparts in this world. I hope you're all still the same size as them, you look about the same. You'll need to wear clothes all the time, every day. So I got you a change of outfits so you can wash the ones you're wearing. There are pyjamas over on each of your beds too." Sunset explained, pointing to the three mattress beds set up on the other side of the room.

"I also got some swimsuits and underwear in your counterparts sizes from the mall, they're on your beds as well." She pointed out.

"Nah hang on just a minute there. You said we'd be needing to wear clothes all the time we're here. Like even at the beach?" Applejack asked shocked.

"Yes, in this world we have to. At the beach, you wear the swimsuits, which is about to as close to being naked in public as it gets usually. And around other people it's usually polite to wear pyjamas when going to bed." Sunset explained. "You get used to it, but yes, public nudity is illegal here unlike Equestria."

"Isn't that a hassle?" Applejack wondered.

"It's... different, and some people get a little anxiety from trying to choose the right clothes, but generally speaking, it doesn't affect your day, apart from when you wake up and have to change... You can still be naked in your own house, or in the bathroom." Sunset tried to assure them. Applejack investigated the clothes, a little suspiciously.

"Well I think that some of these new fashion styles will be an exciting adventure." Rarity defended clothes.

"Yeah yeah, okay got it. Clothes, toilet, what's the last thing you got?" Rainbow Dash asked brashly.

"Calm down there Sugar-cube, we got the whole week to get explorin an' relaxin. Ain't no rush to get goin, especially on the first day in new bodies." Applejack quelled. She was still feeling a tad sea sick from the journey here.

"Okay, so the third thing I have to tell you about, is the relationships." Sunset broached carefully. "Please have a sit down and I'll explain." She gestured towards her sofas and arm chairs. The girls obliged. Rainbow took a moment before settling down onto the sofa via her but, which was a new sensation. Moments later she felt herself reclining back into the soft cushion, her muscles relaxing from the walking.

Rarity approached the armchair and put her feet onto the cushion, trying to figure out how to put her arms down onto the cushion as well. She found herself kneeling on the chair with her arms supporting her. Sunset gave a chuckle.
"Try it this way Rarity." She demonstrated, keeping her legs on the floor, and sinking her body backwards into the armchair opposite.

Rarity reflected on her current pose, and adjusted herself around to let her legs drop to the floor. She nodded to Sunset and tried to understand the weird sensation.

Applejack copied a mix of Sunset and Rainbow, and sank into the sofa next to Rainbow. She shifted slightly closer to her partner and felt their legs touch, which seemed weird. Then Rainbow dropped an arm over the back of the sofa, around Applejack, like you might sling a hoof around somepony to hold them in an embrace.

Applejack accepted the new feeling, and turned her attention back to Sunset.

"So in this world, you all have counterparts, as you know. But as you might not be aware, the dynamics of our friendship circle seem to vary vastly from the friendships your circle has in Equestria." Sunset explained. Using her long fingers on her arm, she pulled out a small black box from her jacket pocket.

The box in Sunset's hand buzzed, and then, a big black area of the wall decor suddenly shone a bright white light over the room. "AWESOME!" Was Rainbow Dash's reaction. "What is that?"

Meanwhile Rarity and Applejack were stunned.

"Oh, aha, sorry. I forgot you don't have televisions in Equestria do you. This is a television. It's a big box that shows you moving images. People create all kinds of things, and the TV displays them retrospectively. Here is a basic example." Sunset quelled, tapping her black box for a few clicks.

The 'television' turned blue, black and then popped up a big picture of Sunset with her human friends. Atop the screen, a piece of text displayed itself : "Android connectivity enabled".

"And what is that thing you're using there?" Rainbow asked shoving an arm right in front of Applejack's face as she pointed to Sunset's black box.

"This is a smart-phone." She explained. "This is like a smaller television. Only I can use it to send messages to my friends. Like I send messages to Twilight using the magic diary. Only it can do other things too, like displaying photos - just like I'm doing now." She held up the phone to demonstrate that the phone displayed the same picture as the television.

"Oh Wow." Was Rarity's response, awed by the technology. "So you can contact anyone you like? Does it use magic?"

"Not quite. I can contact a lot of people, but it's not magic, it's technology here."

"Sounds like some kind of complicated doohicky that can only cause trouble if yall ask me." Applejack chimed in. Sunset smiled at her. She was not wrong with that comment, but she left it at that.

"Anyway, the relationships between my friends. As I explained, they're different dynamics here." She pointed at the screen to help illustrate why.

"Wha'd ya mean exactly?" Applejack inquired.

"Well. For a start, Twilight isn't a pony princess, she's just a girl, who's very smart and is a very good friend. She's just finished college and has started an apprenticeship with one of the biggest technology development company's in this world. Fluttershy has just recently joined a management team at a big veterinary hospital, among other creatures, they treat horses, ponies and donkeys. That took even me a little time to get used to." She chuckled.

"Pinkie Pie is a supervisor at the local bakery, as well as being a party planner, so I don't imagine there is much different there. Rarity, your double works in fashion. Although she doesn't run an entire empire, she is a Junior manager at one of the premier bespoke boutiques in town. Her designs have been attracting a fair bit of attention at national fashion shows though.

"Rainbow just got a contract with one of the local soccer teams; It's a popular sport here. She's been away for a couple of years training at college. She also races dirt-cross motorbikes, and is pretty successful at that too. And Applejack, your double works all kinds of things, rodeo's, smoothie bars, homemade cider. She's had all kinds of jobs while helping Rarity get through her fashion competitions."

"Um, in this universe, Rainbow Dash and Applejack aren't a couple, sooo. I guess those are the differences. Obviously there are others, it's an entirely different universe, but yeah."

The three sat there for a moment, taking it all in.

"We can use this morning so you can get you used to your bodies and then at about eleven we can head down to the beach if you want. It's pretty quiet on days like today." Sunset finished up.

Still a bit stunned from the information, Rarity was the first to reply. "That sounds lovely darling, thank you so much for being so accommodating."

3: Not a Nudist Beach

Rarity sank back onto the warm fabric that separated her body from the hot sand beneath her. She let the ground support her as she stretched her limbs out. It felt good. Her feet enjoyed the pleasure of digging and caressing the fine powder that surrounded her.

'This is much more pleasant than reclining in a deck chair.' She thought. Pony bodies didn’t really allow for this kind of reclination due to their leg positions.

She let the warming rays of the bright sun beat down upon her pale white skin, bringing her a warming, relaxing sensation.

She was in heaven.

This was the closest she had been to naked the whole time she had been on this world. Her blue bikini fitting her perfectly, and supporting the two breasts she was now endowed with. In fact she was pleased that they did wear clothes all the time in this world. She felt like walking around with them unsupported might not be too easy.

Letting out a deep, conceded breath, she let all those thoughts float away. She was here.

She had her beach, there were no press, and there was no need to teach any friendship lessons.

Rainbow Dash ran along the beach front. The water lapped at her heels and the wind breezed through her hair. Applejack followed her, catching up step by step. They were on a level playing field now. A few steps later and splash!

Applejack hurled her body at rainbow, tackling her to the ground in a clumsy manner, not quite sure how the frail human body works. Rainbow tumbled into the sea with her as the waves roared next to them.

They laughed together and Applejack pecked a kiss upon Rainbow’s blue cheek. Another wave roared past and Rainbow used it to wrestle Applejack around and onto the sand bellow her.

“Gotcha!” She cried in victory, straddling Applejack and holding her shoulders down into the sand.

“Or have yah!” Applejack replied. She used her superior arm muscle to swipe Rainbow’s arms from her shoulders. Before Rainbow could fall onto her, she caught her torso, and lowered Rainbow down for a deep, intimate kiss.

As their lips touched another wave roared over them. Rainbow was knocked aside, but Applejack kept her grip strong, and they intertwined in their embrace.

Their discovery of this new type of intimacy guiding their new-found contact. Their bare skin between their bikini and swim shorts providing new sensual possibilities.

Sunset returned from the ice cream kart a few hundred meters away with two ice cream cones. She approached wearing her normal black bikini with orange swim-skirt.

“Those two seem to be having a good time.” She exclaimed, taking a seat on the towel next to Rarity beneath a shady wooden umbrella.

Rarity took the effort to raise her head just enough that she could spy Rainbow and Applejack’s embrace from behind her dark sunglasses.

“Oh darling, this is so good for them. They’ve been so stressed back home.”

Sunset smiled. “I got you an ice-cream, here.” She offered a cone to Rarity. “It’s just like pony ice-cream, you eat the cone and lick the cream.”

“Ooooohhh thank you!” She exclaimed, sitting up in delight.

The two sat in silence for a moment, admiring the golden sand of the sunny beach.

“Do you have anyone, sorry, anypony back home Rarity?” Sunset asked curiously.

Rarity stumbled before answering, “Um no darling. I’m afraid that running a fashion empire just takes too much effort to be able to hold down stable relationships.”

Sunset sensed something in her reply. “Would you like someone?” she asked, observing “Appledash” in action and thinking about her own coupled friends. Rarity turned to Sunset studying her for a second, then she followed her gaze over to Appledash. She felt her eyes start to water more than normal behind her big sunglasses.

She thought of replying for a few moments but then turned her attention back to the relaxation at hand. “Well a few times I’ve thought about it. But I must prioritise my business and my employees. I mustn't take my eye off the ball. A second spent is a bit earned as they say, and they all have wages and commissions that need paying.”

She put on her strong businesswoman attitude. Sunset smiled and turned her attention back to her ice cream, taking a bite out the side of the cone. Rarity smiled too. She pushed her long purple hair out of her sunbathed face and mimicked Sunset, using her newly arranged teeth to take a bite of the cold cream.

She concentrated on putting that conversation out of her mind, in an attempt to turn her smile into a more sincere one. She felt like there might have been more to Sunset’s comment but she didn’t like to pry. She didn't know Sunset all too well.

Another wave roared over the pair of kissing humans.

Rainbow pulled away, having made her way back on top. She moved Applejack’s hair out of her eyes.

“I bet you miss your hat.” She said softly.

“Ah bet you miss your wings.”

“But you know what I don’t miss?”

“What?”

“You.” She taunted, planting a kiss on Applejack's lips.

She pulled away and stared into her big green eyes, admiring their colour and beauty. She touched the soft, long blond hair with her hands, it was now coated in sand. Her heart was racing and she felt herself dawn to Applejack. She moved in closer.

Applejack felt herself excited. She was enjoying it too much. She pulled her head up to meet Rainbow’s lips.

CRASH!

Before their lips could meet, a large wave pounded right into the side of Applejack. Her ears, nose and mouth were filled with salty sea water and a greasy stream of seaweed clung to her hair.

Rainbow recoiled in shock. She had completely forgotten about the sea for a minute. She landed on her bum in the wet sand behind her looking up at the disgruntled Applejack. Then she fell about laughing.

“RAINBOW!” Applejack spluttered annoyed.

“Awww c'mon, that wasn’t my fault.” She offered a hand to her downed girlfriend. "Here I’m sorry.”

Applejack nodded it off and accepted Rainbow's hand. The moment however had passed. She looked over to see Sunset and Rarity sharing an ice-cream a little way away. Rainbow then pulled her up.

"Ah wonder how Rarity's doin'." She said thoughtfully.

Rarity finished her ice-cream, bringing her sandy hands together and dusting them off. "Where shall I put the Napkin Sunset?" She asked.

"Oh just pass it here, I'll go take it to the bin up there." She gestured to the bin. It sat in front of the rocky wall at the edge of the beach that separated the sand from the pathway.

"Oh are you sure?"

"It's no problem, don't worry. You just get back to sunbathing and enjoying the holiday." Sunset offered, taking Rarity's napkin from her hands. "Be back in a minute." She chirped, making her way over the sand to the bin. Rarity gave her a thankful smile.

Then she sighed. Her demeanour now heavy with loneliness. She let herself feel for just a moment before shrugging it off and putting on a smile again. She took a deep breath leaning back and letting the sun shine down on her face, enjoying the warmth it bought her.

Applejack and Rainbow Dash approached the sunbathing spot arm in arm. A neat trick they had learnt with this human body, they could link arms and walk at the same time. It was comforting. Ponies couldn't do that or they'd fall over.

"How's it goin' Rare?" She called upon approach.

"Oh, it's so nice to be able to just relax under the beautiful sun and not have anypony following us around!"

"You sure about that?" Rainbow quizzed, diving to her towel. They were separated only by Applejack's towel. Rarity gave her a defensive, investigative look. "I know chillaxing, and you don't seem chillaxed." Rainbow said in response, relaxing back on her towel.

"Y'all do seem a tad tense Rarity." Applejack asked concerned.

Rarity looked away from them and down the beach. Her smile had not held up. She took a deep breath and thought of Sunset's questions.

"It's nothing, I'm sorry, I've just had a lot on my mind recently, with the boutique and all." She sat up and turned around, checking on Sunset's location. Applejack took a seat on the towel next to her. She gave a concerned look to Rainbow.

"Sunset's been so lovely, it's a shame we never really got to know her back when." Rarity distracted from the conversation.

"Yeah, Twilight was always concerned about us bumping into ourselves. That's why she never came back here." Rainbow called over from her chillaxed position, reaching for a pair of dark sunglasses to shield her eyes from the beating sun.

"Ah know, but a copy of herself was always here, so it's not like the universe is gunna implode because us three are here now." Applejack added.

"She seems so excited for us to be here, I guess she must miss Equestria a little. I would." She realised this conversation was no more upbeat than the last one, she suddenly switched up her manner. "On the up side, the fact they wear so many clothes here is just fabulous. Bikini's! Equestria barely has any bikini industry, here there are some absolutely beautiful options."

Applejack shared a smile with Rainbow. Rainbow who didn't register the smile from behind the dark glasses. Rarity now brimming with vigour for fashion.

At that point, Sunset returned from her errand.

"Hey guys! Gettin' very cushy over there." She called, snidely mocking the couple next to Rarity. Applejack blushed, but Rainbow was already gone into her world of chillaxing, lost in a world of relaxation. "It's a shame you don't have enough time to learn how to swim, the water is lovely and warm this time of year.

"How come it is so warm?" Applejack asked. "It's nearing winter in Equestria, do you not have winter here?"

"Well, in Equestria, ponies control everything, from weather and seasons, to the time of day. Here it all just seems to happen." Sunset replied.

"You mean like the magic of the Everfree forest?" Rarity inquired.

"I guess so, it all controls itself. I'm guessing that at various points Equestria just became out of sync with this world. This is our late summer here."

"Well darling the late summer fashion is gorgeous. We don't have anything like this in Equestria."

"Aha, I thought you might like that." Sunset looked at her watch. "Time is getting on, do you guys fancy going out and getting some food?"

"Ah sure could go for somethin, mah stomach feels empty as a cider barrel after cider season." Sunset gave her a funny look, but Rarity was used to her countryisms by now.

"I know a great place at the mall that I think you guys will love." She chirped.

"What's a mall?" Rarity asked innocently, "and can we eat the same food we're used to here?"

"Well the food here is different, but I think there's a fair selection that will be familiar to you. As for the mall.., that you'll just have to wait and see." She teased, knowing full well Rarity would enjoy that experience... Hopefully.

They spent a few minutes packing up their towels. Waking Rainbow proved a tougher trick than expected. She had been working a lot, evidently the Wonderbolt's exercise regimen transposed fatigue to this body too.

They headed back to Sunset's to get changed.

Changed into other outfits. Rarity was excited.

4: The Relationship Dilemma

Rainbow Dash's ears suddenly perked up as she noticed the familiar speech patterns of a pony coming to the end of a lecture. She stopped leaning on her front hooves and sat up attentively. She didn't mean to zone out, but she just didn't really get the whole sitting and learning thing.

"Once you get to my place, I'll give you a bit more information about our world." She seemed to finish with. Then she said something about meeting tomorrow, and something about step gently. Rainbow looked attentive, but she wasn't really focused.

Upon the blackboard in front of her was the outline of a human, but without actually seeing one it just didn't quite compute in her mind. She kind of already knew that the best way for her to learn this stuff was by going there and actually doing it. Just like Twilight had done the first time she stepped through the portal. Explore.

Then Sunset left, something about dinner or something. With that, Rainbow's stomach rumbled. Hunger was infective.

"Did yah get any of that?" Applejack whispered to Rainbow upon Sunset's exit. Rainbow knew she was joking a bit, but she shook her head because she didn't really. They trotted after Sunset, down the corridors and staircases toward the portal.

Sunset said her goodbyes and made for the mirror.

"Oh and one last thing!" She abruptly turned back to them. She tried to explain the concept of human transport. This time, Rainbow wasn't the only one left confused. "Like a cart, but it pulls itself and you sit in it and steer it." Made of metal, has an engine... "Rainbow, I think you'll really get to like it."

"Cool..." Rainbow tried to think of a reasonable response. "I think I'll have to see it to understand though."

"Oooohh hoho. Maybe." Sunset chuckled to herself. "Anyway, see you tomorrow!" And with that she turned and left Equestria once more.

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Rarity twirled with excitement. She lifted her arms in joy. She was in heaven.

She stood for a second in the centre of the shopping mall, taking in the sights.

Fashion shops, food shops, all arrays of other shops, shoe shops for human shoes, they lined the walls of the large three story building. It was heavenly. There were spas and hair salons, art galleries and even bookshops.

She took a deep, deep breath of the sweetly perfumed air. Roses filled her nose and she let out an orgasmic sigh.

Why did Equestria never build anything like this?

"Oh Sunset, how do you ever spend time anywhere else?" She exclaimed. "Even in Manehattan it's all market-places or high-streets. This is truly fabulous!"

Sunset chuckled and she gestured towards a table in the centre of the food court. Rainbow Dash took a seat on a bench that surrounded the round table. Shortly followed by Sunset and Applejack. Rarity took a little longer, lost in her hypnotic state. Applejack muffled a cough to snap her out of the trance.

"Oh, sorry!" She exclaimed, a tad embarrassed. Rarity joined the others at the table and Sunset started explaining the evening plans.

“So we don’t have bits here. We have coins but they all have different values and you aren’t going to buy much with coins. Instead we tend to use notes or these things.” She laid out a five dollar bill on the table and held aloft a small rectangular piece of plastic. The others remained silent waiting for an explanation.

“We call these credit cards. Essentially you use this to pay now, and then later on I pay the company in dollar notes at the end of the month. That’s like, the simple way of explaining it.” Sunset had had many small things to try and explain, she deemed that the monetary system was far more complex then Equestria's and to explain it all would be a nightmare.
The other three still waited, this time for Sunset to explain what to do with this new information.

“So I figured you two wouldn’t be too enthused by the prospect of shopping..., unless you are?” She scanned Rainbow and Applejack’s faces who just looked around the shopping mall with confusion. “Anyway, I figured Rarity would definitely want to explore. So if I give you guys some dollars you can grab some food over there, and me and Rarity can meet you back here in an hour or so.” Sunset suggested. She looked to Rarity who was still distracted by her surroundings. "I don't think Rarity will even be thinking of eating until we've explored here."

Applejack harboured a chuckle.

“Sounds good to me!” Rainbow exclaimed, famished.

“Yeah, I’m hankerin' for some apple whatever-yah-gots-here.” Applejack seconded.

“Great. There’s a smoothie place over there that does apple smoothies and a Mexican place over there where you can get veggie burritos and quesadillas, I think you’ll like it. Here,” She pulled a card out of her inner jacket pocket along with a pile two notes. “Just tap one of these onto their little machine and it will make a payment. If it gets confusing just give them the dollar notes.”

“Oh darling, are you sure you’re okay with us spending your own money?” Rarity asked.

“Don’t sweat it, Twilight has offered to trade me some Equestrian goods I've been longing to get my hands on. She’ll explain when you get back.” Sunset gleefully explained.

“Sweet!” Rainbow exclaimed. “Dibs on getting the food.”

“Alrighty then. Ah'll go get the smoothies shall ah?” Rainbow gave Applejack a confirming nod.

“See you in a bit!” Sunset called as the pair left the table. "Right then," She said dubiously turning to Rarity, "Where shall we start?"

Rarity followed Sunset towards the escalators. They made their way to the second floor, the floor decorated with clothing shops. Meanwhile, Rainbow was stood in line for food while Applejack stood at the smoothie bar. Unbeknown to Rainbow and Applejack, Rarity approached the very table they were sat at. She dropped two large bags of fabric rolls onto the table and took a breather.

Noticing Rainbow Dash and Applejack in the cues, she took a seat at the table. She pulled a couple of sewing items out of her large bag to organise them while she waited.

"Uuuuhhhh..." Applejack stuttered. "How much do Ah owe yah?"

Two fresh apple smoothies stood proudly in front of her. They waited with berated excitement for their doom having just been thoroughly shook up. They watched Applejack with fascination.

"Ten." The unremarkable smoothie seller replied with blunt boredom. He had been stood still way too long. Applejack flashed the small piece of plastic at the small man.

"Ah got this." Applejack replied with uncertainty. She wasn't quite sure what to do with it. She only just realised that Sunset hadn't actually explained very clearly how to use it. The smoothie seller investigated her curiously for a moment before pointing to the small computer/calculator/phone-like device sitting upon the counter in front of Applejack.

A moment passed as Applejack investigated the mysterious human machine. Thankfully the smoothly seller gave her directions after a few moments. "Tap away." He said, his voice dry and monotone. In a way that soothed Applejack, she figured he must have dealt with other customers who weren't sure how to use the machine.

Taking the hint, Applejack lowered the plastic card to the machine. She took a second to observe it, and then tapped it very quickly onto the machine before violently retracting the card as the machine gave a beep. She lifted her head up to examine the seller in-front of her. A strand of her long blond hair falling to cover half of her face. Had she done the right thing?

She felt her cheeks glow warm as embarrassing thoughts filled her mind. She realised how crazy she might seem if she had just done it all wrong. But the Smoothie Seller just stared at the till in front of him unphased. It started making a grinding sound, and printed a small piece of paper which he consequently rested next to the smoothies.

Applejack took the moment to push her hair back behind her ear, letting the new ear hold her hair back from her face. Unlike Rainbow, she opted not to wear a hairband, and the long blond hair reached halfway down her back.

"Here's your receipt, have a nice day." He said in the most unenthusiastic confirmation-of-sale Applejack had ever heard. She let a dry thankful chuckle escape in response, eager to leave the situation.

"Uhaha... Uhh, thanks." She put the card in her mouth and hastily picked up the milkshakes with both hands. She turned back to the table to see Rarity already having returned with two bags full of shopping, more to the point, dress-making equipment.

She made her way back to the table, cautious not to spill the smoothies.

Just to her left, though out of her sight, Rainbow Dash was trying to understand exactly what she was doing. The burrito man was asking her all kinds of questions, and no matter how many times Rainbow tried to reiterate that she only wanted a veggie burrito, he kept asking if she wanted some kinds of extra sauces or rice or beans or tin foil and quite frankly, she didn't understand what was going on.

In Equestria, you ask for food, someone makes it and gives it to you. Simple.

However, apparently "quesadilla" was easy to understand. Fed up with the conversation about different types of burritos, she just got a plate of quesadillas and chips. The man charged her ten. Rainbow riffled through the small bundle of notes in her hand to find a number that looked like a "10".

Having managed to locate one, she handed it over and was told to wait for a few minutes.

To that, she sighed her exaggerated Rainbow Dash sigh.

To that, the Burrito Man rolled his eyes and turned away.

Lucky for Rainbow he wasn't busy today.

Rarity heard Rainbow's moan from across the hall. She paused organising her new thread collection to observe what was going on. She noticed Rainbow's body seem to loosen in exhaustion. She gave herself a petit eye roll as she turned back to her task.

Then she was halted as she noticed Applejack making her way over to her. She cleared her sewing equipment back up and rushed it into her bags. Then she moved the bags to the floor, they could wait till later. She noticed Applejack's long, bare legs beneath her A-line denim skirt, a skirt she hadn't seen her wear in a few years. She took a second to evaluate her lover's fashion choice... it still worked on her.

Applejack approached the table and seemed to be rather tentative when placing the two smoothies down. She was studying Rarity inquisitively which made Rarity snap out of her staring.

"Oh darling, I'm sorry for staring, you just look so damn fine in that skirt." Applejack looked at her curiously. "Maybe later I can take it off you to examine it." She suggested in her most seductive tone, her voice pure, each consonant pronounced with the tripping of sexual suggestion.

Applejack stiffened slightly, she seemed confused by her advance. Still holding the credit card in her mouth. Her eyes darted sideways to Rarity's shopping and back.

Applejack mumbled a; "Have you really done all your shopping already?" Through the credit card in her mouth. Now it was Rarity's turn to look at her partner bemused.

She had expected her to reply with something along the lines of 'You know you have nothing to be sorry about... Darling. This denim A-line Hemline ltd. skirt with combination stitched side seam is yours and later you can examine it to your will, perhaps you can even re-hem my waistband and...' Then she realised she was letting her imagination get the better of her and she refocused her attention back on her lover in front of her. Something was different but she couldn't put a finger on it.

"Applejack, honey, is something wrong?" Applejack sat down opposite her, she seemed to be processing something but Rarity couldn't tell what. "You know I'll always be here for you." Rarity reached out and comforted Applejack's hand, taking it from the cold smoothie and letting her love soothe her.

She took the opportunity to side around the bench until she was next to Applejack.

Suddenly Applejack was alert. Startled like a forest dear in headlamps. She turned to Rarity.

Applejack felt a sickening feeling tighten inside her stomach. Not an actual sickness, more of a surge of adrenaline. She pushed Rarity away just as the feeling demanded. She moved herself just a little along the bench.

"HEY!" Rarity exclaimed in shocked response.

"Ah'm not who you think Ah am." She warned perhaps a little too loudly for a public place.

"What are you on about!" Rarity replied. Now she was truly confused and worried.

"Ah'm not Applejack." She explained, attempting to quieten the situation. She reconsidered her statement. "At least, Ah'm not human Applejack." She left her sentence there hoping Rarity would catch on. Which Rarity did.

Her hands shot to her mouth as she took in a sharp gasp of air. A gasp fuelled by embarrassment, shock, dread, apology and an overwhelming sense of misunderstanding. She lost her balance on the bench and fell backwards to the floor. It wasn't a long fall, luckily her body was in the right position that she could catch herself. She slid to a stop with her legs still dangling over the bench. She took a moment to recover.

Quite a few moments to recover.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Author's Note

I have split this chapter into two parts.
Some people prefer to have shorter chapter lengths as it makes it easier to digest each section.
Continued here: 4.5: Fashion's Choices

4.5: Fashion's Choices

Applejack dashed up and jumped over to help Rarity up back on to the bench.

Rarity took some deep breaths in and out while she took in the information and tried to quell her nerves. Applejack took her seat again, and looked around to see Rainbow collecting her quesadillas on a tray.

Rarity was shaking, her hands tried to steady one-another unsuccessfully. "Oh my, my, I-I..." She struggled to get her words out as she started to recover. She took a deep breath again. "I... Please forget what I said." She finally managed to get out.

"Already forgotten." Applejack whispered comfortingly. "But that's mah girlfriend comin' back over there so Ah think there might be some things we need to talk about." Applejack made some assumptions that seemed a little odd to her.

"Hey Rarity, you done shopping already or you just finished your first round!" Rainbow exclaimed, nearing the table. Then she noticed Rarity shaking, hands clasped together. "I told you shopping would give you nightmares didn't I!" She jested to her friend in a rather lousy attempt to comfort her with humour. It had no effect.
"Hey what's up Rare?" She finally asked, taking her place next to Applejack. The smell of hot melted cheese overpowered the flowery aroma of the shopping mall.

Applejack gave a little cough. "This is Rarity." She left a pause for dramatic effect. Which was a mistake because Rainbow instantly chimed in.

"I know this is Rarity, but what's the matter?"

"This is Rarity from THIS world." Applejack explained.

Having gathered herself together a little Rarity managed to look up and give a weak wave to greet Rainbow. Rainbow's eyes widened as she understood.

"Ooooohhh I see. Hi I'm Rainbow Dash, Official Lieutenant in the Equestrian Wonderbolts flying squadron." She said with cheer and a grin. "Nice to meet you." Rainbow examined Rarity and Applejack, their awkward expressions suggesting something else was happening that she didn't yet know about. "What's going on?"

Applejack tried to think of a way of explaining the situation. Luckily, Rarity managed to snap herself back into reality.

"I'm so sorry, lovely to meet you. I'm just. I'm afraid I wasn't aware that anyone would be coming over from Equestria. It's a bit of a shock. Is everything okay over there?"

"Weeeeellll, aside from constantly being mobbed on the street because you know the Princess, we've had a pretty relaxed four or five years." Rainbow joked in her non-nonchalant manner.

"We're actually here for a holiday." Applejack followed up. "To get away from the hustle and bustle. It was Rarity.. Other Rarity's idea, so Sunset invited us all over. Ah'm surprised she didn't tell ya'll about us though."

"I wasn't actually supposed to be here this week. I was at a fashion conference out of town, but I forgot a few items so I came back for the day. I suppose Sunset just didn't think I was worth telling...?" She looked up at the other two but quickly moved the conversation on. "So you're here for a holiday, how's it going?"

"It's awesome! We're not known here so we can just wander around and nopony... Sorry. Nobody knows us. Like at the beach, just sunbathing was great. I got like a fully chillaxed nap." Rainbow replied. Rarity considered how lucky she might feel to have a life like that.

"Ah'm curious, where are maself and Rainbow at the moment, in your world?" Applejack asked.

"Oh, well Rainbow has just moved back into town for her new coaching job. I believe she started yesterday. We all went round hers last week for a flat warming party. And well, we, I mean, well Applejack and I live together." She looked to Applejack but only to try gauge Rainbow's reaction out the corner of her eye. Rainbow didn't seem too phased. "At the moment she's preparing the cider press at Big Mac's house."

"Well Ah s'ppose me an apple's ain't never gunna change." Applejack joked. She wore a friendly grin and Rarity couldn't help share an awkward smile too.

"Woah, woah, woah. So YOU and Applejack are living together? How's that working out for yah?" Rainbow remarked. Applejack rolled her eyes. She figured the only way to get Rarity's hints through Rainbow's oblivious nature was her usual straight and honest approach.

"They're lovers Rainbow honey."

"Oooooohhhhhh" Was Rainbow's reply. For a second she relaxed, then her face bore a frown of confusion. She had been wearing her long rainbow hair in a pony tail and now she swished it over her shoulder with her right hand. She ran her fingers through it for a moment, letting the soothing sensation aid her in relaxation as she considered this new information.

One story above the food-court; an elated Rarity and amused Sunset exited their third clothes shop of the day. They stood on the walkway of the shopping mall, evaluating Rarity's choices. They could continue down the long corridor of the second floor, or they could go up and then along the corridor of the third floor. But the moment Sunset noticed Rarity on the ground floor, neither of these options were possibilities any longer.

Sunset grabbed Rarity's arm and pulled her back into the store they had just exited. Rarity managed to just about clutch the handles of her shopping bag to stop herself dropping it.

Sunset pulled her around to a corner lined with two shelves of denim jeans. The low lighting in the store shone beams of illumination onto the clothing racks but left pockets of darkness between the isles. Beneath this darkness, Sunset explained her fear.

"I just saw you, I mean, your double, from here, talking to Applejack and Rainbow Dash!"

"Oh but darling, why is that a bad thing?" The Rarity from Equestria questioned.

"Because people around here know you, especially in these shops, and you don't have a twin. If they see two of you in a public place, who knows what might happen." She whispered hastily. "There's no way to explain this to anyone outside my friends, maybe my old school colleagues. Even people who know about magic, most don't know about Equestria and the portal, and they shouldn't. Can you imagine what might happen?"

Sunset bought her hands up to her head and started stroking from her cheeks to her temples. "Come on, think Sunset, think." She wondered if human Applejack had managed to let human Rarity know that pony Rarity, Applejack and Rainbow Dash were coming to visit from Equestria. She wondered why Rarity wasn't at her fashion conference.

Rarity understood.

"Okay, I've got it. You go to my car, here take my keys." In her urgent manner Sunset had to fumble about her pockets, but eventually she pulled a set of keys from out her jacket pocket. "Press that button there to open it and wait for me there. Do you remember where I parked it?" Sunset thrust the keys gently into Rarity's free hand and indicated the 'open' button on the fob.

Unfortunately Rarity shook her head. "I'm sorry darling, this place is all so new to me, I have no idea where we came from." Sunset's hopeful eyes filled with understanding as she lightly removed the keys from Rarity's palm. She took a deep breath. "Isn't there anything else we can do?"

Sunset looked around, suddenly she got an idea what just might work enough.

Rarity let the escalator glide her down towards the food court. She had her hair now tied in a bun and she felt it pulling back her fringe. As a consequence, she held her head high. However the bun wasn't visible to anyone else, for Sunset had conveniently covered her face with a large, drooping sunhat and a pair of large dark sunglasses.

She followed Sunset off the moving staircase and towards their table. As they approached Rarity noticed Applejack point towards them and she caught her first glance at her doppelganger. It was only a brief glance. Her blue eyes passed by them with a flash of anger, shortly covered by her swishing purple hair as she turned back to Applejack. Rarity and Sunset were suddenly very curious to find out what had been going on.

"Umm hey guys..." Sunset opened the conversation. "What's going on?"

"Well YOUR Rarity was just telling us how she wasn't told we were visiting." Rainbow quickly responded challengingly.

The three at the table waited for a response. "Wait, Applejack didn't tell you?" Was what they got. That seemed a little unsatisfactory.

"'An' what kind of getup are you sportin' there Rarity?" Applejack asked, a little disgusted at her high-and-mighty posture and accessories. Both Rarity's looked up at Applejack. Then Equestria Rarity looked away. Human Rarity turned around to get a look at her counterpart. She hadn't realised that the figure hiding behind the large hat and glasses was her doppelganger.

She took in the sight of her white skin and shopping bags. Then she looked at her clothes.

"Are those... my clothes?" She asked hesitantly.

"Applejack gave them to me, she told me you said it was okay?" Sunset replied cautiously.

"Well she hasn't told me." Rarity whispered. The other Rarity turned to Sunset with an apologetically guilty look. Rarity turned back and saw this too. "Oh, oh no it's fine darling, you look great in them. I just wish she had told me."

The group stayed silent for a second, trying to digest all the information. Rainbow reached for a warm quesadilla on her plate. She chewed loudly.

"Okay, look. We can't have two Rarity's hanging about in one place. I need to take you guys home. I'm sorry about dinner but I'll cook something when we get back to mine." There seemed to be a slow agreement to Sunset's conclusion. "Rarity you're welcome to join us."

"Oh no, um, thank you, but no. I need to head home this evening and sort some things out." She started to gather her things together. "But it was lovely to meet you, maybe we can meet for lunch tomorrow under less... unexpected circumstances." She offered.

"What about your fashion conference?" Sunset asked worried.

"Oh that's okay, I'm not needed anywhere till tomorrow evening and it's only a three hour trip. We'll see shall we? I'll text you."

"You promise?" Sunset replied.

"Yeah I promise."

"Okay, well have a good evening then." Sunset farewell'd.

Rarity smiled and shook her head as she gathered up her items. "Oh I don't think that will happen." At that she departed for the west exit, the opposite way to Sunset's car. The four girls watched upon her sorrowfully.

"Come on." Sunset urged. "Let's get back to the house."

With that, they made their way back to the car.
The mall had lost its magic sparkle now, and the air didn't smell so fresh.

5: What Happens At Home...

A small drop of oil, no bigger than a single millimetre big, took flight with several brothers and sisters. For a moment the small green drop flew through the air. But gravity is always there to remind the careless of reality. With a sharp turn, the small drop of oil arched it's trajectory towards the ground. But something intercepted it. The oil drop with its brothers and sisters burst onto the large yellow surface dispersing their payload in explosions of smaller oil droplets.

Sunset gasped in shock and pulled her arm swiftly away from the frying pan. "SHIT!" Her instinct kicked in and before she grasped the burning sensation, she had reached for the cold tap and thrust her arm under the cooling stream of water. With her left hand, she turned down the gas for the pan.

The flames beneath the black coated pan gave a final lick at the underside, mocking Sunset before shrinking down below the steel hob top.

"You alright there Sunset?" Applejack called across the room from her bed. Rarity too looked up to check on Sunset, she was sat on the sofa between the kitchen and bed area and she had been silent for a while now, burying her head in a fashion magazine, analysing the styles to keep her mind off of other things.

"I'm fine!" Sunset called back reassuringly, breathing a little heavier than she had been a minute ago. "Just had the heat on too high." She let the cold water sooth her burn. She knew it was a burn, because the cold water felt warm. A minute later, the scene calmed down. Sunset eventually turned the cold tap off once she started to wince at the cold water becoming cold. By this point, the stir fry was sizzling away nicely and the vegetables were softened tenderly.

Sunset pulled four plates out of her sideboard cupboard, and served up four portions of steaming vegetable stir-fry with flat noodles. "All ready!" She announced, picking up her plate and venturing to her dining table located underneath her sleeping floor. She weaved her way between the wooden beams that supported the upper floor and slid her way across the corner-bench seating.

Applejack rolled her way off the bed and tapped Rarity as she passed, sauntering her way to the food. "Ya'll comin' sugar cube?" She asked. Rarity looked up and scanned her surroundings in surprise. She eyed Applejack heading towards the plates of food on Sunset's sideboard.

"Wha'?.. Oh.. Yes, be right there Applejack, one second." She looked down at the article she had been reading and took note of the last paragraph. She tentatively closed the book, before lightly treading her way to the kitchen side.

By the time Rarity had sat down at the table Sunset and Applejack were firmly tucked into dinner.
It was nine O'clock now and it had been a long time since lunch. Considering this was their first day in new bodies, it had been one hell of a day and none of them could wait to tuck into food. Even Rarity was famished, despite her reflective mood. There was only Rainbow missing who had spent a short while now in the bathroom.

A toilet flushed from behind Rarity as she set her plate down, snuggling herself into a chair with the stairs behind her. Sunset sat to her left and Applejack was tucking in opposite her.

"I am still not used to this new 'sitting' thing!" Rainbow complained, brashly opening the bathroom door. Sunset keeled over her noodles in amusement, not expecting the sudden entrance. Rainbow studied the room around her noting that everyone had moved around.

"I'm sorry. It takes me back to when Princess Twilight and I stayed around Pinkie's back when. She stayed up all night writing songs with her mouth - which was impressive by itself - but she didn't think to ask where the toilet was. At four O'clock in the morning she was running around the house and woke everybody up!" Sunset chuckled to herself.

"What's up guys?" Rainbow asked as she made her way over to the table.

"Ya dinner's sittin' on the side over there." Applejack pointed behind her.

"Oh sweet! Thanks Sunset." Rainbow skipped over to the sideboard. She seemed to hop through the air as if she still had wings, but couldn't fly. Or maybe it was just a way to get to the sideboard as quick as possible with the least number of steps. Either way, she returned quickly. But there was a short, awkward silence as Rainbow sat down. The only communication that cut the moment was a concerned look between Sunset and Applejack as they momentarily studied Rarity tentatively tucking into her noodles.

Then the silence was broken by a loud vibration emanating from Sunset's pocket. First a single buzz, then a double; buzz buzz, then a single, then a double. The cycle continued as such until Sunset reached into her pocket, looked at the 'phone', smiled confidingly, said: "Sorry guys, I've got to take this. Applejack may I?" and pressed something on the device to stop it.

Applejack got up from the bench to let Sunset passed. Sunset thanked Applejack silently and gave them all a thankful wave as she walked to the front door. "Hi Rarity...." Was all the group heard before Sunset headed downstairs and outside for privacy.

"So what's up Rare?" Rainbow instantly asked once the door closed, ignoring her noodles.

"Yeah sugar-cube. You've been silent all evening." Applejack concurred.

Rarity looked down and dropped her fork onto her plate. She knew this question had been coming but she had been avoiding searching the answer to it. Her hair dropped down from it's resting place and without hairspray - or manespray - to hold it back it fell right over her face.

"I'm sorry, it's just... This is very different to what I thought it might be..." Rarity replied in the vaguest way. But Applejack was having none of it.

"Naw come on there. We're your friends and we know when you're avoidin' somethin'.

"Yeah, like since you met that other you." Rainbow didn't have enough attention to tip-toe around issues either.

Rarity took a deep breath and gave the shallowest of nods, allowing them into her thoughts. "I don't think I was.. we'll see.. I guess I just didn't expect my counterpart.. I guess, to be so... not different. I suppose I'm surprised the way her life is different." She stumbled through her words as she tried to piece her feelings together.

Applejack and Rainbow both waited patiently for Rarity to indicate she was finished explaining her feelings.

"You know it can get quite lonely running a fashion empire. I meet people all the time at soirees and parties, I have all my staff and you're my friends. But this last year I've felt really isolated from everyone. I run so many different boutiques I'm never staying in one place. I just spent six months setting up a new one, most of that time I didn't have permanent staff and I didn't get to see any of my other boutiques. I've only seen all of you once a month this past year..." She took a break to help gather her emotions.

"Sugar-cube you know we're always around to talk if ya need us."

"Yeah! We're always there for you." Rainbow encouraged.

"I know, I know. And it's wonderful to have you there for me. But I wish. Well I wish there was somepony for me back home, a partner you know?" She said the words tenderly and looked up to make sure they understood what she meant from behind her curtain of purple hair that covered her eyes in a grungy way.

"So you wanna get laid huh?" Rainbow joked. Applejack sided her with a look of disgust.

"Rainbow!" She whisper-yelled, telling her off.

"Whaaat? That's what you're saying. Right Rare?"

Rarity smiled a laughing smile, and pushed her hair back out of her face. She wasn't crying but she was holding her emotions back. "While it's true my sex life has been rather dry lately," Rarity replied proudly mocking herself, "what I am really after, is somepony to ride me on a more regular basis." She felt herself smiling, holding back the laughter. Applejack and Rainbow smiled too.

A sad chuckled formed behind her grin and a tear rolled down her cheek. She wiped it off and tried to contain herself, taking deep trembling breaths as she did so. Then she started to weep. A confused combination of sadness and laughter weaved its way through her body. She keeled over to the table and her long purple hair shrouded her face.

"Hey now, hey now." Applejack got up and walked around to Rarity. She placed a comforting arm around Rarity's shoulders. A Sensation Rarity had never felt in a human body and it was calming. "Ya'll find somepony eventually. Trust me."

"Yeah you just gotta get yourself out on the market a bit more, take a bit of time off here and there. Like I do with the Wonderbolts." Rainbow concurred.

The words encouraged her mood, and Applejack's soothing tone calmed her. But this didn't solve her problem. "I'm sorry, it's just. This whole holiday... I'm sorry, I just. I need to go home." She muffled behind her arms. She took a deep, trembling breath.

"Ya'll sure about that?" Applejack asked concerned. Rarity pulled herself up from her slouch. Luckily she hadn't tried on the human mascara or it would be running down her cheeks. She pushed her hair out of her face and hugged Applejack.

"I'm sorry, I just can't do this."

She held Applejack close. She enjoyed her body heat, her intimacy. Then she pulled herself back quickly.

"Well nopony is holding us hostage here. We can go if you want." Rainbow offered.

"Ah'm sure Sunset will understand, bless her." Applejack agreed.

Rarity swallowed, clearing her throat. "Thank you." She said softly. Applejack got up to allow Rarity out of her seat. Without words, Rarity got up and passed her. She gave Rainbow a long hug too, noticing her slender body, the muscular tones beneath the clothes. She pulled away. "I'm sorry." She said a final time before grabbing her designated coat from the rack and heading out the door.

Applejack and Rainbow examined each other's concerned faces.

Trixie wandered through the castle halls with no kind of enthusiasm for the evening. It was her job to make sure the castle was tidy because 'Starlight did it last week' she mocked in her thoughts. She levitated a duster to and fro, swishing it in no particular order, or any particular direction. The outcome resulted in certain parts of the castle ending up dustier than they had been.

"Oh and don't forget the basement Twixie. Twilight's friends will be coming back this week Twixie." She moaned. "At least they get a vacation." She muttered with resentment under her breath.
She knew she would snap out of this mood the moment the job was over, but moaning about it helped coax her through the job. It's not that she didn't like the castle when it was clean. She just wanted somepony else to do it. But apparently that was a waste of school funds.

She continued this thought process down the stairs and into the basement library. She started dusting the third bookshelf up, which meant she didn't have to levitate the duster too high or low for her convenience.

BANG!

Trixie turned and decided to pay attention. She studied the bookshelf she had been attending, the thought came that she may have knocked a large one over in her inattentive state. Nothing seemed abnormal. That was bad. That alerted her. She turned to scan the rest of the room, but it turned out she didn't have to. The mirror standing tall as the room's centre-piece started to shimmer. Then the shimmer shone brighter and brighter. The room now illuminated by the thick white light that almost blinded Trixie.

Trixie shielded her eyes from the glare, attempting to process the situation.
Then she realised what was happening and galloped out of the room dropping the duster behind her.

Author's Note

I have split this chapter into two parts.
Some people prefer to have shorter chapter lengths as it makes it easier to digest each section.
Continued here: Chapter 5.5: Concern

5.5: Concern

"TRIXIE WHAT DID YOU DO?!" Was probably the most common phrase to leave Starlight Glimmer's mouth. Out of all the sentences or questions she could ask, this had to have the most uses.

This time though, Trixie was innocent and the question was directed at her only in a suspect manner. A vent for Starlight's growing concern.

"I swear Starlight, this was not me." Trixie emphasised in return.

The pair of ponies stood in the basement of the Castle of Friendship staring at the mirror to the human world. The mirror had glazed it's reflective surface with a rainbow of purple, yellow, orange, blue and white. To couple that, the magical mechanism which accompanied the mirror had ceased to move.

Starlight carefully approached the mirror and tapped a hoof to the rainbow glazed glass. Nothing happened. The surface which was normally fluid in texture was now set solid. She cast a spell to examine the surface. Her horn glowed green and softly touched a thin strip of magic to the surface.

The mirror didn't like that and violently reflected the examining spell towards a book on a shelf. Trixie took cover, diving out of the beam's way. Starlight was blown back to the floor and suddenly found a rather heavy book floating towards her. Starlight rolled out of the book's way as it landed. Then looked at the title. "The broken art of magic?" She questioned, looking back to the mirror curiously.

She picked herself back up and tried one more thing. She tried to reignite the mechanism which controlled the mirror. She cast her spell and a thin sliver of green magic made its way into the cogs and presses. With a jingle of magic, her spell disappeared and the mirror remained solid.

The pair looked at each other concerned, waiting for the other to speak first. Trixie took the first call.

"Twilight?" She asked worried.

"Twilight." Starlight confirmed.

They headed for the doorway. Starlight turned and took one last look at the mirror. "I warned Twilight It might not work like it used to."

Sunset felt the evening chill start to breeze past her hand. She pulled her elbows into her body in an attempt to keep some heat in her body. It might have been the end of summer, but that didn't stop the evenings getting cool when they wanted to. She regretted not picking up a coat.

Rarity, human Rarity that is, was on the other end of Sunset's phone and she was not in a good mood. Sunset had taken the call outside to not bother her guests but for the past few minutes she hadn't said a word because human Rarity had presented her with this speech.

"So then I tried to tell her that she cannot do things on my behalf without asking me, but she told me that I was never around! I mean really, I was in the past three days and she didn't even try to tell me about our counter-parts coming from Equestria and she knew! Then I told her that she never communicated with me like she used to and she went to hit me! She didn't but then I picked up my handbag and stormed out."
A muffled voice intercepted the phone call in the background.
"Oh thank you Twilight darling."
Sunset guessed she had gone around to Twilight's.
"Then I figured I couldn't go around to yours so I came to Twilight's..."

And the story continued. Sunset sat herself down on a bench next to her gate. She wanted to say 'It sounds like you and Applejack have been having problems for a while now?' but there was no way to get her question in at this point.

Rarity made her way down the stairs very slowly. Pony Rarity that is. She held her coat tight to her chest as she attempted to quell her emotions. Of course she hadn't told Applejack and Rainbow Dash everything. She didn't know how to tell them.

Rarity had been thinking of Trenderhoof, Prince Blueblood, Shining Armour & Cadence and Spike. She stopped at a window on the staircase that overlooked the front garden and rested her head against the clear glass. She thought about how she had crushed hard over Trenderhoof, but he was into Applejack instead. And how Blueblood had turned out to be a real dick to her. Was her taste in stallions just misguided or was there something wrong with her. Was she looking at herself in the wrong way.

Somepony had told her once 'If the problem looks like it's everypony else, you should look to yourself first.' This had always worked for her when it came to business or teaching. And now that, along with the thought of herself and Applejack hooking up in this world. Would she have been happier if she had decided to be lesbian? Would her relationships have been more successful?

Too many questions started flying around her mind. She tried to put them all aside. She had only really been interested in stallions, so therefore, she wasn't lesbian. Even if she was bisexual, she decided that she would have been just as busy setting up her businesses so therefore her relationships would have been just as successful as they already had been.

She pulled her head off the window. With that thought in mind, she took a deep breath and made her way outside.

"Ah don't think she's okay." Applejack said. She made her way over to the beds and looked around on the floor for her pyjamas.

"There's something that mare's not telling us." Rainbow considered. She remained sat at the table having not quite finished dinner. She shovelled another fork-full of noodles and stir fry into her mouth, the sensation of using a fork still slightly alien to her. But the food was good. "You think it has something to do with the fact that you and her in this universe are dating?"

Rainbow couldn't help but ask, the question had been on her mind since they returned from the shopping mall earlier. She had noticed Rarity's reflective mood in the car on the ride back. Applejack knelt down to search under the beds for her pyjama top and bottoms which left Rainbow a moment to reflect on her question.

Applejack got swiftly back onto her feet. "Ah s'ppose it might. Ah don't see any problem with that though." To Rainbow, Applejack seemed to shrug it off, like she would be happy with either her or Rarity as a partner. And to that, Rainbow felt a little dejected. She looked away only to snap her attention back to Applejack who was very confidently taking her top and skirt off, replacing them with the pyjamas.

"If Sunset came back in now!" Rainbow joked. Applejack turned to her, she could sense something was bothering Rainbow.

"Nah what's the matter honey?" She investigated her partner for a second. "You don't think me and Rarity would be gettin' together now?"

"Well you don't seem too worried about human Rarity and Applejack." Rainbow retorted. She wasn't mad, she just needed to explain her point of view. "In the Wonderbolts, if you find cadets starting to train with other flying corps you start to question their loyalty to the squad." Applejack smiled and Rainbow was a little annoyed about that.

"Ah'm not worried about it, cause Ah'm not her. Ah'm Applejack from Equestria and Ah fell in love with you." She walked over and perched a little seductively on the arm of the sofa. Rainbow followed her curiously. "Ah've never thought about Rarity, she's always been into stallions, an' besides she's always got herself busy. Rarity doesn't stop and she doesn't have time for relationships. Rarity in this world is different, she lives differently, you saw that at the mall. The way things work here are entirely different."

Rainbow got up and made her way cautiously over to Applejack. "You mean that?"

"Ya'll know Ah do honey. An' Ah could never love the Rainbow here, 'cause she wouldn't have been through the things we've been through." Applejack said honestly. Rainbow held Applejack's right hand in her left tenderly. She moved her other hand to Applejack's face and tenderly moved in to kiss her.

Applejack held both of them up, supporting the kiss with her arms on the sofa.

"And then she refused to help me drag all my stuff to the fashion seminar. I barely made the first speech. Lucky I was just a panellist and not a display artist or I would have been in no shape to start the talk. So I called Twilight who drove out and gave me a lift back, because I was really not wanting to take the train..." Continued Rarity on the other end of the phone. Sunset shivered. It was getting colder.

The front door opened and Rarity stepped out. She was shaking and cold despite wearing a rather large coat. Sunset perked up and waved her over to the bench. She mouthed the words "Are you okay?" To which Rarity simply looked down and made her way onto the bench.

Now Sunset was in one of the weirdest positions she had been in. She was torn between helping a Rarity she had known for a day but clearly needed her help, and her long, long time friend who had Twilight for company too.

Seeing as she hadn't actually said anything to Rarity in a while, she made her decision. "Oh my God! Rarity I'm so sorry I have to go, I'll call you back!" She said urgently. Then hung up the phone calmly. She turned to Rarity. "I'm sorry. Are you okay?" She asked, genuinely concerned.

"No I'm sorry Sunset." Rarity replied shaking. "I never meant to cause any drama, we were just looking for a holiday. If you don't mind, I was wondering if you would take us back home, to Equestria."

"Rarity... I hope this isn't about the other... you. Applejack and her have had a few communication problems recently. They just need to find a way to sort it out." Sunset tried to console her.

"Well it's just. That came as a bit of a shock to me I have to say." Rarity replied. Sunset smiled a little at that. "I've never even considered I would be with a mare.., um woman, I suppose? Bear in mind Applejack." She spoke softly and honestly. "And there's so much adjusting as well, with the body and everything." The moment hung in the air. Sunset breathed it in thoughtfully.

"You know, I never had time for relationships. I was too busy focusing on being evil. I went out with a guy named Flash just to get popular. They were good times you know." She couldn't help but smirk at how misguided she had once been. "Anyway, I was able to use sex to kind of control him, and sure, I enjoyed it. But one day I ended up with this girl," she deliberately avoided who, "and I found that I was okay with that too. But I'll say, I had never expected too."

Rarity looked at her slightly confused.

"My point is, relationships are complicated and you might never understand how they work. But if you put faith in anybody, put it in you before you find someone to find faith in." She paused to let that sink in. "But then don't listen to me, I'm still living alone!" She laughed out loud, and Rarity shared her a smile. "Look why don't you stay the night and we'll head back to the portal tomorrow morning as soon as you're all ready."

Sunset put a consoling arm around Rarity, this time it did genuinely make her feel better. Sunset stood up and offered Rarity a hand. Rarity smiled a nod, accepted the hand and got up with her.

"Let's head back up stairs shall we."

"Certainly Sunset. And thank you."

When they arrived upstairs, the pair were greeted with an amusing surprise. Applejack and Rainbow Dash had found themselves lounged over the sofa in a definitive make-out session if Sunset had ever seen one.

"Awww, Get a room guys!" Sunset called shortly after opening the door. Rainbow tumbled off the sofa and Rarity smirked a laugh. Sunset held a cross pose with the pair.

"SUNSET! Ah um.." Applejack tumbled over her words and scrambled to sit up and try to dignify herself.

Sunset burst into laughter. "I'm glad I got you different beds. Come on, let me show you a movie before we go to bed. I'll take you all down to the portal tomorrow." She looked to Rarity who gave her a thankful nod.

The four friends settled in for the evening.

6: A Couple of Equestria Lands

"O.M.God! If it isn't my favourite couple Rarijack!" A voice sang from around the corner. "How are you!" And with that, Applejack and Rarity received two enthusiastic french kisses accompanied with the sound 'Muwah, muwah.' Vignette Valencia had seemingly jumped around the corner of the hook-a-duck stand in an attempt to take shelter from the falling rain. An enthusiastic being wearing some kind of trendy crop top and jean short-shorts with a fabric tasseled poncho.

Now she looked away from Rarity and Applejack and appeared to be ferociously fiddling with her phone. Which was just as well because the following speech gave Applejack and Rarity a chance to look to Sunset Shimmer for help or advice, or both. Sunset's green eyes replied with a 'just roll with it' look.

"I'm so glad I bumped into you guys. I was just thinking to myself what kind of story I could post today and then it started to rain, so I was thinking 'hashtag: Rainhair' or something but then I decided that was lame so I jumped around here and here you are my favourite fashion designer and my favourite fashion designers girlfriend.... Wait... FFDG... hmmm maybe, maybe. Anyway you didn't tell me you'd be here!" She chirped. It was like she didn't need to breath as long as she was talking.

"Oh well darling, I had a free day at the fashion convention panel so..." Rarity improvised, not being allowed to finish.

"So you came here! O.M.G. I have it: hashtag: Couple Tuesday. That'll work." Vignette seemed to sing her way through her sentences. "Can you two give a kiss in the background of my selfie guys." It wasn't really a question. Her confidence and overwhelmingly friendly nature put Applejack and Rarity into a really awkward position where they felt absolutely obliged to do what she asked.

They looked concerned to Sunset, who looked concerned and sorrowfully back at them as she urged them to do as Vignette asked. As Vignette fiddled with her phone once more, Applejack looked to Rainbow apologetically and Rarity pondered the knowledge that doing this might be necessary to keep their true identities hidden from this stranger.

Day two of the holiday and so far, everything other than the trip to the beach had gone rather tragically. Although for Rarity, Rainbow Dash and Applejack, this was just like any other holiday they had recently.

It had actually been an okay morning. Sunset had fed them breakfast in the form of cornflakes and milk. Rainbow spilt milk down her pyjamas but it wasn't anything they couldn't laugh about. A beautiful red, orange and yellow sunrise accompanied their trip down to Canterlot High school and the mood was good. However when they reached the concrete statue which housed the portal to Equestria, their moods changed.

To Sunset's surprise, when they tested the portal face, it refused to open for her. This had only ever happened before Twilight had managed to open it permanently. Despite her concern, she pretended nothing was wrong. Rarity was in a fragile state of sorts and she didn't want to alert her guests. So with a confident smile, she turned to the group and said:
"This happens sometimes, there's just a calibration error. I'll go get my diary and send Twilight a message to see what she can do. Sorry guys."

"You mean we have to walk back to the apartment?" Rainbow whined exasperated. Applejack gave her a loving nudge.

"Afraid so. Come on, this way." Sunset chirped. And with that Sunset led the way back to the apartment. But she was concerned. In-fact, she was potentially terrified.

Sunset picked up her diary. A leather-bound book fronted with a mix of hers and Twilight's cutie-marks. She had no idea if it would even send a message. She had to steady the pen in her hand as she wrote, shaking from the nerves. She made it brief.

Having written out a plea to Twilight, she confidently closed the book and replaced it on her bookshelf.

"It can take her a couple of hours to reply, she doesn't always get them instantly." She said knowing it might not work. "But I did have a trip to a roller-coaster park planned for you guys today. We could still go, it would help keep your minds off of things?"

"Ain't there anythin' you can do?" Applejack asked concerned.

"Well we don't really have magic here. But if Twilight doesn't come back with a response, then I'll gather my friends and we'll see if we can use our geodes to come up with some kind of solution."

The three holidayers seemed to settle for Sunset's resolution to the problem. So with that, they left their bags in the apartment and followed Sunset down the stairs to her car.

While entering the vehicle, Rainbow perked up a thought. "Hey Sunset. Um, why didn't you just drive to the statue?"

It was a valid question and one to which Sunset didn't quite have an answer. She supposed that every time she had ever gone down to the portal, she had always walked. Besides that, it was only a five minute walk so it wasn't like the trip was a long one.

Having pondered the question for far too long, the moment had been and passed. So Sunset started up the engine with Rarity and Rainbow nattering away in the back seats, and headed out towards Equestria Land.

They parked up and Sunset collected their tickets from the booth at the gate. Now the fun could begin.

They stopped at a stand containing stacked tin cans and prizes hanging from the ceiling. Fluffy bunnies and buckets of candyfloss. "Awww com'on we have to win something for Pinkie!" Rainbow exclaimed excited. Sunset tore off a handful of play tickets that came with entrance to the park and Rainbow made two well aimed shots.

Equestria land was not so busy today. School term had started only a matter of weeks ago and so the only people here were either students who could afford to take the day off, or young kids in pushchairs being carted around by their parents or childminders. So there was plenty of time to make it onto all the big rides.

The three pony-girls had been amazed at the scale of the theme park and the wonders that the technology allowed. They compared it to Las Pegasus but without people constantly conning them. Which Sunset thought might have been a bit of an oversight seeing as the first time she came here she was conned by Flim and Flam for well over an hour. Maybe Equestria didn't have Flim and Flam, it was a generally more magical place.

"You know Sunset, maybe I could get used to this!" Rarity beamed, with a rather cheery smile as Rainbow knocked over a stack of tin cans. Of course she gave a victory cheer that could be heard halfway across the quiet park. Everyone else just laughed.

The sun peaked through the clouds and they enjoyed a number of high speed rides. Even Rainbow was more than happy to experience the rides, which made Sunset chuckle. "Rainbow in this world is frightened of Rollercoaster's. Don't tell her I said that, it's a secret."

"No Way!" Rainbow replied. "Roller coasters are great. You know, I went on the biggest roller coaster in Equestria just before it closed down." She boasted.

"You know, Ah never expected to find an 'Equestria Land' to actually exist in a world not ruled by ponies." Applejack pondered as they made their way between the last roller coaster and the next one. The clouds had sewn themselves together darkening the day.

"It's all a little coincidental I suppose. I don't know whether it's connected to the magic we share, or if people or ponies have passed through the portal in the past. But for whatever reason a lot of similarities appear here." Sunset agreed. They continued to make their way across the until the weather finally turned to rain. Then they ran and took shelter bellow the porticoes of a hook-a-duck stand, which was the nearest shelter they could find. It was just as well. Moments later the rain intensified each raindrop booming as it landed on the roof.

And that's how they ended up in this situation.

"YeeeeEEEEeeeEEEEEssssss." The tuneful Vignette yodelled. "This is the perfect filter." She lifted the phone in-front of her. Applejack and Rarity could see themselves in the screen of the phone as Vignette angled it to get herself in the photo too. "Okay guys, if you can do like you did in the last one, a little closer."

The moment happened so fast neither party knew what was going on. They knew they had to keep up appearances. They knew their counter-parts had done this all before. But at the same time they were completely nervous about this, Rarity for her insecurity and Applejack for Rainbow. Vignette spoke so fast it seemed to overload their minds with information. Vignette counted down to her snap, Rarity felt her heart racing as she targeted Applejack's lips, Applejack Grabbed Rarity's waist, and the pair gave a very quick kiss for the photo. A loud 'click' went off to the right of them.

"Peeeeerrfeeeect!" Vignette sang once again, lowering the phone. "I have to run guys, but Rarity call me. We need to have another catch up."

"Oh of course I will!" Rarity sang back awkwardly. She felt the imprint of Applejack lingering upon her lips.

"See you Eeeevveeer!"

Rarity didn't know what that meant but she assumed it meant 'bye'. Mostly because it was like 'see you later' but also because Vignette gave her and Applejack a big hug goodbye before trotting... running off, huddling her phone beneath her fashion statement poncho which would have been more practical if it was a rain poncho.

"Rainbow Ah..." Applejack turned to her lover but it was too late.

"Save it Applejack. I'm going home." And with that Rainbow ran out towards the car. Sunset turned and ran after her. Within moments they were drenched but that didn't stop either party running through the downpour. This left Rarity and Applejack. Time seemed to return to their lives as they took in what they had done.

"That was a mistake." Applejack stated bluntly.

"Tell yourself that." Rarity replied, throwing her comment back at her.

"Ah'm so sorreh..." Applejack started with an apology but wasn't sure where to start.

"Applejack, darling, it's okay. I'm okay, I may have even learnt something." Rarity teased.

"An what might that be?" Applejack inquired curiously and cautiously.

"I'm not so attracted to you as I was afraid I might be." Rarity smiled. She had gained a level of confidence in herself about her sexuality. She felt more certain than ever. Although it wouldn't be long before the feeling of loneliness and the realisation she still didn't have a clue where to start a relationship would set in. "Though I am afraid for you and Rainbow. We had better check on her. I don't believe 'keeping up appearances' is necessarily the strongest argument for kissing someone else in-front of your girlfriend."

Applejack was filled with dread as Rarity replied with those words. The gloomy sky darkened the mood even more. Applejack peered through the rain in an attempt to spot the direction Rainbow had gone, but she was already out of sight.

When Twilight Sparkle - Princess of Equestria - Finally arrived at her old castle, she was greeted with loud gasps of relief, and one big hug from her old student; Starlight Glimmer.

She didn't want to be here. There was a practical side to that, she had a lot of work to get done and royal duties were important. But it was the emotional reason that gave her the feeling of gut wrenching dread, a sickness of nerves and fear of the unknown.

Trixie lead the way as they cantered through the castle halls and down the stairs. She explained everything she had seen, or attempted to. Then they came to the basement library and Twilight stopped still so fast that she slid across the crystal flooring. Until this point, there was a chance that what she was told was untrue. Until she finally observed the mirror with its rainbow vale, it had only ever existed within her imagination. It could have been a joke, or it may have rectified the problem itself without her intervention.

Unfortunately for Twilight, that was not the case.

The mirror stood before her and now the reality was set in for Twilight. If she couldn't rectify this, her friends would be stuck in another dimension forever.

Somewhere in the distance behind her, a familiar voice called her name. Twilight felt light headed and dizzy. She closed her eyes, and took a deep breath in, letting the situation set in. Then she let out a long, controlled and calming breath, allowing the situation to focus her mind and motivate her. As she did so, the far away voice got closer and closer until eventually it sounded as if it was right behind her.

"Twilight!" Starlight called, tapping Twilight on her shoulder.

Twilight opened her eyes and looked to her left. Indeed Starlight was right beside her, concerned.

"Princess what do we do?"

Twilight turned to her right, and of course, Trixie stood only a few feet away, worried.

Twilight looked back to the mirror, fluffed up her wings and took one more determined breath.

"First we figure out what caused this, then we save our friends." She decreed confidently.

7: The Diary

Rainbow stormed across the Equestria Land car park heading straight towards Sunset's car. She had nowhere else to go, but didn't need another place to go. Rain soaked through her hair and splashed off her eyes. Sunset passed through the exit gates and ran after Rainbow across the car park.

"Rainbow Wait!" Sunset called shook by the events. Rainbow ignored her and continued on her trajectory towards the vehicle. "Rainbow please!" Sunset called again, the rain streaking down her face. "I'm sorry. I had no idea that would happen!"

"Oh no of course you didn't!" Rainbow called back, refusing to turn around. "You just let my girlfriend be pushed into kissing my friend because this is all a game. Just bring some Equestria ponies over and compare them to themselves, See how they react to each other's situations. I bet you planned this!" A tear streaked down her face, masked by the rain, none-the-less she tossed it aside with a flick of her hand. Rainbow doesn't cry.

"I swear I had no idea Vignette would be here, I thought she was organising the Crystal Gig-Night. I'm sorry." Sunset was begging her now. She couldn't say anything else to help the situation.

Applejack and Rarity appeared sprinting out of the gates in an attempt to catch up with the upset Rainbow. Applejack ran ahead, her powerful legs easily closed the gap between her and Rainbow, overtaking Sunset and dashing in front of Rainbow before she got to the car.

"Applejack don't say anything." Rainbow halted Applejack, "I know you couldn't do anything else. I just want to get out of here. I'm with Rarity. I don't care how, but we're heading back to Equestria and we'll find a solution to open the portal as quickly as possible." She didn't wanting to hear another apology.

Sunset slowed to a walk as she approached the couple, taking heavy breaths. A huge gust of wind blew her rain-soaked hair across her face, hiding her guilt from the parties in-front of her. She heard everything Rainbow said and knew that she was right. Bringing them here had proved more of a task than she had anticipated, and caused a lot more confusion than just figuring out how to use a new body. With this in mind, Sunset submitted and headed round to the driver's seat. It was time to head back home.

Nobody spoke in the car.

Rarity apologised to Rainbow, who accepted it half-heartedly. Then the conversation stopped.

The rest of the ride was filled with heavy air, anxiety driven awkwardness, and Rarity attempting to use her fingers to squeeze the rain out of her hair.

Upon arrival at her maisonette, Sunset headed straight to her objective. She locked the car, found the door key & unlocked the downstairs door; her movements becoming a flow of mechanically memorised moments. The lock to her maisonette door clicked and a light push allowed the door to glide perfectly open. But Sunset didn't have time to register the perfectly opened door, within four gliding steps she was at her bookcase, facing the diary to Equestria.

She pulled it off the shelf and rifled through the pages in hope of a message from Twilight, but the last message sent was her own. There was nothing from Princess Twilight. She knew that would be the case, the diary hadn't been glowing like it normally did when Twilight sent a reply.

Applejack, followed by Rainbow Dash and Rarity emerged at the door, not really sure what to expect. Sunset closed the precious diary and held it close to her for a second.

"Come on in guys. Take a seat. I'll just be a minute." Sunset tenderly invited them, gesturing towards the sofas. She had planned to march right over to the kitchen, make tea, be positive, call Twilight, comfort her guests, be proactive but now her body turned on her.

Once again the tidal wave of guilt slammed into her being and washed away the adrenaline she had been running on since Equestria Land. She gulped and took a moment for herself to steady her breathing. Meanwhile her guests stood in the doorway concerned and awkward despite the homely reception they had been greeted with.

Sunsets eyes started to water. She gathered all the energy she could muster. "Here. Please come here." She repeated, gathering them to the sofa. This time she walked around and sat in an armchair, laying the non-responsive diary on the coffee table. And this time Applejack felt more encourage to take a seat, so she did, closely followed by Rarity and Rainbow.

Sunset grabbed her phone from her leather jacket and called the one person she knew she could rely on. Twilight Sparkle. The human one. Bringing the phone to her ear, she heard the ringtone increase in volume as the phone secured its connection. Then she heard a click.

"Sunset! How is everything?" Came the voice of a concerned but chirpy Twilight from the other end of the line. Sunset took a breath, the urge to lie was overwhelming but she pushed through it.

"Not good Twilight." Sunset replied earnestly, "I think I've really screwed up this time." There was a pause before Twilight replied, clearly coming to terms with Sunset's seriousness.

"Okay Sunny, what's going on?" Twilight replied calmly.

"Twilight, I wouldn't be coming to you if it wasn't absolutely necessary." Sunset reassured her.

"Sunset I know. Please, what's the matter?"

"The mirror portal. It's... It's been closed. Twilight, I don't know what to do. Princess Twilight isn't responding to me, I wrote to her over four hours ago." Sunset took a breath. She looked up to Rainbow Dash and Rarity who now sat opposite her. Sunset continued calmly and with great vulnerability. "Twilight, I've made their lives miserable. I've made Rarity and Applejack's relationship stumble. The Equestria girls want to go back home, but I don't know if I can open the portal and... What if we're all trapped here Twilight..."

"Sunset!" Twilight cut in firmly. "Keep calm. We're going to find a solution to this. I'm coming over, I'll be fifteen minutes." Sunset's eyes were starting to water, her throat felt tense and she had butterflies in her stomach but Twilight's confident practicality helped cut through to her downed mood. It was enough to put a smile on her face and calm her breathing.

"Thank you Twilight, thank you so much." With that she heard a tapping sound and then a beep to signify the call was over. She put the phone down on the diary and brushed her red and yellow hair back behind her ears. She felt her hands brush past her cheeks and realised her face felt greasy, she needed a distraction. "Can I make anybody a tea?" She cut the confident gesture across the silent room.

Rarity, Rainbow Dash and Applejack nodded thankfully. Sunset got up which left them awkwardly contemplating their situation on the sofas. She poured water into her kettle and then looked over to check on the group. Sunset filled the kettle for five, placed it down onto the electrical pad and clicked it on.

Sunset pulled the milk out of the fridge and set it down. She got her mugs out, sugar, teabags (the good kind) and a pack of chocolate-caramel digestives. Seven minutes later, the kettle was boiled and minutes after that, the tea was prepared. She took a tray with three mugs of tea over to the group and set it out on her lounge table surrounded by the others. She gave the group a sorrowful smile before returning to collect her own cup.

"Sunset." Rarity called apologetically behind her. "I'm sorry we've put you in this..."

Then Twilight burst through the door.

"Sunset!" She also called, but with a little more reassurance. Then the mood of the room set in and calmed her energetic entrance. "Okay what's going on?" She asked decisively, still attempting to piece everything together.

Sunset just stood for a second and embraced the feeling of pleasant surprise. She admired Twilight, stood there in her long, purple overcoat and hair neatly tied back. Then she gave a big smile. "Twilight! I made tea." She felt her face start to quiver, expecting herself to burst into relieved laughter any second.

From the sofa, Rainbow Dash examined Twilight. It was spooky how there seemed to be a resemblance between these people they had never met and their princess friend. A similarity in the hair, the eyes, the colours. This was only the second not-friend they had met, and now they were really coming to terms with how out of place they felt here. Applejack and Rarity had turned their heads too.

Applejack pondered what she might say to this 'imposter Twilight' acknowledging she knew she was a different person/pony. The three observed Sunset embrace Twilight in a comfort filled hug and then hop over to the counter to bring her a mug of tea.

Rarity's mood had completely turned. It was like someone had clicked a switch. Before Sunset could finish stirring Twilight's tea, Rarity was up. "Oh Darling! I'm so sorry to be dragging you out here like this, but can I just say, your overcoat is just fabulous. It's beautiful and suits your complexion perfectly! That's not polyester surely?"

Twilight chuckled. "Um thanks! You, well this world's version of you picked it out for me. It's lovely to meet you all!" Positivity seemed to flow through the room. They didn't feel so isolated with their problems any more.

"Oh um, aha." Rarity smiled but only to ease the pain of being compared with her lesbian counterpart. Though she knew she had no feelings for Applejack, something still bothered her in the back of her mind. "Well of course I would pick out something so tasteful." She cheered in response.

"Why don't we all take a seat on the sofas." Sunset offered. "We'll brief Twilight over tea." Rarity offered to take Twilight's coat, which gave her a chance to examine the label as she put the coat up behind the door. She took note of the fabric properties, whenever life failed her, fashion was always there to distract and support her. Perfect timing.

Beneath, twilight wore purple jeans matching her skin tone and a loose fitting turquoise jumper with elastic clinging sleeves. Applejack figured - if she knew a thing about fashion - that this would be trendy. Which felt odd given what her own Twilight was like. At least the jumper was practical for the cold, rainy day.

"You know, in Equestria we don't have to bother with coats. We just plan around the rainstorms when we can. Pegasi controlled clouds are far more reliable than whatever in Celestia happens here." Rainbow remarked. She felt her tension alleviate as she examined Rarity examining Twilight's overcoat.

"You know, I have so many unanswered questions about Equestria." Twilight replied excitedly. "But I'm here for you, so run me through your problem. What exactly happened with the mirror?" She put emphasis on the 'exactly' as she proceeded to pull a small note pad and pen out of her back pocket. Rainbow could tell, she would be just as pedantic as Equestria-Twilight.

Rarity followed Sunset and soon the group were a lot calmer as they sat in the warm company, in the warm apartment with the pitter-patter of rain lightly scratching the outside window. Sunset started to recount everything, from the day Twilight had sent her the message in the diary, through to her trips to Equestria to prepare the ponies, through to the mall encounter, through to the mirror being unusable that morning. However she did stop before she reached the events of Equestria Land earlier that day. An intermittent detail missed or apology thrown in there on Sunset's part.

As she told Twilight about the past few weeks, Rainbow, Rarity and Applejack listened closely. They started to realise how much effort Sunset had to put in to ensure they could come here. She had to figure out a time when Rainbow, Applejack and Rarity in this world would be occupied. When it wouldn't be crucial for Sunset to see her other friends; this world's versions of Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, and of course, Twilight. How she had to set up her apartment for their stay and take time out of her work, reorganise her clients and also replace a team member in a competition she was supposed to take part in. All the charts and diagrams she prepped for them.

Applejack for-one started to realise that everything really had been done for them, they just had a few hiccups.

Twilight sipped her tea slowly taking it all in, making notes on the important things. As Sunset finished she had one question to ask but she was suddenly interrupted.

"Mmmmmmm mmmmm." Came from the corner opposite. Rarity had picked up a chocolate-caramel digestive off the tea-tray and risked a bite. Now she shoveled the whole thing into her mouth. "Mmmmm." She looked up guiltily.

Sunset chuckled. "They're better if you dip them in the tea you know." She gestured for Rarity and the others to take another. Twilight chuckled too. The consensus was, Sunset was right, they were better dipped in tea.

Twilight turned back to Sunset and the topic at hand. "So just to clarify, you don't know exactly when the portal solidified. It was just like that when you got there?"

"That's about right." Applejack spoke up.

Rainbow and Rarity studied Twilight intensely as she intently flicked through her notepad. Sunset too looked curiously at Twilight from behind her cup of luke-warm tea. She took a sip, unimpressed by the temperature.

"Hhhmmmm..." Twilight pondered, flicking over her notes again. For a moment she looked up to study the girls and then went back to her notes. Twilight took the pencil attached to her notepad and started scribbling out words from her notes, though nobody else could see what she was doing.

"You got any ideas there Twi?" Sunset inquired.

The room was silent as they all started to think back through the events Sunset had described. Twilight closed up her note pad and sighed.

"I don't know, maybe a few ideas but..." Twilight stopped. She caught the clock on the wall, it read seven-forty-five. "Oh my, I'm sorry, but I can't stay, I have to get back to help Rarity. But I'm going to keep thinking about this. I suggest you do too." She said making her way for the coat hung behind the front door.

"Any help where to start with that thinkin'?" Applejack casually asked.

"I have a few ideas, but try to see if there was anything paranormal about your trip here, something that appeared here that seemed out of place. Sorry Sunset. I'm working tomorrow but we should meet up at the mall for lunch at about eleven-thirty? We can have a proper chat about this." Twilight offered.

"Thank you Twilight." Sunset replied, meeting her friend at the door. "I'll see you then."

"I'm going to go to the mirror now, get a look at it myself, see if anything happens. Goodnight everyone, it was lovely to meet you all." And with that some thanks were exchanged as Sunset saw Twilight out.

The room grew heavy with thought, reflection and the smell of vegetable soup and part-bake rolls as Sunset, with Applejack's insistent assistance started to prepare dinner.

8: The Mirror

Twilight bent down on her front hooves and examined the large brown book in front of her. Her horn shimmered its usual purple glow and she dragged open the heavy front cover of the book. Inside the contents page was illuminated by beams of orange sunlight that streaked across the room. It was getting late.

The contents page read as follows:

The Broken Art of Magic
By Starswirl the Bearded

Contents:

She knew the book well. Twilight had studied it heavily in her first year at Celestia's school. It was typically considered a grumpy rant against the uncouth use of magic by unicorns he labelled as "careless, unskilled pansies". However it did contain many philosophic and practical lessons for those looking to study high level, well refined magic. She studied the contents page.

1. Introduction
2. Prospects of the Sorcerer
3. The Art of Magic
4. A Brick is a Brick, Don't Refine it
5. Enchanting, Shields & Meadowbrook
6. The Art of Practice
7. The Safe Space
8. The Public Flauntation
9. My Work
10. Link Your Monsters To Your Spells
11. Magician's Culture
12. The Art of Refinement
13. Proper Care & Diligence

.IX

Nothing seemed unusual or different to her standard issue of the book. So for a moment, she left the book, and re-examined everything else in the large room. The sunset blazed into the crystal castle, shrouding the bookshelves lining the curved back wall.

The mirror was the only powerful artefact housed in the room. No Alicorn necklaces or unfinished spells that might have been accidentally used or become sentient. Twilight felt the unsuspecting brown rug beneath her hoof, examining the hardy texture.

"Any ideas Twilight?" Starlight pressed, hoping for a confident answer, knowing she wouldn't get one.

Twilight shook her head. "Nothing in the book immediately stands out to me apart from the fact that Starswirl wrote the book, and Starswirl created the mirror." She replied, still examining the problem in her head. "It would be a lot easier if I knew what was happening on the other side." That spiked a thought. She cantered over to the end of a self and pulled out three books, laying them onto a side table.

"Have you seen any of these journals glowing or buzzing?" Twilight directed the question to Trixie who perked up and cantered over to Twilight to investigate.

"Sorry Twilight, I don't think I have." Trixie replied. Starlight joined them around the table as Twilight opened one of the books and turned about half way through to the last diary entry.

"Oooohhh, Sunset's journals? I always wanted one of these." Starlight recognised the cutie mark emblem on the side of the books, the familiar mix of yellow sun and purple star. "Anything there?"

"It doesn't look like it, the last entry is Sunset confirming the pick up time for the girls' holiday." Twilight replied disappointed and curious. Twilight trotted over to the mirror. "I wonder if it'll even work while the mirror is in this state."

In front of Twilight stood the grand mirror portal to the human world. Only it was no longer a mirror. She touched it with her hoof, it felt cold, like glass. Glass coated with thick bands of opaque colours. Bands of purple, blue, orange, yellow, white and lilac streamed across the surface at random angles. It was no longer the jell like texture she had become accustomed to.

She examined Starswirl's masterpiece, now encased in her own device. The four thin tesla rods above her head arched silently away from Sunset shimmer's very first diary; the light brown book with Celestia's cutie mark which sat centrally above the mirror. She examined the magic weave to her right. Without the thin sliver of magic keeping it turning, the device seemed ominously quiet.

Twilight reflected about the creation of such a device. Starswirl's venturing into other dimensions was one of his greatest feats of magic, yet he never fully understood this work before the Pony of Shadows appeared in Equestria.

However there was no time to ponder upon this. Moments later a tapping sound came rushing down the corridor behind them. She turned to see the perpetrator of the galloping steps to be greeted by a bright yellow and blue streak darting through the door and then sliding across the polished crystal floor.

Sunburst came sliding to a comically timed stop just before hitting the bookcase. "Hi Everypony!" He turned to greet the room. "Princess Twilight," he addressed, "how goes the mirror problem?"

His comic style entrance lifted the mood in the room, and before Twilight could reply, Sunburst gasped, "Oh my." Twilight gave him a grimace back.

"It's pretty bad Sunny," Starlight interjected into the conversation, "we don't really understand what's going on."

"It looks like the veil membrane has crystallised." Sunburst instantly analysed, not taking his eyes off the curious sight of the rainbow mirror.

"I mean that's exactly what I was thinking." Trixie sourly mocked from the corner of the room. She was heard, but mostly ignored.

"I'm so glad you're here Sunburst, there's not really much on Starswirl's portal experiments. We're going to have to do some serious research." Twilight greeted him, taking a step away from the mirror. She cantered next to him and turned to look at the mirror.

"Oh Great!" Trixie mocked sarcastically. "Research." The line of ponies stood looking at the mirror, each attempting to decide what to do next. Trixie attempted to calculate whether she'd be noticed if she sneaked out to get tacos.

"And you have no idea what caused this?" Sunburst asked.

"None, we don't know what happened to the other side either." Twilight replies.

"It wasn't me." Trixie added shamelessly.

"We know it wasn't you Trix, don't worry." Starlight comforted her friend.

"Ah good. So where do we start?" Trixie asked clueless.

Sunburst turned around to the satchel that had just fallen off his back. "Well I decided to bring my copy of 'Starswirl; definitive timeline volume four'. If there's anything about mirrors, or portals, or other dimensions, it'll be in here." Sunburst's yellow horn lit up and the book floated out of his satchel and onto the carpet in front of the group.

It was wrapped in a protective cellophane cover, despite its apparent old age. "I've never read it, but I understand it's one of the most complete biographical accounts there is. I believe it was written before Princess Celestia & Luna's coronation. It's so rare I didn't want to damage it." He explained, pealing open the plastic. "What do you think is the best place to start?"

"Sirens." Twilight said definitively.

"Oh?" Sunburst questioned, carefully opening the cover of the book with his hoof.

"The second time I visited the other world, there were three Equestrian sirens who had been banished there by Starswirl. So we know he was capable of using portals by that point. If we can find that event, maybe we can work forwards or backwards from his research." Twilight thought back to the second time she had visited the realm. "I think I actually left that book in this basement somewhere nearby."

"That could be useful too, what are we looking for?" Sunburst asked. "I'll help you look."

"It was a Historical Equestria textbook." Twilight thought back, scanning the shelves for a clue where to start, trying to remember the last time she reorganised these shelves. "Volume three I believe." And with that. Sunburst turned to the back shelves and started scanning row by row.

Trixie stood in the centre of the commotion, examining the mirror and it's surrounding contraption. Something looked wrong to her, and not just the mirror's surface. She piped up a thought as Twilight flapped her wings and started examining the top shelves.

"Is that contraption supposed to be a part of the mirror?" She asked curiously, referring to Twilight's tesla-coil based invention behind the mirror.

Starlight replied, annoyed Trixie wasn't searching the bookshelves. "Twilight created it to keep the portal constantly open. Now come help us search."

"Yep." Twilight replied proudly from above. "So you did listen." She teased Starlight.

"Of course, haha." Starlight chuckled. "Come on Trixie." She tried coaxing her friend. But Trixie was stood in the centre of the room in thought.

"It's just, if Twilight created that contraption, surely she knows how the mirror works?" She asked a valid question. Twilight felt her cheeks to heat up slightly as she started to blush. Starlight looked up to her old mentor and noticed she had stopped scanning the shelves.

"Weeeell..." Twilight thought. "I didn't really think about it too much, I just reverse engineered the magic in Celestia's diary." She replied guiltily, feeling their eyes settle upon her. "IT WAS AN IMPULSE MOVE OKAY!" She yelled, embarrassed by the lack of care and attention she paid at the time. Everybody chuckled.

"And I thought I was the only one who acted on magical impulses." Starlight mocked.

"FOUND IT!" Sunburst yelled from the back of the room. He gently removed the large book, identifiable by the large golden unicorn head on the front cover. He also floated the table into the centre of the room and placed the book down. Sunburst gathered Starswirl; definitive legends timeline vol.four and The Broken art of magic, placing them into a pile with Sunset's old diaries.

Everypony gathered around. Twilight quickly turned to the page about Sirens. Sunburst cross-referenced the approximate timing of the events with the Starswirl definitive timeline. Twilight cast a spell, only instead of a glow, her horn crackled thin black lines around it. She extended the crackling around sunburst. To Starlight and Trixie, both ponies seemed to loose their colour. They started to hover and shrink simultaneously, and their coats turned to white. Now they were only definable by pencil thin outlines of their bodies. Moments later, they were on the page of the book, then they disappeared into other pages.

Trixie prodded The Broken Art of Magic on the pile in front of her.
"So what exactly are you about then?" She questioned the inanimate object.

"Let's see if there's anything more to it." Starlight said, opening the book between her and Trixie.

"Oh I thought Twilight would have made you read it, seeing as Starswirl wrote it."

"Well I manage to get away with reading everything in the upstairs library. I've never really looked at the books down here." Starlight explained, turning to a random page. "I manage to avoid the extracurricular reading." She joked.

They took a look at the randomly selected page. It happened to be the start of a chapter and read as follows.

3: The Art of Magic

3.1: Imagining Procedures

I don't know how to talk to ponies if they don't recognise magic as an art and a science.
All too often I meet ponies, pegasi and even unicorns who take the benefits of magic for
granted. A baker will mix the ingredients without using their hooves, a librarian can
hover a whole shelf of books off the floor and reorganise them without making a mess,
or a window cleaner can levitate a scraping device reaching the highest windows with ease.

There are no seeming to our use of spells, and yet all too often I find ponies cursing
the use of spells, especially mono-reactive ones. A pony can bake, why should a unicorn
try to finesse the art using magic. This kind of self-impotent comment pains me. It
removes any soul from the magic user, discriminates them, tarnishes the skill that can
take decades to master.

But this anger towards unicorns is not always badly placed. Their discrimination is based
off of experience, and all too often I find unicorns out there in Equestria who mistreat
the gift of magic. A unicorn's incompetence is enough to turn a single pony against
an entire race of pony. It disgusts me.

.61

"Wow. That's a harsh slap in the face." Trixie commented. Feeling a little guilty of her long, long lost past.

"Hmmmm..." Starlight thought for a second. "let's find another page."

She skipped forward a good chunk of book to a page in the middle of chapter nine.

9. My Work.

as opposed to working within structure. As a result I undertake most of my research
solo. When learning to weave multiple stereo-reactive spellforms into one simple
mono-reactive spell, you cannot risk an incompetently placed "and" or overthought
phrase.

The only problem with working solo, is that it presents you with no opportunity to
get an independent review of your work to check for mistakes. This is why I created
the 'temporary amnesia' spellforms. To allow myself to check my own work in
a variety of different ways. A system I would have no need for if others were more
disciplined in following strict systematic structure.

However, an unexpected bonus is that I managed to create another new form of SLAM!

Starlight closed the book so suddenly Trixie jumped back, her whole body twitching in shock. "STARLIGHT! Some warning would be nice." Trixie yelled.

"I think I figured it out." Starlight replied.

Just at that moment, a crackling came from the open book opposite them. Pencil lines like lightning forks shot out of the book and spun themselves into the form of Twilight and Sunburst.

"I found a period of time before the sirens where Starswirl was working on creating or accessing limbo!" Sunburst announced pleased. He had barely finished materialising. "It seemed like he was planning to use it as a cost free prison or hidden laboratory." His excitement was undercut by Twilight's silence.

"Twilight?" Starlight asked concerned. It took her a few seconds to respond.

"How have I never come across this book before Sunburst?" Twilight questioned. She looked shocked.

"Oh well I believe there are only two known copies." Sunburst replied proudly. "This one, that I found abandoned in an unused warehouse, and one hidden in Canterlot library, probably in the restricted section somewhere."

"What did you find Twilight?" Starlight asked cautiously. She knew not to push Twilight when she was absorbing information. After moments of anticipation, Twilight seemed ready to reply.

"Apparently...." Twilight started, turning to stare at the mirror. "This isn't the only portal Starswirl created." Twilight still tried to process exactly what that meant.

"Huh?" Trixie let the sound fall out of her mouth while Starlight and Sunburst merely became confused. Twilight made her way around the mirror to examine the tall, silent object. It suddenly seemed much more mysterious, more ominous, more significant somehow. Twilight turned back to the group.

"When Starswirl discovered the Sirens weren't banished in limbo he tried to discover where they had gone. He created these portals to figure out what he had done, where the spells could lead." She explained with great concern. "Each portal was unique. Not all were mirrors, some were walls, statues, doorways, tabletops. But he found mirrors the easiest to interact with. He created hundreds of portals in the Canterlot basement, every one lead to a different world, but he never found the Sirens."

Sunburst was a gasp and Starlight looked concerned. Trixie seemed to be concentrating very hard. Twilight continued. "That came from a source close to Princess Luna, but I've been through the basements and they certainly aren't there now. I'm no wiser about opening the mirror, but we need to find any remaining research Starswirl left behind about these mirrors."

"Mmmhmm." Sunburst agreed, but was unable to use words while processing these new facts.

"We need to get to the Canterlot Archives now." Twilight started to charge up a teleport spell, she was acting on pure impulse.

"TWILIGHT WAIT!" Starlight called. She fired a neutralising spell at Twilight's horn disabling the teleport spell. "I've found something." She hoped Twilight would stop and listen. Twilight seemed slightly stunned from the disabling, so she continued. "I believe this is a friendship problem."

"A friendship problem? But how? We haven't had any of those since the new tree of harmony grew."

"The mirror. When I tried to restart it with my own magic, it shot a beam straight at this book by Starswirl. If you read closer, he's really angry, and lonely because he didn't integrate friendship into his work. You remember what he was like when he returned from limbo. What if the mirror is trying to communicate to us."

"Communicate what?" Trixie asked. That stumped Starlight a bit.

"I.. I don't know. Maybe that friendship is missing over there at the moment, maybe it needs to be found, I don't know. But the mirror has been in this castle a long time now, we know friendship magic works over there. What if it's all connected?" Starlight theorised.

Twilight took a deep, focusing breath, and let it out slowly.

"Maybe you're right." She considered for a second. "Trixie, why don't you go with Sunburst to the archives, see what you can find. I'll message Spike, let him know you're coming and he'll give you access. We can stay here," She indicated to Starlight, "And go over some old friendship problems, maybe we'll find something we can use."

"No time to lose!" Sunburst agreed, coming to terms with all they had learnt in the past few minutes. He trotted around the table to Trixie and lit up his horn. "Already on it." With that, the light of his horn bathed the room in green light as he and Trixie teleported away.

Twilight quickly grabbed some scroll paper from one of the book shelves, scribbled a letter detailing Sunburst's security pass to allow him into all sections of the library. Twilight's horn lit up and dissolved the scroll into a stream of purple particles ready for Spike.

Then she and Starlight turned to look to one another.

It was going to be a long night.

On the other side of the portal, a dimension away, human-Twilight Sparkle put her hand on the cold, hard concrete portal. The rain beat off the coat that kept her dry, but soaked into her bare hands as she examined the portal.

The surface was solid, and Twilight took a step back to examine it from a distance. She got her notepad out, using her body to shelter it from the rain and drew a sketch of the portal, covered in multi-coloured lines.

From a distance it looked like somebody had spray painted the lines onto the concrete surface, but Twilight knew they were more than just paint. They were barriers to another dimension and she was pretty sure she could decode what they meant with a little thinking.

She reattached the notepad pencil and pocketed it trading it for the car key in her coat pocket. She kept the mirror portal in her eyesight as long as possible on her journey to the car, cautious of any change or adaptation as she left. She continued to ponder the scenario as she got into her car and made the drive home through the rainy orange sunset.

9: The Door With The Key

Sleep didn't come easily for anybody that night.

The Rain continued to tap on the windows to Sunset's apartment, but the later summer heat had left the evening awash with muggy air. Rainbow tossed over in her bed to face away from Applejack's camp bed. At this moment she greatly desired her girlfriend's embrace, but to respect Sunset's home she figured the best thing to do was to roll over and look away from the mare-girl.

Applejack set herself uncomfortably in one position and attempted to relax her muscles to eventually allow her to drift to sleep. Meanwhile Sunset led awake, staring at the ceiling above her. She thought about the girls sleeping beneath her on the first floor. She wanted to call them her 'new friends' but she felt she had definitely not earned that title over the last two days.

Rarity was so emotionally exhausted from the last couple of days that she fell sleep instantly. However she wasn't comfortable in sleep, her body felt hot and sweaty, like she had been running through a forest away from a wild creature. And although she felt this sensation, it only registered in eight percent of her consciousness, while the rest was dreaming, focused on the events that kicked off this whole fiasco.

The sun blinded Rarity as she trotted out of Canterlot train station. The sharp rays jabbed into her skin, warming her body in the cool air. She looked around, observing the white hazy sky from behind her shades. The familiar sound of Applejacks heavy hooves shortly joined her.

"Ah still think you're crazy." Applejack insisted. "Every time Twilight was there, they always had some kind of evil magic forces going on."

"Yes but darling, she only ever went there during emergencies. and this is most certainly an emergency." Rarity replied, focused on getting her relaxing holiday. "And anyway, there's so much for me, you and Dashy to explore there."

Applejack refused to be consoled by this statement.

Now Rarity was stood on a street in the centre of Canterlot, directly in-front of Twilight's favourite cafe. She looked around for signs of the train station. Instead her eyes met a silhouette of Twilight trotting towards them through the blinding white light behind an archway at the end of the street. Rarity let her mane settle on the left side of her neck as she observed Twilight in motion.

"Oh my goodness, Rarity, Applejack I didn't know you'd be coming here!" Twilight approached them, excitedly offering them a hug each. "It's so good to see you both... What are you doing here? Nothing bad has happened has it?" Twilight's thought's instantly turned to the worst possible scenario.

"Oh no darling no! We just came to see how you were doing and have a catch up." Rarity felt the words leave her mouth automatically, as if she didn't say them. Applejack gave a sly cough next to her which prompted Rarity to go on. "And we may have an itsy-bitsy favour to ask, if it's not too much trouble?"

"Oh of course! Come on in, let's get some lunch, I don't have much time on work days." Twilight directed them inside.

Rarity eyed the shining white windows of the cafe, Twilight sat in front of her, her purple mane shimmering and flowing in the still air. Applejack was saying something Rarity didn't hear or understand. An iced danish appeared on the table in-front of Rarity.

"Yes darling, your mane looks just gorgeous, how does it happen?" Rarity inquired. She felt the urge to say those words but didn't know why or what the conversation was about.

"Yes it does doesn't it!" Twilight replied, she seemed very pleased with the new look. "I believe it's the same thing that must have happened to Celestia and Luna's manes. There's something magical about the sun and the moon, I'm not sure what it is yet, Luna reckons Starswirl was onto a theory when he used to tutor them, something about an ancient connection between the caster and the celestial object, but he never completed the work, and he's so far away at the moment I'm not sure how I'd contact him. I'd love to work on it with him one day though."

Rarity sat up. She had been intrigued by Twilight's reply until she realised she had heard it before. She examined the walnut coffee table, the coffee counter, the bright-white-light windows until her eyes set on a door on the far side of the room. It was half open, but behind it seemed to be complete darkness.

Suddenly they were on the top of Canterlot Castle, stood on a concrete platform approximately four meters by four meters but Rarity was talking as if it was perfectly normal.

"We can't go anywhere in or around Equestria, so we were wondering if we could perhaps... not go on holiday... IN Equestria..." Rarity flirted with an upwards inflection. Suddenly the concrete platform started to move, Rarity was suddenly in shock. She looked over the large city of Canterlot below them, a slide appeared. The slide looked like something from one of Pinkie Pie's dreams, it had loops and twists and turns and it didn't end until it reached the gates of Canterlot.

And the platform was going to slide down it.

"Well you could go to Discord's void, but he's not going to be around in the next few weeks...." Twilight replied in nonchalant thought. The platform started to pick up speed.

"We were aware of that, Fluttershy told us. We weren't thinkin' of Discord's realm. We were wonderin' if ya'll might let us use the mirror in the Friendship castle." Applejack replied straight up. Rarity looked Hopefully into Twilight's eyes.

Then the slide lurched to the left, Rarity was shook into the reality, she could fall off at any moment. She tried to use her horn but it disappeared. She crouched down, the platform persisted to move faster and faster. Twilight and Applejack stood casually on the sides of the platform, unaffected by the movement. Rarity caught Twilight's gaze again out the corner of her eye.

"Okay I'll see what I can do, and it will take a few days, but no promises okay?" Twilight seemed very hesitant about the idea. Rarity wanted to scream at her to stop the platform, but she physically couldn't. Out the other corner of her eye she noticed the waters of Canterlot were oily and blackened. They seemed to evaporate some kind of deadly smoke. Rarity didn't know how she knew it was deadly.

Applejack nodded to Twilight thankfully.

"I'll be at my school on Saturday to meet with Starlight and discuss our Hearts-Warming eve plays. The School of Magic and School of Friendship casts will be performing at each other's schools. It's very exciting. I'll see you there at one o'clock?" Twilight said.

Suddenly the platform lurched upwards. Rarity followed the path with her eyes, she didn't understand how she was still on the platform as it climbed vertically up the track. It looked as if it was about to perform a loop-the-loop. Then it slowed. It slowed so slowly that Rarity fell off the platform.

She looked around, she was directly above Canterlot waterfall, a drop that would almost certainly kill her from this height, and she was falling. Applejack and Twilight seemed to disappear, she was alone. A thought ran through her head. 'Yes I can work that in, I've got to get to Canterlot by five for Sassy Saddles though.'

Then she screamed.

The black oily waterfall drew closer and closer, faster and faster. As Rarity's velocity grew it reminded her of the time she fell down the waterfall escaping the Storm King. She took a deep breath, covered her face with her front hooves and screamed one last, blood curdling scream.

Day three came about in Sunset's Maisonette and everybody was groggy from the night's unrest. There seemed to be no urgency to get up, and even Sunset opted to turn over and get a lie in after her eight A.M. alarm went off having been pre-set.

At that point Rainbow had stirred, thrown out the comment, "Urrrghh do I have to get up?" in the groggiest manner.

She was met by Sunset's extremely lazy, "Nooommhhpp." Before the alarm was turned off.

It was a slow, unenergetic, uninspired wake up call for everyone in the maisonette. Applejack got up first, eventually years of farmhand work got to her preventing her from laying in. She sat on the side of her bed and looked over to Rainbow. Her girlfriend turned over in her bed in an attempt to get another fifteen minutes sleep, in doing so she involuntarily faced Applejack.

As uncertain Applejack was about getting up, she felt the need to at least do something. So she dropped off the bed onto her legs, gave Rainbow a quick forehead kiss, and then headed to the bathroom. The crank of the door locking stirred Rainbow enough to make her vaguely open her eyes, notice the blurry outline of Applejack's empty bed and return to her not-quite-sleep state.

Rarity's scream pierced the silence of the room. The shrill cry terrified Rainbow and Sunset awake. Rarity's body shot straight up into a sitting position. Her breathing was heavy and her heart-rate was racing. She could feel her pyjamas drenched in
sweat, the uncomfortable feeling settling on her back, arms, thighs and stomach.

"OH MY GOD!" Sunset cried from upstairs, running to the railing of her balcony to look over the lounge. "WHAT'S WRONG?" Adrenaline was coursing through her body from the onset panic. Rainbow equally jumped out of bed. Rainbow found herself in the centre of the floor preparing to fight the non-existent enemy in the apartment.

A clutter came from the bathroom as Applejack knocked some items off the side of the sink. She fumbled with the lock, attempting to open the door as quickly as possible having caught a tube of toothpaste. "What in hayseed is goin' on!" She exclaimed, toothpaste in hand, noticing she had cut her pinkie finger on the stainless steel tap.

Rarity slowly calmed her breathing. She felt her body slowly return to a state of normality. Then she started to chuckle, first quietly, then harder and harder until she started to struggle for breath. The sound of her oddly well spoken chuckle filled the apartment as everybody else slowly calmed down.

"OH MY!" Rarity exclaimed through heavy, breathy chuckling. "Oh, OH my!" She stopped the laughing and got her breath back under control again. "Oh I am so sorry, I am so, so sorry!" She couldn't help but laugh some more, but she managed to control it this time.

Everybody in their groggy states came down from their adrenalin rush, the panic and confusion morphing into annoyance and relief. Rainbow stepped back to the pillow end of her bed and body-planted herself straight back down. Sunset took a sigh of relief and sat on her bed. Applejack rolled her head back around to the mess she had made in the bathroom.

"Oh my..." Rarity repeated, coming back around to the reality around her. "What time is it?" She asked reaching out to find a watch, unfortunately the watch was back in Equestria and she had to remind herself of exactly where she was.

"Foo Eaghlie!" Mumbled Rainbow into the quilt beneath her, which Rarity failed to interpret.

"It's eight fifteen." Sunset said gently from the balcony above.

Rarity led back on her bed, took a sigh of relief and examined the sloped ceiling above her. "Oh dear." She chuckled to herself.

Applejack returned to sit on her bed having cleared up the mess in the bathroom. Meanwhile Sunset made her way downstairs in her pyjamas and headed straight for the kitchen.

"I'll stick some tea on and make some breakfast." Sunset offered in a half awake state.

"Ah'll give ya'll a hoof... hand... Ah'll help." Applejack settled.

"I was going to make pancakes if you wanted." Sunset mentioned in a way to make sure Applejack was okay with putting in the effort. She picked the kettle up an turned the tap on.

"Well at mah last rodeo, mah pancakes were voted best in the whole of Appaloosa!" She boasted quietly, jumping off the bed and over to the kitchen. "Just guide meh towards the pans."

So with Applejack and Sunset working together they slowly awoke the groggy Rainbow Dash from her bed, and encouraged the amused Rarity from her shocking nightmare. The rising smell of hot tea and fresh pancakes filling the senses and souls of the group. And with their souls filled with pancakes, the mood was good between the group.

Pancakes are good.

10: We're A Work In Progress

Rarity slumped onto the table in front of her. She felt groggy and mad, which wasn't a new feeling, but it wasn't really boosted by spending the night on Twilight's purple couch. In fact the last few days had become an uphill battle for her. She held a small jar of jam in her hand, tossing it delicately through her fingers as she looked for a distraction.

Twilight bought a plate of buttered toast over to the purple table, placing it close enough for Rarity to grab, but far enough away that Rarity's hair wasn't going to get caught under the plate. The mass of well kept blue hair raised itself up off the table, searching for food.

Pushing her hair back with her jam pot hand, Rarity straightened herself up. She spotted the toast and decided to open the small jam pot, satisfied by the sound of the sealed paper label tearing and the pop of the jar decompressing. Then she searched for a knife and plate, only to realise Twilight had failed to bring those over yet, and she resumed her slumped position on the table.

For the past few days she had been through a lot. From the moment she met her counterpart self, she had: found out Applejack's doppelganger was in a relationship with Rainbow Dash rather than her, had a big falling out with Applejack, been hung up on the phone by Sunset, given her speech at the fashion conference before quickly departing, arguing with Applejack again, calling Twilight to ask for a bed for the week and missed the rest of her fashion conference.

"Right, I'm off." Twilight announced a little abruptly. "Remember you're meeting me at the mall for lunch at eleven-thirty. I'm not having you slouch around the flat all day." She lightly ordered Rarity, not standing for the I-feel-so-sorry-for-myself' mood.

Before Rarity had a chance to answer, Twilight had twirled her coat on, grabbed a piece of toast and left for the crisp, chill morning. The outside chill passed over Rarity's body as the door closed. Rarity noted the three pieces of buttered toast in front of her, picked one up, put it on her plate and proceeded to spread the jam onto it with her knife.

For the next few hours, Rarity spent most of her energy laying on a sofa and scrolling through social media accounts, searching for something greater than her problems to occupy her time before eleven o'clock came around. When eleven o'clock did come around, she dragged herself off the sofa in a drunken manner and forced herself to get changed out of her pink, fluffy dressing gown.

Not wanting to appear scruffy in public despite her mood, she reached for the small wardrobe she had in her suitcase and adorned a long sleeve, low cut top without shoulder straps, and a pair of black, ripped jeans with accompanying gold pocket chains. She figured this best accentuated her figure while suiting her mood. She especially loved the black, gold and white colour combo that her skin tone bought to the outfit.

Then she checked her phone, daintily unlocking it. A widget displayed a small icon of a sun disappearing behind a cloud. Next to this icon, the temperature read seventy degrees fahrenheit. She figured this was warm enough to warrant a handbag and no coat.

Then she checked her messages, specifically scrolling to Applejack's messages. There were no new messages. And with the feeling of dejection continuing, she threw her phone in her handbag, locked the door to Twilight's flat, and made her way towards the mall.

Rarity had been feeling good. She thought about her nightmare over pancakes and in the car on the way to Canterlot mall. She thought how amusing it is that sometimes nightmares can be so simple, and yet they will jump-scare you awake. She recalled how she woke that morning, it was like she had fought a manticore, and she thought about how weird it was to dream she was a pony even while she was a human.

Rarity had been given the first shower slot that morning, having been deemed 'most in need'. Which she had no problem with after her sweaty nightmare. Apart from Rainbow's apparent grogginess from being woken up, it had been a good morning. The events of Equestria Land seemed to have been largely forgotten, and the focus was largely on reopening the mirror portal.

They climbed into Sunset's car just after eleven O-clock.

"How fast does this thing go?" Rainbow asked from the front seat, clearly having been considering it for a few days. Sunset chuckled.

"Well the fastest I've ever been in it is ninety-five miles per hour. But a lot of roads are limited to fifty or less over here so I can't drive fast often, though I'm sure it can go faster." Sunset replied.

"Fifty?" Rainbow replied in disgust. She took a moment to digest it. "I go faster training foals to fly."

"Mmmm hmmm. It's mostly for safety purposes..." Sunset started to explain. Rarity's attention was distracted by the largy, beautiful metropolis passing by.

She watched from the back window as Sunset drove down a ramp to Canterlot Mall. They stopped momentarily as Sunset activated some kind of device that gave her a ticket thing, which then raised a barrier in front of the car before driving into the main area of the car park.

Sunset parked her car in the underground car park, the four girls got out and made their way through some glass doors to a pair of escalators. They rode upwards, Rarity recalling the stunned awe she experienced when she first visited two days ago. That felt like a long time ago now.

They sat at the same table they had the other day, right in the centre of the mall, the cafe encircled by three stories of shops (and a long corridor full of more shops). Sunset checked with the girls what drinks they wanted, and made her way to the nearest vendor to collect the four drinks plus one for Twilight.

However to Sunset's surprise, the next person she noticed was her Applejack, from the human world, making her way down the corridor section, heading for the cafe. Wearing a concerned and confused expression, she stood up and waved Applejack over to meet them in the cafe. Out of the corner of Rarity's eye she caught rainbow's flicker of annoyance.

"Well Ah'll be. Ah was wonderin' if Ah was gunna get a chance to meet ya'll. How'd ya do?" Human Applejack asked pleasantly surprised. Equestria-Applejack was surprise at the nonchalant attitude of her counterpart, but she wasn't too concerned, unlike Rainbow and Rarity who both seemed to stiffen at the arrival of Applejack's counterpart.

Rarity watched from a distance as she saw her girlfriend interacting with Sunset and the three Equestria Girls. She suddenly felt sick and disgusted. Had Twilight set her up deliberately here? Was this just some elaborate scheme? She didn't want to be a part of it. The girls at the table looked happy, and in a way it sickened her. Then she felt a tapping on her shoulder.

"Hey Rarity." Came the voice of a softly spoken Twilight Sparkle from behind her. But before she could turn around and have a go at Twilight, she noted the setting, a public space full of people and fashion boutique rivals. She channeled all her anger inwards and focused it directly, quaintly, softly towards Twilight.

"Twilight what is this?" She hissed.

"We need to talk." Twilight replied straight away.

"No shit Twilight." Rarity mocked her. She felt a ferocious ball of electricity causing through her. Part of her wanted to lash out at Twilight right away, and the more she suppressed the feeling, the more rage coursed through her body. She was already physically shaking, and Twilight could see that.

"Come with me, please." Twilight asked, hoping she hadn't already lost her friend's trust.

"I am not going anywhere near those girls Twilight." Rarity demanded.

"I know, I get it." Twilight empathised. "Come walk outside with me. Please."

Rarity felt herself shaking. She cautiously accepted Twilight's proposal, furious if it was a trap, but if it wasn't intentional then maybe Twilight just made a simple mistake and she could calm down. They walked a little way down the large corridor and then slipped into an alleyway between two shops.

They passed through a set of double doors into a large concrete plaza. They both headed straight for the fountain in the centre and took a seat on the edge of the stonework. Rarity, still shaking, instantly felt the cold. She huddled her arms close in to her body, glad for the long sleeves.

"I know these past few days have been hell for you. I really do, possibly more than anyone else. But Rarity..." Twilight paused to ensure she found the right words. "Rarity I need you to think about those girls for a minute. I need you to think about them because you've lost sight of what matters to you."

Rarity wanted to ... she didn't want to hit Twilight anymore ... she wanted to yell ... but she didn't have anything to say. Rarity felt herself just start to slowly shut down, the anxiety dying from her body, taking her energy with her. Twilight sensed this.

"Rarity look at me." Twilight got up, grabbed Rarity by the arms and looked her directly in the eyes. "I need you to help yourself, because nobody else can. I know Applejack has done some things wrong, but you love her and you know that. And I know Sunset didn't tell you about the girls and rejected your call, but you need to hear her out. Because right now, this is destroying you, and if I let you continue like this, I know you'll lose more than just your friendships. I won't let you do that to yourself."

Twilight took a deep breath and held on to Rarity, keeping eye constant. Rarity shivered and took a gulp. She looked into Twilight's purple eyes, and begrudgingly knew she was right, no matter how badly she wanted to deny it. Twilight took another deep breath, calming herself. Rarity mirrored her and took a deep breath too. She didn't let go of her anger, not quite yet, but she prepared herself for the conversation ahead.

Weakly, she nodded to Twilight. A definitive answer. She would go ahead with the plan. Twilight smiled back gladly and sat back on the fountain.

"I promise, I'll wait till you're ready."

Rarity felt a big shiver come over her and she wiped away some water from her eye that might form a tear. Quietly she replied, "Just a few minutes. Give me a few minutes." Twilight replied with a few understanding nods, looking out over the plaza.

"An' so Ah told Sunset, that it'd be fine, just don't touch the white outfits!" Human Applejack joked as she finished up the story of how Sunset got everyone their clothes.

"Oh my!" Rarity chuckled. followed by laughs from Sunset and Applejack (Equestria Applejack).

Rainbow on the other hand gave a simple, dry chuckle and a "Heh." It was lost in the forest of chuckles, but Equestria-Applejack noticed and looked at her girlfriend wearily.

"So what are ya'll doing here anyway?" human-Applejack asked curiously. "Ah thought Rare said you were here two days ago." She seemed to say 'Rare' with just enough hesitation that Rarity noticed.

"Ah well, when we bumped into Rarity we figured it was best to head back home. You know, not to keep two Rarity's in the same place at the same time and all that." Sunset replied.

"Uh yeah. Is it a good idea to be talking now with two Applejack's here?" Rainbow asked in what seemed like a sharp manner, but the tone was fore-fronted with concerned. Equestria-Applejack tried to piece together exactly what was bothering Rainbow. But before she got an answer Twilight appeared at the edge of the food court with human-Rarity. Human-Applejack and Sunset noticed them first, and then everyone felt awkward, and nobody knew what to do.

"Ah maybe you got a good point. Ah'll catch...." Human-Applejack was caught off guard.

Twilight gave a casual wave, but Sunset knew instantly that something was going on.

As human-Rarity walked closer to the table, nervous energy still inhabiting her body, she noticed Equestria-Applejack sat next to Sunset and thought of how she had come onto her the other day, then she looked to Rainbow and felt guilty instantly. It wasn't helped by Rainbow's look of annoyance as she turned back to Applejack.

Rainbow looked to her girlfriend and under her breath muttered. "You have got to be kidding me."

Both Applejack's realised. Things were about to get complicated.

Prologue: The Holiday Dream

It was six years after the coronation of Twilight Sparkle, and in the little town of Ponyville, a holiday was brewing.

Rarity and Applejack made their way into the Ponyville Cafe. As they took their seats at the table, the waiter came over from inside with menus for them.

"Oh No need for a menu this morning please. Just an espresso for me." Rarity chimed in before he could get to the table. The waiter kindly obliged.

"Of course Miss Rarity. And for yourself Ma'am?" He turned to Applejack.

"Ah just a regular glass of cider for me please Dusting." Applejack replied. Fine Dusting - their waiter - well dressed in his usual shirt and waistcoat, bowed pleasantly to the two ponies, and then proceeded back inside. Applejack turned back to Rarity.

"So have you been thinkin about where we might be goin this time?" She asked, knowing full well that Rarity would have been on planning mode for the past two weeks.

"Well quite frankly Applejack, darling, I'm a little stumped. All the holidays we've taken since Twilight's coronation have ended up rather.., well rather tiring if I'm quite honest. I haven't had a peaceful getaway in years, and with managing the opening of my latest boutique in Las Pegasus, I need a break now more than ever." Rarity disclaimed.

She was exhausted. Applejack took in the sight of her friend, her mane seemed slightly askew and she spoke with a lot of weight to her words. Rarity pulled a map from out of her purple satchel and unfurled it onto the table in front of her. Just a regular map of Equestria and its allies, nothing magical about it. The brown paper seemed a little worn at the edges.

'vintage' Applejack thought, chuckling internally.

"You see," Rarity said, flattening the map with her hooves, pointing to the locations as she ruled them off. "When we took our first friends holiday after Twilight's coronation, remember we visited the outskirts of Jamereca?"

She pointed to a smallish town the size of Ponyville.

"Ah I remember." Applejack reminisced un-delighted. "We were recognised so, that us seven didn't get a chance to relax."

"Exactly, everypony there wanted to learn about friendship from the group. As much as I appreciate that we were like celebrities there, I don't really wish to spend my time teaching friendship magic again."

At that moment Fine Dusting arrived at the table with Rarity's espresso and a glass of cider for Applejack. He carefully placed them around the map. Rarity and Applejack politely waited for him to finish his round of the table before they continued talking.

"Thanks yall." Applejack spoke up.

"Yes thank you." Rarity chimed in.

Fine Dusting bowed his head with gratitude. "You are most welcome. If you need anything else, I'm just inside."
Then he turned his attention back to the customers inside the restaurant and left the two planning ponies alone.

"From what I could tell, your holiday with Rainbow and Spike in Mt Aris didn't go so peacefully either." Applejack reminded.

"Indeed no. We thought going out of Equestria might take some of the heat off our visit, but it felt like an ambassadorial mission. The hippogriffs were so pleased to see us that I had barely settled into the blissful peace of sunbathing under the tuneful winds of the Harmonising Heights when we were whisked off to see all the other wonderful parts of Mt Aris.

"From boating and bricklaying, even to an official tour of Seaquestria. It was a lovely visit but it wasn't exactly a 'relaxing" getaway'." Rarity sank her head into her hooves as she floated the small cup of espresso over to her. She took a small sip of the hot, rich liquid before putting it down again.

"Last year I even tried taking a vacation to Manehatten. An UN OFF-I-CI-AL vacation. And what happened?"

"Well judging by what Rainbow told me, you were either busy havin your photo taken by press or taking a bath in the hotel room." Applejack was joking, but Rarity looked up scowling at the comment.

"If I am on official boutique business to Manehatten, then I am OH-KAY with my picture being taken. But on a vacation? We couldn't leave without being tormented by onlookers. Starlight threatened to teleport the press to Ghastly Gorge. Luckily we dragged her inside before the press heard that. But keeping Pinkie entertained inside a hotel with only spa facilities for release was a challenge to say the least."

This bought a natural stopping point to the conversation. Both ponies stared at the map trying to figure out a possible and viable destination. Without being able to visit cities, villages, or other lands it seemed like they were at a bit of a loss.

"We could go camping?" Applejack suggested.

"Darling, it'll be winter. As much as I enjoy camping with our sisters, I'm not camping in the cold." She sighed. "I would just like to go away somewhere where I could be treated like a normal pony again, instead of royalty." She couldn't believe the words coming out of her mouth. Being a royal associate was very different to the dream she had always sought after.

At that point, Fluttershy approached the table with angel bounding alongside her.

"Oh Rarity you're back from Las Pegasus!" Rarity turned to face her and gave her a sad welcoming hug. "Oh no, did it not go well?" Fluttershy asked confused.

"No darling, no it went great." Rarity said, picking herself up from her headachy slump. "It took a few months to find the right staff. Finding a generous manager in Las Pegasus was a challenge, and the staff have to be more efficient than Manehatten. It was a big contrast in philosophy let me tell you!" She laughed a covering smile with Fluttershy.

"Oh but you did find somepony in the end? I haven't seen you since our last friendship council."

"Well, one day I found a pony who was looking for a job. She didn't have much and she had just moved from Cloudsdale. At first she didn't understand why I had given her the job, or how to sell clothes. The other employees didn't get why I had hired her. But I just saw something in her, and slowly she learned the Rules of Rarity and started paying close attention to her job, giving the boutique her time and love.

"The trick in Las Pegasus is understanding when to be generous, and when to refuse help. It's a tricky line to learn, especially with so many fraudster ponies living there. I will take Sassy Saddles back there next week to introduce her to Blossom White. Sassy will run my business while I'm on holiday so she's acquainted with the shops she hasn't helped manage. Just in case." Rarity explained.

"Oh wow, well congratulations Rarity." Fluttershy replied.

"She also spent the last two weeks of her time tryin' to figure out where we're gunna go holiday. Everywhere we've been in the past has been a disaster." Applejack chimed in.

"Oh I know," Fluttershy replied. "Me and spike and Twilight last month tried to take a sightseeing holiday to the Crystal Empire. I was so looking forward to seeing all the little yews bouncing around the fields. But they were all scared away by the crowds of ponies asking for Spike's autograph and taking our photos."

"Oh Fluttershy how awful for you. How did you cope?"

"It was horrible. Shining escorted us to the castle and then Discord showed up with a surprise gift for me." She pointed to the silver and pink necklace she had been given by the draconequus Discord that day.
"He heard us struggling from his void, and he went on a quest to find this crystal, which didn't take him very long because he's the lord of chaos and all. Then he infused this with some of his magic. So whenever I think about the most random thing in the universe, this happens."

Fluttershy let her imagination take her away to the most random thought in the universe. The image Discord had shown her. Her crystal disappeared and a flash of a second later, Fluttershy did too.

Rarity was shocked, "Fluttershy!" She called, scanning the environment around her frantically. "Where is she!"

Relaxed, Applejack cooly quelled her worry. "Nowhere, she's still there, just invisible."

A giggle came out of thin air.

"Oh good," Rarity sighed. "Wow, what a gift." She exclaimed.

"Yeah," Fluttershy blushed. "But I'm only to use it when I'm in serious danger, or on holiday. He asked me out on a date too." She giggled.

Rarity could not believe it. She gasped a small squeal. Applejack sat back and watched it all unfold before her. Rarity congratulating Fluttershy, then telling her to 're-visable' herself so that she could hug her. And of course; she 'must know everything.'

"I just knew you too would get together at some point. Well I know you were always like together, but not, officially together together you know." Fluttershy reappeared behind Rarity, who hadn't expected her to move. Rarity gasped and then jumped round to hug her. Angel sat on the wall unimpressed.

"Hang on," Applejack interrupted, "but it wasn't just like that now was it Fluttershy."

"Oh no, well, see, because we were having such a crowded time in The Empire, he did the sweetest thing. He made us a sandy beach in his realm. Spike went gem diving, Twilight slept on pillow coated books on the beach, and I got to spend time playing with a flock of crystal yews. It was perfect. That's when he asked me."

"Fluttershy, that's so wonderful. I just wish we could plan a trip to a far away void." Rarity hinted. In fairness, Fluttershy gave her the idea, and if Discord would let them, it would be an ideal getaway from other ponies.

"He was just the sweetest. But he's accompanying Big Mac and Spike to the Dragon Lands for five weeks on a diplomatic errand for Twilight. He keeps threatening that he's going to spread the love of Ogre's and Oubliettes, but I think he's actually going for a deeper reason.

"See, he never says it, but he does have a big part to play is Equestria's history besides chaosing Celestia and Luna. There used to be other mythical creatures just like him, like Tirek, Scorpan and Grogar. I think he's going to see if he can learn about any of them. There's a lot of ancient history we've never had the chance to learn about before in the Dragon Lands." Fluttershy explained.

"While that's great for him, it's a shame for us and our getaway though. If Rainbow comes back and we haven't found a location, I guarantee she will drag us to the theme parks in Las Pegasus again, like she tries to every year." Applejack retorted joking. She took a sip from her cider as Rarity stared at the map of Equestria deep in thought. "An' ah bet Rarity wants a break from Las Pegasus more than ever this year!" She said. Fluttershy giggled at the comment.

"What if we do have a far away void where we aren't too known AND we can act like normal females." Rarity perked up. It was a light bulb moment. A Eureka moment. She felt so excited and energised, more than any holiday idea she had before.

"Why do you say females, like it's something specific...?" Applejack replied cautiously.

"Right, come with me, there's no time to lose." She beaconed suddenly. "Fluttershy thank you so much for the idea darling but I MUST see Twilight, and if we don't get that next train we'll miss her lunch break." She got up, and left a small pile of bits on the table. She took an estimate as to how much their drinks cost and added extra for security.

Applejack realised what she was doing and attempted to down her cider as quickly as possible.

"Oh okay. well I hope I can see you soon and have a proper catch up with you Rarity." Fluttershy called softly and sadly.

"Darling, YES, yes of course. Wait just a second." She pulled a calendar out from her satchel."Oh my, I'm so sorry, I'm in Canterlot next week, then Las Pegasus, then holiday, then Las Pegasus and then Manehatten. I'm not going to be around Ponyville at all! I'm so sorry Fluttershy. I'll still see you at the friendship council." She tried to console her friend.

"That's okay, I can come for dinner with you in Canterlot. I will get Dr fauna or Zecora to look after my sanctuary for one evening, and we can have dinner and a catch up." She said offering an alternative.

"That's so generous of you, yes of course! I'll make sure I get at least one evening free." Rarity promised.

"That's okay Rarity, I know you'd do the same for me if you could." Fluttershy replied, giving Rarity a big goodbye hug. She waved to Applejack who was concurrently dragged by Rarity to the train.

HIATUS CATCH UP

The story so far (for those who read the first half but don't want to re-read the first half having returned to this story after a six month hiatus).

[Spoilers for the first half]

Six years after the coronation of Twilight Sparkle.

Rarity, Applejack and Rainbow Dash are searching for a suitable holiday destination. However because they're so famous in Equestria they get spotted everywhere they go, making it very hard to holiday IN Equestria.

Fluttershy gave Rarity the idea to holiday with Sunset Shimmer in the mirror world, and after some persuading, Twilight agreed to the plan.

After a lengthy induction and explanation, the group meet with Sunset Shimmer early in the morning so as not to be spotted by other humans.

After the early morning start, and some time getting used to their new bodies, Rarity, Applejack and Rainbow Dash were led by Sunset to the beach, where they spent an exciting and relaxing morning.

Sunset then took the group to the mall, where Applejack and Rainbow went to get lunch while Sunset took Rarity shopping. However human-Rarity arrived unexpectedly at the mall and tried to hit on Applejack.

Rarity and Sunset return to find human-Rarity, Applejack and Rainbow shocked by the situation. Applejack had to explain that she and Rainbow Dash were a couple. Meanwhile human-Rarity explained that she and human-Applejack were a couple.

The group swiftly split so as to not raise suspicions. However upon returning to Sunset's Maisonette, Rarity found herself in an extremely anxious mood. Rarity has failed to find a partner in Equestria, and has sometimes been known to question her sexuality, but never explore it. However discovering her mirror-self is a lesbian and with AJ makes her question everything, sending her into an anxious spiral.

Human-Rarity and human-Applejack get into a fight, and Rarity doesn't want to cause any trouble, so they decide to head back home the following morning.

However mirror portal closed itself for unknown reasons. Trixie was on the Equestria side of the portal and immediately contacted Starlight to contact Princess Twilight to try discover what happened to it.

Stuck in the human world, Rarity, Applejack, Rainbow and Sunset head to Equestria Land where they enjoy a morning on the roller coasters, but when Vignette Valencia turns up and asks for a selfie between Rarity and AJ kissing, things turn awkward.

Enraged, Rainbow dashes out of Equestria land, with everybody trailing behind her.

Now on with the story.