My eyes were assaulted with a rainbow of lights, and I felt like I was being stretched into a rope a pulled through a crazy straw. Whatever magic was responsible for transporting me to this other dimension was nothing like any I'd ever felt before, and it certainly didn't feel anything like the magic used for a changeling disguise!

The sensation eventually fizzled out, and suddenly, it was dark. I impacted the ground; not hard, but with a distinct THUD!

"Ow."

"Huh, wasn't expecting that."

That voice was one I'd never heard before, and I immediately looked over to see who it belonged to.

Standing a few feet from me was a bipedal female, or at least I had made that assumption based on her voice. Her species reminded me of apes, but she lacked the majority of the hair, the only kind I saw present being that on her head, which was grown quite long and styled.

She had red and yellow hair, cyan eyes, and was wearing a leather vest over an orange shirt with a red and yellow sun, it's center comprised of a red and yellow yin-yang symbol. She had a purple skirt with a black studded belt holding it in place. Her feet were in some kind of foot covering that was also studded. In fact, the lapels of her vest were covered in studs.

If I had to guess, this creature in front of me was Sunset Shimmer.

"It looks like the portal made you a human too," I heard Twilight say, "so I guess we don't need to rush you off the street right this second."

"Huh?"

My attention was turned in the direction of Twilight's voice. She too was a human, though her skin and mane still matched her pony form. She was wearing a blue shirt and purple skirt, the side of which was emblazoned with her cutie mark. She had strange black coverings on her feet, and leg warmers that stretched up to her knees.

I also took notice to the lack of a tail, but that could be a common trait of these humans.

"Ya done ogling Princess Twilight, bug boy?" the other girl asked me in a teasing tone.

Shaking my head, I elected to stand up and examine my new form.

I had green skin on my hands, and my arms were covered in what looked like a leather jacket. The arms had three teal stripes just above the elbows. I had on a teal shirt underneath the jacket, and was wearing a pair of dark grey trousers. My feet had coverings similar to the girls, but were different. They had white toes, a orange bottom with a diamond pattern, the sides at the bottom had a white stripe with a smaller teal stripe in the center. The tops were black, with teal stitching going around metal eyelets, a piece of thick flat string running through them, apparently holding them to my feet.

Though I couldn't see them, it felt like there were additional coverings over my feet. In fact, it felt like there was something around around my pelvis.

"So we know that anything coming through the portal turns into a human," the girl I assumed was Sunset observed, "with the exception of Spike, of course. Do you feel any of that hunger the changelings are known for?"

I considered what she asked me, and I realized that I didn't, not even a little peckish.

"No, I don't! It feels amazing!"

Sunset smiled. "Nice to know. How about we get inside somewhere? I don't much care to hang out around the school when it isn't in session, and it's almost daybreak too."

I didn't know what she was talking about, so I just nodded and got up to my feet.

"You don't have any problem moving?" Sunset asked me.

"No, I don't. Changelings can reorient themselves pretty easily to moving around in a new form. It's kind of necessary for us."

"Fascinating," Twilight responded as she took a notebook and wrote down what I'd just said.

"So, Twilight told me you left the changelings and went to live in the Crystal Empire. That must've been exciting, huh?"

I chuckled. "You don't know the half of it."

I then gave Sunset a quick recap of my life, from being born different, to Canterlot, to being drawn to the Crystal Empire because of all the love from Princess Flurry Heart's crystalling. Once I'd finished up with meeting Spike and being accepted, Sunset offered me a smirk.

"I'm amazed you didn't get blasted into pieces by somepony," she commented. "Guess Spike did a real good job convincing them not to."

"Honestly, even though we were doing that in order to protect Flurry from what we perceived to be a threat, it was still unfair of us to jump to conclusions about Thorax," Twilight chimed in. "If it had been a messenger with a genuine offer of peace and we acted that way towards them, then it could've started a war that would've ended badly for both sides."

"That's water under the bridge now. You all accept me now, and I couldn't ask for anything more than that."

Twilight and Sunset both looked at me with a smile and nodded.

A realization dawned on me and I looked down at Spike, who was in his canine form.

"I have you to thank for everything most of all, Spike. I don't know how I could ever make it up to you for all you did."

Spike shook his head at me. "Don't go thinking like that. Real friendship knows no debts, right?"

I chuckled and nodded. "Good point."

Just then, we heard a grumbling sound from behind us. We turned to see Sunset with her hand over her midsection, where I guessed her stomach was located.

"You feeling okay?" Twilight asked her.

"Yeah, just..."

She had a sheepish look on her face.

"I just grabbed a piece of toast before I came out here and it apparently wasn't enough."

"Well, it is morning, so why don't we all catch some breakfast at the diner?"

Sunset nodded her agreement, but then frowned. "The diner won't let Spike in, though?"

"Why not?" I asked.

"Because dogs are pets, and pets aren't allowed in places like diners," Spike answered, sound a bit offended by the observation.

Twilight, however, was smirking. "I might have a way to deal with that. Sunset, can I borrow your geode?"

"Sure," Sunset answered, reaching around her neck and unfastening a necklace I hadn't noticed before. It was an orange color, and it's center was nearly see-through, though it was also orange, and off center to the right was the same sun symbol that was on her shirt.

Twilight had told me that Sunset was actually a pony from Equestria, so perhaps that sun symbol was her cutie mark?

Sunset handed the necklace to Twilight, who thanked her as she took it. Looking at Spike, she held out the necklace and closed her eyes.

At first, nothing happened, but then, the necklace began to glow. At the same time, Spike also started to glow, and rise up into the air.

"Um, Twilight," Sunset interrupted, "Shouldn't we be doing this somewhere more private?"

Twilight gasped and lost her concentration, the glow from the necklace and Spike fading quickly, and Spike falling back down to the ground.

"Ow," he said as he got back on his paws. "Why couldn't the portal make me a cat?"

"Sorry, Spike," Twilight apologized. "I should've thought not to just cast magic out in full view of the humans in this world."

Once we made sure Spike was okay, we moved to an alleyway out of view of most people. There, Twilight conducted the spell she had tried before. Again, the necklace glowed, as did Spike, but this time, it became so intense that is was actually blinding.

When the light died down, I chanced a look at where Spike was before.

In place of the dog was a smaller human, presumably male due to lack of features I noticed on Twilight and Sunset. I realized after a moment it was really Spike, as his head now sported green hair, his skin had a purplish hue similar to the scales on his stomach as a dragon, and he wore clothes similar to mine, though matching his purple and green colors as a dragon.

Interestingly, his shirt had a green flame on his left side; I guess it was an approximation of a dragon's cutie mark, if they could get such a thing.

"Wow!" Spike exclaimed as he examined his new human form. "This is wonderful! Thanks, Twilight!"

Twilight chuckled. "No problem, Spike. Now, how about we go get a bite to eat?"

"Sounds good to me," Sunset chimed in, leading us out of the alley and onward towards the diner.

Author's Note

Here we go! First update to one of my stories for quite a while. I didn't intend on as long a hiatus as I had, but life cannot be planned for sometimes.

This chapter is a bit short, but it felt like a good stopping point. I'm going to work on the next one, in addition to getting chapters for my other stories put out soon.