Strange New World

Chapters

Siva
Rhinoceros
Bury Me
Crush
Suffer
Snail
Tristessa
Daydream
Cherub Rock
Quiet
Today
Hummer
Rocket
Disarm
Soma
I Am One
Window Paine

Siva

Tory Rhett wasn’t sure what to expect, and so didn’t expect anything. Instead, he kept his eyes on the horse near him and stood motionless. The brown coated one stared back, a look on his face like he was daring him to run—or rather, gallop—away. Tory considered it for half a second before tossing the idea out of his head. He didn’t know the rules of this place, wherever this place might have been. Even if he did, he didn’t trust himself to coordinate an entirely unfamiliar body like his well enough to manage a successful getaway. It didn’t matter that the door they came through was only a hundred feet or so from him.

His eyes remained fixed on the angry looking stallion that stood near him as an invisible something looped itself around his ankles. Some kind of power? He didn’t know, but the brown one’s horn was glowing. At the same time, the gray coated horse behind him spoke aloud, presumably to all three of them.

"Be advised that you're not required to answer any questions," he said. "By answering, you're agreeing to cooperate with questioning without a representative present to advise you. Now–"

"Wait, they have Miranda rights on the other side of the universe?" Lake asked aloud. "How is that even possible?"

It wasn't possible. None of this was, clearly. Although this didn't feel exactly like lucid dreaming to Tory. Dreams felt more 'loose' than reality to him. Everything here was tight and detailed and made rational sense. It wasn't terribly logical, but then where was logic in a situation like this?

It was in everything but the scientific impossibility of what was happening. If he ignored he and his friends being turned into animals after traveling through an impossible magic portal, things lined up. They could breathe, they could blink, they could understand the animals here. There was technology that wasn’t different from things America had. They were in a house they didn’t own, and so understandably were being arrested for breaking and entering.

Tory didn’t know whether or not to be skeptical or believe what his senses told him. He kept his breathing controlled though, and closed his eyes for a second to refocus his thoughts. Lake, of course, was correct in his assumption that something bad would happen. He should’ve known that. Maybe he was struck by the impossibility of this all. No sense in lamenting the past though.

“This isn’t what you think it is, uh, sir,” Tory started, finally turning around. He wasn’t sure exactly what the horse next to him had done when he lit up his horn, but it felt like there were shackles or some kind of rope around his ankles. He was able to turn fully around without tripping over his new hooves though.

The gray cop—it had to be some sort of a police horse, since they were being arrested—looked as stern as ever as he shifted his gaze to Tory. Roxanne seemed mostly okay, even if the confidence she held before vanished. Lake, for his part, was doing better than Tory expected. He still looked like he was gonna be sick though. Like he was staring up at a rollercoaster that he or Roxanne were about to drag him onto.

“Oh yeah?” the horse next to him asked. “What exactly is this to you then?” The sarcasm in his voice was plain as day. Tory imagined behind that one’s shades, he was rolling his eyes.

He didn’t hesitate offering the two of them the truth upfront, as silly as it sounded. “There’s some kind of portal in that closet,” he told them, starting to lift a hoof to point to it before he felt the rope stopping him. He used his eyes to indicate, and finished, “That’s what brought us here, and we wanted to look around.”

“What? This again?” The older female horse finally spoke up, clearly flabbergasted by what she heard. “What in Celestia’s name is so important about my closet that everypony and their mother feels the need to saunter into my home like it’s a public park? There’s nothing in there!”

It caught Tory off guard, enough that his emotionlessness was finally replaced with wide eyed surprise. “I– you– wait, what?” He had no response for this woman, and instead turned back to Lake. “You haven’t told anyone else about this, have you?” he asked. “I thought we were the first ones.”

“We are!” he said defensively, just as confused as Tory, perhaps more so. “I told you and Roxanne, and then before I went through, I texted my mom and Randy and Henry, and Alisha, too. I sent an email to the New York Times, and the UP physics department, but they wouldn’t have gotten here that fast!”

"That other mare was talking about the same thing as you guys!" she continued. "Some magical portal that she needed to break into my home to take a look at when there's nothing here! Are you ponies supposed to be with her?

Roxanne finally got her head back in the game, and put her usual confident expression back on. "We don't know who the heck you're talking about ma'am," she told her, taking a small step closer in spite of her restraints, "but we're telling you the truth. If you look in that closet, it'll be there, just like he said. Go ahead and check for yourself."

Both the gray cop and the brown cop seemed uninterested in doing such a thing, and the former shook his head at them. "We don't have time to go through these games with you," he told her, lighting up his horn again to somehow magically tug at invisible restraints places around their waists, too. "You're coming with us."

"Just check!" Roxanne demanded, Christmas colored mane moving slightly with the motion of her head. "It'll be there when you look. I promise you that."

Both cops looked at each other, sharing an expression like they’d rather do anything else. The older mare shook her head in frustration and let out a long sigh. “Do we really have to go through this whole song and dance with you three, too?”

“Who else was here?” Tory asked the obvious question. “What was their name? Because no one else was with us.”

The mare ignored his question and marched over to the closet. Her horn glowed brightly for a second, and the door opened, revealing… nothing. The closet they came through was just that—a closet. It had dresses and clothes and books and a whole bunch of other things anyone would find in a typical closet, and nothing beyond that. Certainly no portal.

“What!”

“It was there, we’re not lying!”

"There has to be something else going on," Tory tried to explain, a smidge of worry finally leaking into his voice. "It didn't disappear when we went through, and Lake said it took us an hour to get to his apartment, so it must not have disappeared in between then. There's no other way we would've gotten here without it."

"There is," the brown horse said seriously. "You and your friend teleported in here with that unicorn from outside."

Tory stared blankly back at the officer, unsure of what to say next. What could he, or any of his friends, say to that? They didn't know the rules or laws of this place yet, and so couldn't argue with the logic presented.

What he did know was that whatever situation they were in, it had gone from not great to very, very bad. It was gonna be a big issue if they couldn't leave now that they were here.

"If we teleported in here, maybe that means you can teleport us back home?" Tory asked. "Is that possible?"

"It has to be possible since we got here!" Roxanne spoke up. "And there's no way that thing conveniently disappeared right when they showed up! I wanna check it out for myself!"

"You can see it for yourself, can't you?" the older mare told them, gesturing to the inside of it. "There's nothing in here!"

"You're not gonna be checking out anything else either way," the gray cop spoke up with authority in his voice. "And you're certainly not allowed to leave. The only thing you three are gonna be doing is coming with us to the station."

"But we didn't do anything!" Lake begged. "We're not even supposed to be here!"

"You can explain it to the judge during your hearing. We're booking you."

Tory watched Lake blink in surprise, and whisper, “This isn’t happening.” Then the officers teleported them away in a flash of bright white light.

It was a disorienting experience to go from standing inside a building to being outside without so much as a blink. It was enough to make him gasp, something Roxanne did as well. A glance back to Lake showed that he seemed mostly nauseous. Tory wasn’t surprised.

“Can you… not do that?” the bright orange horse that was their friend asked shakily. “That– that felt bad.”

“I would think it’d be the Earth pony who got motion sickness, not you,” one of the cops replied. “Now let’s keep it moving.”

Tory didn’t speak for a while after that, nor did Roxanne or Lake for that matter. They were all more focused on talking in their new surroundings for the moment.

The sun was bright and the sky was clear above them. The air was warm, on the hotter side, but not oppressively so. There was grass and trees and squirrels and sidewalks and everything else he'd expect to find in a city on Earth. Tory saw no cars, but there were paved roads with carriages, and what looked like train tracks running next to it. Just like the house they appeared here in, it gave off an early nineteen hundreds vibe.

Except most everyone he saw was a horse. Ones with wings, ones with horns, ones with neither—they were all colored uniquely from each other, with combinations varying from blue to black to brown to red to white and every other color there was. No two of them looked alike.

None of them seemed much for clothes, pants in particular, but Tory wasn't surprised by that. Some of them went around in dresses and jewelry and shirts and costs and hats and things. Others moved around completely bare, getting not so much as a second glance from any other horse they passed by. It seemed to be about fifty-fifty on those who wore something and those who didn't. It made his own lack of modesty less concerning, not that he was paying particular attention to that. There were a lot of other things to wrap his head around first.

It wasn’t all horses that he saw. There were cows and large bird creatures and dragons and other strange looking things he didn’t have names for. No humans though. He didn’t see a single one.

“Do you know anything about Earth?” Tory asked as they were led along, one officer in front of them and the other behind, watching them. “You said something about an ‘earth pony’. Is that supposed to be me?”

“Of course, it’s you,” the cop behind them said sarcastically. “Do you see any other earth ponies here?”

“Okay, I’m an earth pony you said,” Tory continued. “I know you two are unicorns, right? And so is one of my friends. What does that make my friend with the wings?”

“Be quiet and stop trying to act funny,” was the reply. “I don’t wanna hear your smart comments.”

“I’m asking genuinely,” Tory continued. “None of us know what’s going on, really. Do either of you know about Earth at all?”

No answer came beyond the clopping of hooves on the concrete sidewalk. Tory didn’t really expect much different from these two. They were no nonsense types, just like cops in Pennsylvania. He would almost consider making a break for it right now while they weren’t expecting it, if not for his footsteps being restricted by some kind of… he didn’t know what to call it. Was it a magic spell they casted over him? It made it difficult to even walk. Not that he’d know how to get back to that house, or where they would go if they couldn’t find it.

With the lack of an answer, he tried to pay more attention to his surroundings. It wasn’t good that they were teleported to the middle of the street instead of walking out of the house. It would make it harder to get back to it. But he did try to remember the street signs and buildings that he saw. It might be useful later.

“Or we can be locked in jail for years and years,” Roxanne said aloud, as though reading his mind. “That certainly seems like a possibility right about now, even though we didn’t do anything.”

“Be quiet,” one of the cops told her. “And don’t even think about trying to run. I can follow a spell trail for miles. You won’t get away. It’ll only cause more trouble for you.” Tory watched her shoot a glare at the officer, then scrunch up her face and let out an annoyed sigh. He couldn’t blame her.

“What’s gonna happen to us?” Tory had to ask. “Can you tell us that at least?”

The horse leading them glanced back at him for a long second, seemingly debating whether or not he was being serious and whether or not to answer. “You’ll have your pictures taken, be hoofprinted, and then given a cell to share while you wait for a hearing from the judge. You’ll also be interviewed and given meals as needed.”

“Oh, god, I’m gonna be sick,” Lake said, sounding like it, too. “There’s no way this is happening. This is all just a big misunderstanding. You have to believe us. I don’t wanna go to jail!”

“What kind of sentences do they usually give out for, uh, charges like this?” Tory asked. “What’s the average?”

“That’s for Judge Standing to say, not us,” one of the cops said. “Now be quiet, and keep it moving.”

Tory couldn’t lie to himself, the urge to flee was getting stronger and stronger. A glance behind him to see Lake looking like he was on the verge of a panic attack didn’t help. Roxanne, however, just gave a little shake of her head, as though she already knew what he was thinking. It was probably a bad idea anyway. Better to comply and find someone they could explain things to. Or get an attorney.

It was several minutes of walking along with these officers before they finally reached the station. It was a small looking building with a sign hanging above it, explaining that this was the Manhattan Police Department. No, wait, that said Manehattan. It helped Tory figure out what MPD stood for on the cops’ uniforms, but brought to him renewed skepticism about whether or not what was playing out was real. A portal to another world where everyone was a horse, with technology like Earth, with horses who spoke English, and silly horse puns for city names was getting a little too convenient.

They were led through offices of horses working, where they did things like took interviews and filed papers and whatever police activities were necessary in a world of farm animals. There were electric lights in here, too, something fluorescent like would be seen in a hospital, but not much beyond that in terms of technology. There weren’t any computers or printers or walkie talkies, but somehow he imagined this place wasn’t someplace that needed it or was drowning in crime. If you could light up your horn and tie a suspect's ankles together with what was presumably magic, the job probably wasn’t that difficult.

They moved past the station into what looked like a typical police backroom. One of the cops slipped a ring over Roxanne’s horn, much to her immediate displeasure, and the other one took their pictures and got their names. They got eyerolls over their ‘griffon sounding names’—whatever that meant—and then were told they could speak to the investigator if they wanted to, or wait for an attorney to be appointed to them. Lake wanted to go the talking route and be completely upfront with the circumstances they were in, but was talked out of that by both Tory and Roxanne.

They were given bright orange uniforms to wear—no pants, only shirts, of course—before, finally, they were moved into a holding cell to share. It looked like something they’d see in a movie, with dark gray-bluish walls and iron balls holding them inside. It was currently unoccupied by anyone else, but was big enough to hold four people from the bed count. There was a toilet in one corner of the room, with a water fountain and sink attached, and a couple of desks in the other corner. They hadn’t even bothered to separate them between males and females.

“This isn’t happening,” Lake said uselessly once the officer finally left them alone. “There’s no way this can be happening. This isn’t real.” His breathing was picking up as he slumped onto the ground, hooves falling under him. Roxanne paced back and forth across the room near the wall while Tory himself stood watching both of them.

“Why didn’t you two just wait until someone came to explain everything?” Lake asked. “I knew something like this was gonna happen!”

“If you knew something was gonna happen, why did you follow us?” Roxanne asked. “You could’ve stayed behind… man, am I hungry! I hope they have something to eat soon.”

“Because I wanted to stop you two from getting into trouble!” Lake told her. “You should’ve gone back when I told you! And you even tried to convince me to stay!”

“Yeah…” Roxanne rubbed a hoof behind her head, smiling sheepishly. Any worry she might have had seemed to disappear again, much to Tory’s interest. Did she know something he and Lake didn’t? It was strange how she knew what he was thinking before. They were close, but not that close.

“Well, look at it this way: you still have your phone with you,” she told him, pointing to his wing with a hoof. “That means you should be able to get a lot of good footage of all of this. Then when we get back, we’ll have a lot of stuff for whatever documentary they make about us in thirty years.”

“Unless they lock us up here for years and years,” Lake told her, his voice somewhere between an annoyed groan and a worried panic. “Besides that, it’s already gone! How are we even supposed to get back? There’s no reason to even bother!” He placed the device on the ground and used his new nose to click to stop the recording.

“Let’s just focus on one thing at a time, alright?” Tory said, mostly to Lake as his friend fumbled his hooves in an attempt to power the cellphone off. “This place is a lot like Earth, we know that much. A lot of times, if you have no criminal record, they give you probation, so that might be what happens in this case. And either way, we’re gonna get attorneys, so it probably won’t be that bad.”

“It’s gonna be completely hopeless…” Lake sighed depressively, putting his head in his hooves. “This can’t be happening.”

Tory had to admit it to himself: the situation was looking pretty dire. They were found in the building. And their only alibi had seemingly disappeared. Regardless of how they got there or how truthful they were, there was enough circumstantial evidence to sentence them with who knew what punishment. He imagined prison time was what they would receive.

This is just a very detailed lucid dream, Tory told himself silently as he closed his eyes and breathed deeply. Physics doesn’t work this way in the real world. None of this is actually possible. I’m going to wake up now.

It was a method that usually worked when Tory needed it to. This time though, he opened his eyes to see more boring concrete walls and his brightly colored horse-turned-friends. He wished he was surprised.

“It’s gonna be fine,” Roxanne told the two of them, although she spoke mostly to Lake, touching his back with a hoof as he lay on the ground. "They're not gonna give us prison terms. Trust me."

"How do you know that?" Tory asked before the orange coated pony could. "You seem like you've been able to read minds lately."

"I'm just picking up on the vibes people send out," Roxanne shrugged. "I don't know. When you asked them about sentences, they kind of gave off a feeling like we'd be let off easier than they wanted us to be. Didn't you feel it?"

"No?" Tory admitted, a tilt of his head showing off his confusion. "You did?"

"I guess," the unicorn shrugged again. "Anyway, I don't think we–"

“Hey!” a new voice called from far away, the sounds of multiple sets of feet—or rather, hooves—approaching the cell. Tory turned to see one of the officers who locked them up leading another horse—a unicorn—towards them. She had the same kind of ring on her horn that Roxanne had, and was just as brightly colored as everyone else they’d seen so far. She had a coat that was royal blue, and a mane and tail of purple that faded into green, along with yellow eyes. She didn’t look very happy to see them.

“I thought you said I’d get my own cell this time!” she complained loudly. “You didn’t say I’d be sharing!” Tory thought she sounded like an annoyed teenager. He knew immediately that this wasn’t her first time facing legal trouble.

“These three were just brought in this afternoon, Sapphire,” the officer said as he unlocked the door by floating a key into the lock. “You’re just gonna have to get used to them.” As he listened, Tory made a mental note that, with unicorns at least, their horns seemed to glow before they did something supernatural. It might come in useful later.

She snorted like she didn’t like that idea, and stepped inside, past them to one of the beds. “As long as they make sure to know that the top left bunk is mine. I guess I don’t care.”

The guard who brought her in gave a small chuckle and a shake of his head, then turned to leave them with their new cellmate. Their new company, Sapphire, climbed to the top bunk of one of the beds, then promptly laid on her back and sighed loudly. Tory had to look away before he got an eye full of something he’d rather not see. These weren’t particularly tall bunks.

“So what are you three in for?” Sapphire asked casually, her voice carrying through the small cell. “You guys must be some sort of team if you all came in at the same time. No, wait, let me guess: public indecency?”

“What? No!” Lake quickly protested. “Why the heck would you think that?”

“That’s what they arrest, like, half the ponies in Manehattan for. I just assumed since it was three of you, it was some kind of threesome. You can’t get mad at me for thinking that.” Yeah, it didn’t take a psychologist to realize that this girl—or rather, this mare—was kind of childish. Tory was already wondering how long it would be before they saw the judge and were moved to some other jail.

“Why don’t you start by telling us what you’re in for,” Roxanne shot back. “Since you’re so interested. Were you being indecent in public?”

“As if,” their new companion brushed the dig off lightly. "It'd be kind of nice in a way if I was," she said, "but no. Apparently, I was caught 'breaking and entering' a few days ago." She made motions with her forehooves, simulating air quotes, then finished, "I mean, sure, I was there, but is it really breaking and entering if you're there for an important reason?"

"That was you?" all three of Tory, Lake, and Roxanne said at the same time. They all looked up at her at the same time, wearing expectant expressions. Sapphire stared back at them with a questioning look.

"What was me?" she asked.

"You were the one that older mare and the cops were talking about when they arrested us!" Tory said. "They made it seem like someone else was there before us, and that they were interested in her closet! That was you, wasn't it?"

Tory still had no idea whether or not to believe that this all was really happening. There were a lot of convenient coincidences showing up around them. He didn't bother with thinking about that right now though, and focused firmly on Sapphire.

"Huh? Oh yeah," she said casually, like it was no big deal. "Why do you—wait a minute! You're humans, aren't you?" Before any of them could answer, she continued, "My name is Sapphire Glow, and I know everything humans because I’m supposed to be one, too! And if you're gonna get back to Earth, you're gonna need my help!"

Rhinoceros

Roxanne Collins knew Sapphire Glow was lying. She didn't know exactly how she knew, or about what exactly; she just did.

It was a feeling she had. Nothing the horse said seemed unbelievable. In fact, the things she said made sense. How else could this pony know about humans and Earth if she wasn’t supposed to be one, too? Still, there was a sense of mistrust the unicorn had about her. It almost permeated the air.

“If you’re from Earth,” Roxanne asked quickly, “then how come that cop made it seem like you’d been here before?”

“Because I have been?” The unicorn tilted her head in confusion. “Apparently the cops don’t like it when you, according to them, ‘have a pattern of repeated criminal activity’. I just say that they—”

“What I mean is,” Roxanne interrupted suddenly, “if you’re from Earth, how long have you been here? How long have you been turned into a horse?”

"Pony," the pony corrected, then rubbed a hoof behind her head. "And uh… that's a tough question to answer," she said sheepishly. She didn't have to look over to Lake or Tory to know that respectively they were giving her confused and indignant looks. Roxanne shot one of the latter at the girl, and she continued, "I guess you could kind of call me a 'human by heart' if you will."

"Wait, are you a human or not? And if not, how do you know about Earth?" Tory asked the questions before Roxanne could. It was probably for the best anyway. She would've had more frustration in her voice than he did.

"Well, no," she started carefully, already sounding a little on the defensive side. "But I would totally wanna be one! Being able to walk on my hind legs and having hands would be cool! Like I said, I’m supposed to be one!" Sapphire glow smiled at the thought, then shook it out of her head a second later to continue.

"But I know about Earth because I'm part of the 'Humans in Equestria' club," she explained. "Not that any of us have ever seen a human in Equestria before, but we all knew they were out there somewhere. And now you're here!" she said excitedly as she clapped her forehooves. "Do you mind if I ask for your autograph?"

Out of everyone they could've met, why did it have to be this person? Not that Roxanne was in a place to judge, but still. She guessed it would be similar if an alien nut finally found one after they were caught trying to sneak into a government building. She had a feeling most people thought Sapphire was a little off her rocker.

"What about the portal though?" Tory asked as Sapphire climbed back down from the top bunk to get a closer look at them. "How did you know it would be in that house if you've never seen a human before?"

"Uhh, and how do you even know what a human is if you've never seen one?" Lake added. Gone was much of the worry he had before, the feeling rapidly being replaced by curiosity.

Was it strange how Roxanne knew that without even having to look at her friend? It felt strange, like some sort of new sixth sense. Kind of like how dogs could smell fear, except she was able to pick up on more than just that. Did Lake and Tory have that new skill, too? She somehow didn’t think so.

“I’m a magical expert, obviously,” she explained. “Can’t you tell that?” It wasn’t annoyed like Roxanne expected it to be. Instead, she was prideful of the title she’d given to herself. Roxanne had to avoid laughing to herself about that. If no human had ever been to wherever this place was, how were they supposed to know something like that?

“I studied under Princess Twilight Sparkle herself at her school for gifted unicorns!” she said. “I was even one of the top ponies in my class! Sure, I might have gotten into a little trouble with her a few times, but I’m still an expert! As good as they come!”

She knew Lake and Tory were thinking along with her about what kind of trouble a horse with a personality like this could get into, especially if she was able to do magic. No one said anything though, and listened intently.

“I noticed some particularly intense thaumatic waves coming from Lilac Beauty’s house a few months ago. Naturally, I tried to ask her if I could take a look around and take some samples, but she got indignant with me when I told her I was just doing my job asking her why her magical skill wasn’t up to par for a place with such a strong signature. I kept a lot of good notes though, especially about how the amount of magical particles in the air seemed to…”

Roxanne didn’t listen. She didn’t particularly care about all the details like this. What was she gonna do? Peer review her studies? Instead, she focused on the emotions coming off of her as she spoke. There was a lot of confidence about her, and intelligence, but not really much cockiness or arrogance like she expected. She might have spoken with a kind of valley girl accent and tone in her voice, but her words presented themselves to Roxanne with a factual sort of feeling.

How am I doing that? she had to wonder silently. This wasn't a skill she had an hour ago. She might have prided herself on being able to read people before, but it wasn't on the level of mind reading it seemed to be at now.

She watched Lake glance away from Sapphire every so often to Tory, definitely trying to see what he was thinking. Tory himself barely blinked as he stared the girl in the face. He seemed to be taking in every word she said and compartmentalizing it for later. Good. Someone had to be doing that. Roxanne would probably just forget most of it anyway.

There were a lot of other subtle things she felt, but couldn't quite understand, coming from her two friends and their new companion. It was a lot like flavors of a dish. Right now, that dish was curiosity, worry, and determination. It was hard to pick out much else.

Roxanne took a minute to examine her body some, too, while their new cellmate continued on about wave rates of something or other and how they indicated teleportation. It was interesting how pastel colored she seemed to be, and immediately noticed the difference between it and the other 'ponies' she saw. They were more brightly colored than she was. Heck, Lake was practically glow in the dark neon orange. She didn't think she'd seen any horse quite pastel colored like she was while they were outside, but then she wasn't looking for it. She was only able to make mental note of the difference.

She had a unicorn horn like the other unicorns she saw had, and was about the same size as Sapphire Glow and Lake were. She was naked, obviously; it was one of the first things she noticed when she stepped through Lake's closet. But she also almost immediately decided that she didn't really care one way or the other. It might have been her brain dissociating being a horse from a human being, but even though she was obviously indecent, having fur didn't really feel like she was exposing herself.

Even if they were only in this world as horses for a day, this could certainly make things interesting for when they got back home. They might be in national news, or international for that matter, if things played out right and people got involved. If not, this would at least make for a funny story to tell people at the least. It'd make Lake flustered and embarrassed when she mentioned how they were all naked around each other. Maybe he'd be up for doing more adventurous things after this was over. Maybe Tory would open up more and show some emotion. Maybe Roxanne herself would chill out a little bit more when they were home again. She was the one who wanted to look around for herself first.

The feeling didn't come from anyone but she somehow knew that this little adventure would be longer than a day.

"And lastly," Sapphire Glow finally said, after probably ten minutes of nonstop talking. Roxanne shook her head clear to focus in again on what the blue unicorn was saying.

"We know what humans are because we have books all about them!" she said. "Their history, their biology, what they like and don't like—all kinds of things! Of course, a lot of that information is locked in the Canterlot Archives, so don't tell anypony that I have that information, but—"

"Okay, but like… how do you know what humans are?" Lake asked, confused. "Like, how did you get that information?"

"From the Canterlot Archives?" she said, just as confused as he was. "I just told you not to tell anypony I've been in there." Roxanne was confused by what she was saying, too, but not because she didn't understand what Sapphire was saying. She had a feeling the mare was just always like this. Roxanne was having a lot of feelings lately.

Their new cellmate raised an eyebrow at the three of them skeptically, taking a step back. "You three aren't messing with me, right?" she asked seriously. "Because if you are, I know spells that'll make you wish you messed with somepony else," the unicorn threatened.

"We're not messing with you," Roxanne finally broke in again. "Just move past it. We don't care about that. You said you can get us back to Earth. Can you do that?" She could tell Tory and Lake weren't putting much faith in the claim, but she wasn't too skeptical. Why would she lie? Except the immediate lie about her being a human, too.

"Mhm, I can do that," she nodded. Roxanne decided she was being truthful as she continued, "I'm not really sure how, but I've kept enough notes to figure it out. Plus, I've got friends." She started to turn away from them and climbed up to the top bunk she insisted was her own a moment later.

"I'll have to look at my notes though," Sapphire said. "Kind of can't do that while I'm stuck in here, but I bet it won't be that hard to do once I have them. Plus, I absolutely wanna visit Earth. Having hands sounds amazing!"

"It can help a man deal with being single I hear, right, Lake?" Lake blushed and frowned, but Tory laughed at the joke. Sapphire's confused expression even got Lake's lips to eventually turn up in a smile. It lightened the mood some.

"I'm not sure what you mean," the blue horse continued, "but anyway! In the meantime, since you're here, I have a million questions for you three! This is the first time I've ever been able to even find a human, let alone talk to three at once! I’ll be the first pony in history to interview one!"

Roxanne shared a look with her friends. This was gonna take all night, wasn't it?

Well, it wasn’t all night, thankfully. And it wasn’t a completely one sided interview either.

She asked them a bunch of basic questions about themselves and their home—what their names were, how old they were (she and Tory were twenty four, Lake was two years younger), where they lived (Pottstown, Pennsylvania), how they ended up here… and then a million questions about what it was like to be humans. A lot of them were specific to having hands. No emotion coming off of their new company revealed whether this was a fascination, a fetish, or what, but the three were presented with an obscene number of questions about human hands and what they could do.

In return, they had some questions of their own for Sapphire Glow answered. She was almost twenty years old and still lived with her mother in the city of Manehattan, the largest city in the country. The country of mainly equines, who called themselves ponies, was cleverly named ‘Equestria’, and existed on the equally cleverly named planet of ‘Equus’. They were apparently ruled by a benevolent dictator-queen named Twilight Sparkle, and did so under principles of ‘harmony and friendship’.

It was like a world designed for a little girls’ tv show that they stepped into. Roxanne wondered what kind of sentence they would be given in that case. Maybe lessons about friendship and kindness and a hundred sentences to write about how it was wrong to enter someone’s home without permission. Maybe they’d be let off the hook entirely without any hassle.

“If you weren’t caught with anything in your possession,” Sapphire said, “Judge Standing probably won’t make you serve actual jail time. I’m pretty sure he doesn’t like me, and I only served four months once when I was eighteen. It probably won’t be that bad.”

“Uh, four months is a long time,” Lake immediately spoke up worriedly. “I don’t wanna be here for four months, especially not in jail for something we didn’t do!”

“Oh, relax,” the mare continued, nonchalant. She waved a hoof for emphasis as she told him, “They’ll probably just give you guys probation and community service since you wouldn’t be in their records. Is it true that humans have to wear IDs every time they want to go outside?”

“No, but we do carry ID cards with us,” Tory told her. “Do you know when we’re gonna be able to see an attorney?” he asked. “Or appear in front of the judge? How long is this gonna take?”

‘Probably on Tuesday is when you'll see Judge Standing since it's the weekend now. No way he's coming in on a Saturday. I definitely wouldn't. Plus, you gotta see the attorney, too, on Monday."

"What day is it today then?" Roxanne asked, not that she needed to. She already knew from how Sapphire felt that it was a Friday. Not that she needed those feelings to deduce that. Lake and Tory were able to figure out the answer on their own, too, before Sapphire confirmed it. Both were nervous about the idea of spending more than a few hours here, although Lake showed it more. Weird though, since it was supposed to be Wednesday on Earth right now.

"I can't stay here that long," her friend said nervously. "I have work to go to in the morning and have plans with my family after that. They're gonna think I'm missing. That we're all missing."

“You told them beforehand about this though, right?” Roxanne asked. Another question she knew the answer to, just because he said so before. “They’ll figure it out and tell someone else, and before you know it, everything’s gonna be fine.” She put on a wide smirk of a grin and continued, “Besides, wouldn’t you rather be here with us seeing all of this instead of waiting around at home for us to come back?”

“No?” he said, almost exasperated. “Because I was about to go back until you stopped me, Roxie!”

“Oh, you’ll get over it,” Tory chimed in, putting on a slightly humorous tone despite his body posture. “After all, we have Sapphire Glow on the case, right?”

“That’s right!” the unicorn said confidently. She didn’t understand Tory was teasing her. It made Lake give another small smile again at least as he tried not to be so anxious.

"What do we do though, if we're stuck here for days?" Lake asked. "Just… sit around and do nothing?"

The unfortunate answer was ‘yes’, Roxanne and her friends quickly figured out. Who knew jail could be so boring?

The main thing there was to pass the time was talking. About being in prison, about being horses, about what to do and how to proceed once they were in front of the judge and got out of here, about the new shows they watched on Netflix recently. Tory made a big deal about wanting to plan out everything for once they were actually outside, but even talking about that didn't take up most of Friday night. Sapphire Glow said that she was sure her mother would let them stay with her if need be, and that her notes would have everything they needed to get back home. She might have been confident, but Roxanne wasn't so sure. The unicorn told her and her friends that she would know more once she 'investigated' the house they entered this world in. She imagined that implied breaking and entering, except for real this time. It didn't phase her much though.

The food was better than they all imagined it would be, and it wasn't hay, thankfully enough. Apples and carrots and macaroni and peas with cookies were what they served for dinner the first night. Sapphire explained that since a lot of the cooks only worked five days a week, they served pizza for dinner on the weekends. It tasted no different than frozen pizza from Walmart, which she decided was a good thing.

It was kind of funny how Lake made a huge issue about needing to go to the bathroom, despite the fact that they were all naked now. He went so far as to ask one of the guards if he could be taken to a private bathroom, a request that was promptly scoffed at and denied. It took Tory telling him that no one was gonna care and making a big deal about it was just putting more attention on him before he would go. Roxanne didn't tease him about it, but she would later. Once they were back home. Right then wouldn't have be cool.

The cell they were in was about the size of two average sized rooms; certainly big enough to host four people—or rather, four ponies—comfortably. There was room enough for Tory to work out and pace while the rest of them mostly sat around. The beds were softer than Roxanne expected, and the air was kept at a comfortable temperature. It might not have been that bad if it wasn't so mind numbingly boring.

Beyond talking and thinking, there was nothing to do. No TV, no radio, no board games—not even a deck of cards or some paper and a pen for writing. Lake was even reluctant to play some of the music he downloaded from Spotify under the explanation of wanting to conserve battery. It made sense, because who knew how long they would be here? It didn't make it any less boring.

It would've been torture if she was alone. Having her friends here made it bearable, even if most of the day Saturday and Sunday was spent doing nothing. In a word, it sucked.

At least on Monday afternoon, they were finally able to talk to the attorney. A male unicorn named Legal Eye—what kind of name was that?— explained that he would be representing all three of them. He explained what they already knew in that they were being charged with breaking and entering into Lilac Beauty's home, but couldn't be charged with robbery since they didn't have anything in their possession. None of Roxanne, Tory, or Lake bothered with explaining the circumstances of how they got there to him after he told them that if they were found guilty by a jury, they could be sentenced to up to two years in jail. Not to mention, the actual trial would probably take a couple of months to get to, and they would remain in custody if they weren't able to pay bail. They all imagined it would be a losing effort and a waste of time.

By comparison, the extremely simple and fast solution would be for each of them to just plead guilty and be tasked with doing a hundred hours of community service and receive an order to stay at least a hundred feet away from Lilac Beauty's home. It was no surprise which option they all three wanted to go for. With any luck, they wouldn't be horses in this world for long enough to have to do it all. It might make it a little complicated getting into that house again though.

"What? That's not fair!" was Sapphire Glow's reaction to the news. "My deal was that I had to be on probation for two years!" she complained. "I won't even be able to drink apple cider!"

"You told us you did stuff like that before," Tory replied. "They'd do the same thing to you on Earth. Actually, they might just put you in prison."

She rolled her eyes at that as she climbed into her bed, then flopped down into her stomach. "Well, whatever," she said casually. "When I figure out how to get to Earth, I'm gonna stay there and not come back. I'll take my mom there, too. Manhattan sucks anyway."

"What have you gotten into trouble for before?" Roxanne asked. "Because I don't think they'll be more forgiving on Earth."

"Oh, a lot of things," Sapphire shrugged, looking over the railing of the bunk bed at them. "Trespassing, negligence, breaking and entering—technically, I was charged with larceny when I was in jail for four months, but my attorney helped me plead it down to petty theft. It would've been a lot worse if I hadn't been able to." She sighed a sort of whimsical sigh, and finished, "Oh, the things I do in the name of knowledge and science." It was strange how unbothered and unashamed she was of it all. She wouldn't have sounded different if she was talking about her regular day. Then again, it probably was a regular day in the life of this horse.

"Yeah, a word of warning?" Roxanne started again. "When you get us home, if you do come with us to Earth like you want to, I would stop doing all of that. A lot of states don't mess around with stuff like that, and Pennsylvania is one of them."

"Yeah, okay," the mare said with another little shrug. Roxanne didn't need to be an expert at reading emotions to tell that she wasn't listening. She didn't bother though. That wasn't her problem.

“I can’t wait to see what you guys look like up close,” she said, her excitement from a few days ago being replaced with calm expectation. “I’m definitely gonna have to show you off to the Humans in Equestria club. Maybe even before we actually go to Earth. A lot of my friends would definitely wanna meet you. I’m gonna be the most popular person at our next meeting.”

Once word got out about this when they got back home, the three of them were gonna be pretty popular themselves, weren’t they? How much money were they gonna get just from saying they’d been here first? Everyone on Earth knew who Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin were. Was it gonna be the same for them?

It was a question to worry about at a later time. First, they had a court appearance to get to. It was early in the morning, early enough that even Tory, a morning person by nature, was looking groggy. Roxanne felt it on him, too. How was she able to do that? She didn’t know, and she still didn’t bother asking either of her friends about it.

Sapphire Glow was accustomed to the process, and explained that they’d sit through an hour or two of listening to other ponies’ cases before the judge got to theirs. She wasn’t wrong. One of the guards got them out of the cell, bringing along with them a couple of other prisoners for a march up six flights of stairs to an already packed courtroom of ponies waiting to be heard. What a place to be at seven in the morning.

And even now, she could feel all of these horses’ thoughts and emotions. How weird was that? Not only did she get the general air of people who didn’t wanna be here being told they’d have to do things they didn’t want to do, she was able to pick up on specific people’s feelings. The older woman with what had to be her grandson who was angry with him, even though she told him it would be okay and smiled. The guy in the back who was falling asleep and wished he was anywhere else. A younger horse filled with determination from where they sat, waiting for the moment they could plead not guilty to some misdemeanor. It wasn’t really a cloud of feelings; more like an interconnected web, where Roxanne could follow each strand and take a closer look at the horse whose feelings these were, or get a larger picture of the general mood. It was kind of stimulating in a way. Like drinking coffee.

She was definitely gonna have to ask someone about this at some point. This wasn’t normal.

It wasn’t as long as Sapphire Glow said it would take before the judge called them forward, only a half hour or so. He called their cellmate up to talk to him first. Roxanne had to hold back from laughing at how the mare sauntered up there like they were friends. Lake and Tory didn’t find it quite so funny.

“If I know one thing, it’s that if she keeps acting like that, he’s gonna put her in jail,” Tory said. “And we’ve only known him for thirty minutes.”

“Yeah,” Lake agreed. “Then what are we gonna do?”

Roxanne didn’t respond, instead focusing on their companion.

“Hi, Judge Standing!” she waved cheerily, like the two were old pals. “It’s nice to see you again, your honor.” He didn’t have to sigh for Roxanne to know he was disappointed.

“Sapphire Glow,” he said as he let out a breath. “I wish I was surprised.” He shook his head and looked down at a paper as he asked, “What is it this time? Burglary? Arson?”

“Uh, breaking and entering. Again, uh, your honor.” At least she had the decency to be embarrassed by it. It seemed to help play the judge in a good way. A little bit anyway.

She rubbed a hoof behind her head and gave a sheepish grin as the judge returned it with a stern look before glancing back down at the paper. “Breaking and entering,” he repeated. “Yes, again.” A little pause from him came as he read, then he continued, “You’re entering a plea of ‘guilty’ in return for a two year suspended sentence to be served as probation. Is that correct?”

“Yeah, that’s right,” she answered. Roxanne thought she was being way too casual about this.

“You’ve committed this offense before, and were given a plea deal then, too. A hundred hours of community service.”

“Uh, yes, I did.”

“Just as you were in here before for criminal trespassing as well, and a whole host of other things from the looks of it. One of these was a felony charge that you pled down to a misdemeanor to avoid a seventeen month sentence. Do you remember that, Sapphire?”

Sapphire looked like she was getting nervous. Gone was the sheepish grin and out came anxiety. “Uh, yes, your honor,” she answered. “But those things won’t happen again. I promise.”

“I’m certain I’ve heard those words before from you, and yet you keep ending up in my courtroom,” he said. It was no different from the way a principal would talk to a trouble-making kid. “Do you know what we call that, Sapphire? A pattern of behavior. Why should I believe you’ll behave differently with this deal than you have with any other deal you’ve been given so far?”

Yeah, Sapphire was definitely worried now, an emotion Roxanne guessed was rare for the mare. Her eyes were wide as she glanced nervously between the wall and the judge. He’d clearly never been so direct with her before.

“Please, your honor,” she told him. “It won’t happen again. I promise. I don’t want to go to prison. I’ll be better.”

“You had better be better,” he told her sternly. “I’ll accept this plea deal, but if I see you in here again, or if you break the terms of your probation, I won’t let you off so easily again. You’re looking at a twenty four month prison sentence if you break even one letter of your probation terms. Do you understand me? Because I’ll make sure you serve every day of that if you show up here again like this.”

Sapphire Glow swallowed, and nodded. “Yes. I understand, your honor,” she told him.

She sighed some papers and spoke to the judge for a few minutes longer before she was told she could leave. Then, the three of them were called up.

“Let’s see… Tory Rhett, Roxanne Collins, and Lake Cleaver…” He looked up at them and said, “Those sound like griffon names. Are you supposed to be from Griffonstone?” Roxanne didn’t bother answering. The judge didn’t particularly care either way, from what she felt of him. Instead, he looked back down at his paper and continued, “You three are entering a guilty plea for…”

There was a long pause. Roxanne could feel his emotion quickly turn sour, and she was sure her two friends knew it too from the horse’s body language. He looked up and eyed them suspiciously, then squinted down at the report again. “What’s going on here?” the judge asked incredulously. “Are you meant to be some kind of group of co-conspirators with Miss Glow? Is that it?”

“This is all a misunderstanding, your honor,” Lake said nervously. “It’s not gonna happen again. We promise. We weren’t conspiring with her.”

“It sure looks that way from what I’m reading,” he said as he glossed over the paper in his hooves again. “How could this possibly be a misunderstanding?”

“Uh, well…” Lake rubbed a hoof on the ground, clearly debating what to say. Tory didn’t take the chance to speak up either. It left Roxanne as the one to step in.

“We went through a portal on another world from where we live to here,” she said simply, factually. “It just so happened to lead to that house, and the police showed up a few minutes later.” She didn’t think the judge would buy it, as ridiculous a story as it sounded. No more ridiculous than turning into horses in another world though.

He didn’t really, but he was more accepting of the explanation than a human judge would’ve been. “Yes, well, in that case, let me give you a piece of advice,” he told them. “If I were you and I was new here, I would stay away from Sapphire Glow. Hanging around her is going to lead you to trouble. Trust me.”

Bury Me

Tory was relieved about the way things were going, if only because a few days in jail was better than being locked up in prison for months. Or years.

In general though, he still had to hide a lot of his anxiety. Being in a strange new world was almost a secondary concern, second to not being at home. He had missed at least four days of work. His family probably already filed a missing person's report for him. The only saving grace was Lake's saying he texted people before they left. Why hadn't Tory done that?

He wondered how Roxanne could be so casual about all of this, but maybe she was just better at hiding her emotions than even Tory was. At least Lake showed his anxiety. In a weird way, it made him feel a little better.

"It's weird being naked in public like this," his friend said with a frown as the trio carefully stepped out of the building. Lake carried their papers in the wing opposite of the one he had his phone in as he continued, "It feels indecent, even though none of these horses have any concern for modesty anyway. It's like a nudist colony. Even just shirts were better than nothing." Tory watched him glance behind him and scowl as he ruffled his wings and adjusted his tail.

"Well, hopefully it won't be a problem for us soon because we're back home. Speaking of which, you should turn your camera back on and record some of this…where the heck did Sapphire go?"

"Over here!" she called, raising a hoof in the air to wave before trotting over to them. "I'm glad you guys didn't have any trouble!" she told them. "Judge Standing wasn't yelling at you like he did me, was he?"

"Nah, he was pretty reasonable," Roxanne told her. Was it really a lie? It was pretty reasonable advice that he gave to them. They had no choice on whether or not to follow it though.

“But anyway,” she continued while Lake fiddled with turning on his phone. “You’re gonna help us with getting back to Earth, right?” she asked. “You said you had some notes in your house to look over first.”

“Yeah, that’s right,” she nodded. “It’ll probably take longer than a day though, but like I said, my mom won’t mind if you stay with us for a little while." She grinned, and with a slightly seductive voice, said, "Lake and Tory and stay in my room if they want."

"I'm not into horses," was Lake's immediate, toneless reply. Tory half expected him to laugh and be embarrassed, but there was none of that. He didn't even glance up as he struggled with getting the phone's camera turned on. "These dang hooves are good for nothing, seriously."

“Let me try,” Sapphire offered before lighting up her horn and snatching the device from out of his grasp. “What do I do?”

Lake let out a defeated sigh and explained. “You have to tap the camera icon with a finger on the screen, but none of us have those. And pony noses are too big to try and use like a finger, and wing feathers don’t work like that.”

“I can make human fingers with my magic,” Sapphire said, already lighting her horn up brighter to do so. “I assume the ‘camera icon’ is the one on here that looks like a shutter, right?”

“Yeah, but… how the heck are you able to do that?” Lake asked, surprised. “What do you mean by magic, too?”

Sapphire Glow shrugged as a ghostly looking see through finger touched the phone screen. “I just mean magic. Like, thaumatology? And every unicorn I know can do magic. Technically, every pony in Equestria has magic, but only unicorns have active magic.”

“Do you think I could do magic then, too?” Roxanne asked. “Because magic doesn’t exist on Earth, as far as I know. Then again, magical portals that turn you into horses shouldn’t exist either, yet here we are.”

“I don’t see why not,” the mare answered. “I can try teaching you if you want. That was an easy spell I learned in the Humans in Equestria club. I think it’s doing what you want it to now, Lake.” She floated the device back over to him, and then smiled slyly at Tory. “And I didn’t hear a ‘no’ from you, handsome.”

Tory chuckled at that, and sent a smile her way. “I think you should focus on getting us home, Sapphire.” The statement was followed by a sideways look thrown his way by Lake. He wasn’t sure why he was giving it to him. Roxanne thought it was kind of funny at least.

“Still not a no,” Sapphire replied, wearing the same sly grin. Then she said, “We should probably get going to my place now though," she told them. "I would totally wanna go and investigate Lilac Beauty's house right now, but I'm pretty sure she's gonna be on guard now that you three showed up there."

"Uh, if we can get home without having to risk being thrown in prison, that would be ideal," Lake told her.

"Aww, come on," Roxanne said lightly as she touched his shoulder. "Committing felonies in a strange world is part of the fun of being warped across the universe, right?"

"I'd certainly say so," Tory joined in.

"I'm pretty sure it's not," Lake replied, "but I guess I'm being outvoted since we're the only three to ever have traveled across the universe like this. Democracy sucks.”

If Tory had to be trapped in a strange world as a horse with any two people he knew, he would pick Lake and Roxanne every time. Both of them, even Lake as anxious and unadventurous as he could be, were still able to joke around in the face of adverse circumstances. It was part of why they were friends.

"Nah, no way," Sapphire told them as she started to walk ahead. "The first ponies to travel across the universe?" she asked. "If by 'travel the universe', you mean 'visit other worlds', you're definitely not the first. Maybe the first humans in Equestria though. Or even the first humans to travel across the universe, I don't know. But you're definitely not the first creatures ever to do so."

"What do you mean?" Tory asked, trotting to catch up enough to walk beside her. It was so strange how natural being a horse felt. It was like he was made for it.

"I'm pretty sure Princess Celestia has been to other worlds," she replied. "Through mirrors, I think, if I remember right. Princess Twilight might have been, too. Oh, and one of my friends told me he's been to Earth. I don't remember when, but apparently it was only for a few seconds."

"Is he one of those ponies that was in your humans club?" Tory asked. This was good news. That meant what happened wasn't a fluke and the three of them could indeed get back home somehow.

"Yup!" Sapphire confirmed. "Record Keeper is his name. He doesn't live in Manhattan anymore though, but I bet he'll wanna come visit me once I send him a message about you guys. None of my friends will be able to resist meeting you guys. We're gonna have to hold an emergency session with you three there."

The conversation died down after that. Most of the walk to Sapphire's home was done in silence. It gave Tory a chance to appreciate the scenery of his new surroundings. It wasn't terribly different from what New York City looked like today, with skyscrapers and large colorful posters and more paved roads as they passed through. There was even a horse version of the Statue of Liberty they were able to see as they walked. What they saw, however, made the eighteen hundreds-esque technology stand out.

There were things like classic yellow taxi-carriages being pulled by horses with other horses seated in them, and what had to be electrical light poles lining the sidewalk, unilluminated right now during the late morning. There was a train station they passed by, and shops that sold things like typewriters and quill pens and groceries in small markets. There were nineteen forties styled theaters they passed by, and bright green parks that people—ponies—walked through to pass libraries and museums. Nothing like arcades or theme parks or big corporate stores seemed to exist here yet, at least from what Tory could see. He made sure to point out particularly interesting looking things, directing Lake where to film on his camera at times.

Of course, the United States, whether in the nineteenth century or the twenty-first century, didn’t have magic shops. Some stores advertised spell books and charms and potions, others declared themselves as institutes for the education of thaumotological studies. No wands or rings or magic capes though, nothing like out of Harry Potter. These stores seemed to present themselves in the same way that a local computer store would. Tory had to ask about it.

“That basically confirms you guys don’t have magic on Earth,” Sapphire Glow said as she continued forward through the city. “At least, there are no magic users there. There must be some if you’re here. Maybe one of you was hanging around a magic polluted area and it built up until it created a portal?”

“I’m not sure how I would know if I was,” Lake told her. “What the heck is magic pollution?”

"Exactly what it sounds like," Sapphire told him. "If there's too much magic, it starts to pollute the air and environment surrounding it. It doesn't happen often here, but if one of the princesses is trying to save Equestria, it's possible. Or if there were, like, thousands of unicorns all casting complex spells all day for weeks. I think it’s what happened to the Everfree Forest, if I recall correctly."

Lake glanced between Tory and Roxanne, unsure, then replied, "There's no way anything like that happened on Earth.'

"I figured," the mare shrugged. "But if it was happening, there could be a lot of weird things. In theory, it's not very likely, but it could potentially force the creation of a portal from another world to Equestria. There'd have to be a lot of it though… or maybe that could happen in reverse? I need to look at my notes and get back to the Canterlot Archives when I have a chance. Lilac Beauty's house didn't seem polluted though."

"Has anything like that happened anywhere else in this world?" Tory asked.

"Not that I know of. For opening portals anyway. Magic pollution happens all the time though if you let it build up without doing anything about it. Most cities have specialized unicorns though who go through and soak up all the magic every few months to stop that from happening. They don't go into people's homes, but it dilutes it enough that it doesn't really matter."

And they didn't have anything to clean 'magic' out of everything on Earth. Why would they? Sapphire's explanation made sense… from a storybook perspective. Nothing based in reality though. But then was any of this based in reality so far?

The quartet walked along, Tory once again paying attention to their surroundings and taking in everything, just in case. It turned out that, here in horse world, just like on Earth, there were bad neighborhoods to be in. Sapphire was leading them into one of them, evidenced by the more rundown looking buildings and cracked, jaggedly paved sidewalks. There was more trash on the street, like paper and broken bottles, and there was some kind of feeling in the air that Tory didn't have quite the right words to describe. Maybe tense? Almost physically so, it seemed.

"Don't worry about that," Sapphire told them before anyone could ask. "That's just the magic pollution from some of the factories we have out here. The cleaners will get to it in a few weeks. You just came at a bad time."

"Did you feel anything like that before that portal appeared?" Tory asked Lake. "Or did you see it show up at all in your closet?"

"I didn't see it show up, but it might have felt like this?" he replied, unsure. "I don't know. I don't really remember. Probably not I would think. But maybe?"

"We're safe out here though, right?" Roxanne asked, looking around at the scene. "This place looks and feels sketchy. Like someone's just waiting for an opportunity to pounce on us." She didn't look nervous—when did Roxanne ever? But she did have a serious expression on her face and in her tone. Her guard was up.

And just as seemed normal, Sapphire Glow remained casual. "I just told you the pollution makes things feel worse than they are. Ponies don't really fight with other ponies. Or any creature for that matter. Most of them are too afraid to try. If we were in a griffon or a dragon neighborhood though, it might be a different story." She paused, and finished, "You never know though. I wouldn't go outside alone at night if you don't know what you're doing. Like me! Anyway, here we are!"

Where they were was a house at the end of a dead end street, one that looked about like what they expected from a neighborhood like this one. It was in slightly better condition than the homes near it, but it still wasn't well off. A pine tree that looked like it was starting to die grew in the uneven patchwork grass that was the front yard. There was no pathway up to the house, a two-story building that seemed like it would come tumbling down with the next storm. It was only partly surrounded by a metal fence, one that was filled with holes, and had Christmas lights with numerous dead bulbs hung up on the front porch in the middle of what was presumably summer, based on the temperature. The only good thing about it was that it was the best looking home on the street. It wasn't much of a compliment.

Lake fiddled with his phone to turn the camera off again while Sapphire trotted up and into the home. "I say we try and break into that other horse's house again," Roxanne quipped. "This place looks bad."

"For once, I think I might agree with Roxie," Lake said. "I don't really wanna spend another night in horse world, and this part of town especially. It doesn't feel great." He looked like he was a bit on edge, too.

"And do what before we get arrested? Come on," Tory instructed his two friends, quickly following after Sapphire Glow.

The inside was better than the outside. There was a staircase immediately to their left against a wall, and a living room in front of them that led to a kitchen, with a bedroom on the right. The space looked a bit cramped, with a coffee table, book shelf, and two couches stuffed into a smaller than normal living room. It was lit with a nice orange glow though that made it seem more cozy than claustrophobic. Tory hadn't noticed outside or in the prison, but being in this house smelled a bit like horses. It made him realize he hadn't showered in over four days. He was sure he and his friends smelled.

Sapphire plopped herself down on one of the couches, flopping onto her back with as little concern for her modesty as ever. Her horn glowed as she levitated a book over to her, saying, "Make yourselves at home. I don't mind. My mom doesn't get back for a few hours, by the way."

"Uhh, okay… are you gonna get your notes to read?" Tory asked. "You kept telling us how you needed to read them to try and figure out how to get us home. The longer we take, the more people will think we’re missing."

"These are my notes, see?" She held up the book she was reading, one titled Advanced Physics and Their Interactions With Thaumatic Principles. "If you can believe it, even practiced magicians like me need a review course on physics. If we can though, talking to Lilac Beauty soon would be a good idea, but I somehow have a feeling that's not gonna be possible with a restraining order."

"Why would you need to talk to her?" Lake asked the obvious question. "What would that do?"

"Help figure out what might have happened and what kind of event this might be. Did the magic build up there all at once? Or was it seeping day after day for months or years? Or did she even notice anything at all? A portal created from the human side might explain why you changed when you stepped through. Or maybe that's just a property of most worldgates. Oh hey!" She suddenly jumped up from her spot on the couch and went to a desk against the wall in the dining room.

"I still need to send a message to my friends about this! Especially Record Keeper! He's gonna wanna get a load of this." Her horn was glowing as a candle lit up and paper levitated itself out of a drawer, along with a pencil. "You guys can make yourselves at home if you want. Mom won't mind. There's a shower through the first door on the left upstairs. And trust me, you guys kind of need it."

"I'm going first," Lake quickly decided, wasting no time in heading upstairs. Roxanne kind of made an uncomfortable face at that, then helped herself to sitting in one of the couches. Tory moved next to her, but remained standing for now.

"Glad to be out of prison, I can tell," she said, bringing back her usual smile. "It would be kind of awkward if we had to spend months here for something we didn't do."

"Well, we might still have to spend months here, honestly," Tory said, letting out a breath he'd been holding in. "I hope not. Lake's probably gonna be mad at us for a while if we do have to stay here. He might stay mad anyway."

Roxanne had a look on her face like she was about to ask why he would be mad, but figured it out a second later. "I'm glad you said 'us' at least," she smiled. "Even though you were the one who had to follow after me." Before he could even respond with anything, or think it, she finished, "Nah, I'm cool with taking the blame. Although I wouldn't have gone through if I knew it was gonna disappear like that." Then she wiggled around where she sat. She seemed more uncomfortable now, and worked her neck around in a circle before lying on her back on the couch. She apparently had as little concern for modesty as Sapphire Glow had. Tory wasn’t at that point quite yet, but he wasn’t anxious about it.

“Something wrong?” he asked, raising an eyebrow.

“I’m fine,” she told him, waving a hoof as she spoke with a relaxed tone. “Probably just need a shower or something. I don’t normally go multiple days without one.”

Tory chuckled at that. “Are you implying Lake and I do?”

“Lake? Definitely not. He’d be too self conscious. You? I wouldn’t be surprised. That's meant to be a joke, by the way.”

"I know," Tory laughed as he settled onto his haunches, placing his back against the couch. He let out another breath as he looked across the room to see Sapphire Glow distractedly writing something and burning it in the candle that was lit up. Then she blew the flame out and floated over the book from her old spot on the couch to the desk with magic. He had to wonder if she was trustworthy. Could that mare actually help them? She seemed reckless.

"Trustworthy?" his companion interrupted, almost making him jump at the suddenness. "I'm pretty sure. Is she reliable? That remains to be seen. My guess is probably not."

"How are you doing that, Roxie?" Tory had to ask now, turning around to look over the arm of the couch at her. "Are you reading my mind or doing some kind of magic or something? Because it's starting to feel creepy."

"Well that basically confirms you can’t do it, too. And Lake probably can’t either."

"Do what exactly?"

"Read everyone's emotions," she replied, staying on her back. "I've been doing it since we showed up. It's some kind of sixth sense, if that makes sense. Being able to tell what everyone's feeling without them needing to do or say anything." She closed her eyes for a moment and breathed a deep breath. "Like, for example, Sapphire’s pouring over her book with interest and curiosity and excitement, and thinking about how we’re gonna meet all her friends. Lake is doing… well, what you probably do in the shower, too.”

“I didn’t need to hear that.”

"Oh, get over it. Everyone does it, and we're all naked anyway," she said, waving a hoof again. There was a pinch of annoyance in her voice as she said it, an uncommon characteristic for her. She swiped part of her mane from in front of her face and stared ahead at nothing.

"And you feel unimpressed by me because you could've probably guessed those things on your own. But you also trust what I'm saying because I'm not a liar and I was able to read your mind already. And you're still unimpressed because those are still things I could guess."

"Okay, yeah, that's very, very creepy. If you could not do that, please don't."

It could definitely be a useful skill though. Things weren't hairy right now, but it could get that way at any moment in a strange world like this. Who knew what could happen?

He wondered if there were any special powers he might have. With Lake's wings, he imagined that he could probably fly, and Sapphire told Roxanne she could teach her magic. Could Tory potentially do anything cool? Things were getting more and more interesting.

The first priority wasn't gonna change though, no matter how interesting things were.

It was a little while before Lake came down dripping wet and Roxanne headed up. Tory took her spot on the couch while Lake asked Sapphire Glow if she had any books they could read or something they could do, whether it be helping her or just playing a game. She said that they could read or use anything they saw in any of the rooms, and so it wasn't long before he came back with a deck of cards and some poker chips. It would have been better though if they could have helped her help them in some way.

“You guys just sit tight,” she instructed them when they asked. “If I need your help, I’ll ask for it. In the meantime, just let me work.” Work for her just meant reading in this case. Tory could tell it made Lake antsy, even if he tried not to show it. He wasn’t very good at hiding his feelings.

“It’s gonna be fine, man,” Tory told him, forcing his own nerves to remain steady as he touched Lake’s shoulder. “It could be worse. We could have not found her and be floundering trying to figure out what to do. Or staying on the street, or still being in prisoned. Four days isn’t that long by comparison.”

“I know,” Lake said with an exhale. “Four days is a long time to be gone though. Like, I’m probably fired, and so are you, and we’re all definitely listed in a missing persons reports, and we could be trapped here forever…”

“Or we could go home an hour from now and it’ll seem like only a minute passed on Earth,” Tory replied. “That’s possible, too.”

“Do you actually believe that’s what’s gonna happen though?” his friend shot back skeptically. Tory had to close his eyes and let out a breath of his own. Of course he didn’t believe that.

“Try not to sweat it anyway,” Tory told him. “It’s not gonna help anything.” Lake scowled and crossed his hooves, and Tory continued, “Think about it like this: would you rather be here or be on a roller coaster?”

His scowl deepened, but a few seconds later, he relented and turned his lips up in a small smirk. “Fine. You got me.”

“I know I do. Now let’s play some poker for a little while and try not to think about this.”

Crush

Lake might as well have been told he shouldn’t breathe anymore while he played poker with Tory. It was impossible to not think about their circumstances. How could he not, when the reality of their situation pressed on them at every second?

He wondered if other people would show up here with them at some point and have the same problems he and his friends had. Would they appear in that old mare’s house and be arrested? Maybe that would give them a chance to look it over again. Not that there was anything there anymore. She showed them. The portal was already gone.

Or maybe people would show up in some other part of this city and they’d never meet their rescuers. Or in another part of the world, like a desert, or a mountain-top, and Lake would never know. What would he do then? What would he do if he had to stay here forever?

“Lake,” Tory instructed, making his ears prick up as he turned to face him. “Take a breath, man. We’re fine right now. I promise.”

It was a good thing Tory was here, too. Roxanne, too. Lake would probably have already been a curled up mess of himself without them and have gotten absolutely nothing done. Not that they had done much yet, but even talking to Sapphire Glow was more than he would do. Lake was kind of the dead weight of the group.

He followed his instructions and took a breath to relieve his nerves before going back to the game. Roxanne came back from the bathroom about half an hour after she left, and then Tory finished his shower a little while after that. They played poker and blackjack for most of the morning before Sapphire Glow got up to make them lunch. The cucumber sandwiches and pasta salad they were served wasn’t half bad, nor was the chocolate cake they ate. The new fourth member of their group talked to them while they chowed down, sitting at the table to eat with them.

“Ideally, we’d be able to make a portal home right here in my house,” she told them. “I don’t think that’s very likely though. But don’t worry! I already sent a letter to Princess Twilight Sparkle, so she should be able to help me with this. She’s the smartest pony in all of Equestria.”

To Lake, that sounded no different than if he tried to send a letter to the president of the United States to help them. She probably wouldn’t be getting a response anytime soon, if ever. Who knew how many things someone had to do to run an entire country? Sapphire was insistent though that this princess would message her back.

“I was her student in her school for gifted unicorns,” she told them. “She’ll reply soon. Trust me.”

“Okay, but what do we do in the meantime?” Tory asked. Lake was thinking the same thing, and he was sure Roxanne was, too. “Is there anything we can do besides hang out?”

“I mean, if you can figure out a way to get us into Lilac Beauty’s house without getting caught, that would be pretty good. Other than that, nope, not really.

“I mean… we could always ask her to see her closet, right?” Lake suggested.

Sapphire Glow scoffed at that idea. “Yeah, right. Like she’d say yes after we broke into her house. I’m sure that’ll go swimmingly.”

“We didn’t break in though. We just showed up there. I’m sure if we can explain it–”

“I have high doubts she’d do anything but call the police on us again,” the mare finished. “Why else would she give us a restraining order if she was gonna be okay with talking to us? Unless I feel another burst of magical energy coming from there or there’s a way to get in without being seen, there’s not really that much use to going back.”

Lake wasn’t sure he agreed with that, but he put the point aside for now. Instead, he kept the idea in the back of his mind as he let his friends do more talking with her.

“What about that guy you said went to Earth from here?” Roxanne asked. “How the heck was he able to go there? It'd also probably be good to meet someone like him.”

“He's gonna be over as soon as he can,” Sapphire explained. “And I think he said he found a way to Earth when he–”

The mare was interrupted by the sound of a knob twisting and the front door creaking open. When it did, it revealed another mare behind it, this one clearly older than Sunset. Lake didn't know horse ages, but he guessed she was in her fifties by the bags and wrinkles under her eyes and the way she carried herself slightly limply. She had a blue coat, similar to Sapphire's, and a mane that was colored equally blue with streaks of white running through it. She was larger than Sapphire, looking slightly paunchy and a bit overweight compared to her, and had hooves that were unshorn. Her appearance was complete with green eyes and a bag around her neck she carried that was quickly set down as she stepped into the home.

“More guests. Great.” She spoke flatly, almost sarcastically, like she'd seen this a hundred times before. She stepped forward through the living room and into the dining room, only offering a glance or two their way. “How long are you three gonna be staying? Because the less time, the better, since I didn't buy enough food for five ponies. As usual, Sapphire didn't tell me about you.”

“This is my mom, guys, Shimmering Diamond!” Sapphire introduced, her tone the opposite of the mare’s.”Mom, this is Lake, Tory, and Roxie! They’re the humans from Earth I’ve been telling you I was gonna find!”

“Yeah, just like the last ones, right?” she replied with a roll of her eyes as she grabbed a drink from out of the fridge. A beer, one that she opened with the light up of her own horn. It seemed as though all unicorns could do that. Lake had a feeling that if Roxanne learned how to do that, she’d find a way to tease him.

“I’m sure they’re not just grifting off of you again, honey,” she continued just as sarcastically. Then she turned to the three of them and said, “Listen, just don’t steal anything, got it? And you better be okay with beans, rice, and oats for dinner, cause that’s all I have.”

“Oh, you don’t have to… get us…” Lake trailed off as the mare, Shimmering Diamond, promptly ignored him and headed back through the living room to take space in the bedroom on the ground floor. He and his other two friends all turned to Sapphire Glow with raised eyebrows, waiting for an explanation.

The unicorn rubbed a hoof behind her head. “Uh, this might not be the first time I’ve had ponies over,” she admitted sheepishly. “But hey! I told you she wouldn’t mind! Did I lie?”

“You know what? Let’s just move past it for now,” Lake said as he shook his still wet hair. His mane. “How did your friend find a way to Earth? And you said he was there for a few minutes before?”

“A few seconds, actually,” she clarified. “And he went to Earth when he was in the mysterious south! Actually, I helped him get to Earth! I didn’t get to go though because I was charged with larceny for getting him that book from the Canterlot Archives. Turns out, even the Princess of Friendship herself isn’t very happy when you take things without asking.”

More like stealing, he thought. And from a government official, no less. The monarch of this world. He had a strong feeling that Sapphire Glow wouldn’t be getting a message back from her, no matter how many years she spent in whatever school with the queen of the equines.

“And we’re not gonna be able to go to the mysterious south because it’ll take weeks or months to travel there, right?” Roxanne asked. “Which means we’re better off waiting for you to make a portal.”

“Uh, yeah, but how did you know that?” Sapphire Glow tilted her head. “I thought you said none of you have been here before. Have you?”

“No, I can just tell what you’re thinking and feeling,” she explained. “It’s like I’m reading your mind. And everyone else's, too. At all times.”

Lake blinked at that. That was news to him. Sapphire blinked, too, and tilted her head further, her eyebrows going up in confusion. Tory didn’t seem that surprised, but he was still looking Roxanne’s way with interest. “You’re not a changeling, are you?” Sapphire asked.

“I have no idea what that is.”

“Well, basically,” Sapphire Glow, “changelings are creatures who can read other creatures’ emotions and shapeshift. They have holes in their legs and no visible pupils and look kind of like insects? Although you shouldn’t tell a changeling they look like a bug, as a good piece of advice. But did you look anything like that when you got here? Or did you shapeshift to be a unicorn?”

“No… but can I do those things?” she asked. Roxanne had a sly grin on her face, and Lake rested his face in one of his hooves. She was gonna use this new power to mess around, wasn’t she?

“If you’re a changeling, sure,” she shrugged. “I wouldn’t know how to do it though because I’m not one. You’d have to figure it out on your own.” Then she said, “Either way, I’d be able to teach you some spells if you want. Changelings functionally can do all the same things unicorns can do, even though unicorns can’t do everything changelings can.”

“If Roxie can do magic like you and shapeshift,” Tory said, “then Lake should be able to fly, right? He has wings, after all.”

“Of course! I can’t teach him how to do that either, though, since I don’t have wings.”

“I’m perfectly content to stay on the ground,” Lake said firmly as he crossed his arms. Although he had to admit, the thought of flying around did give him a small sense of intrigue and curiosity. Not much though.

“I guess the universe should have given me the wings,” Tory chuckled. “Or anyone but Lake. What can I do?”

“Earth ponies? They have above average strength and are good farmers. To be honest, they're kind of lame. But like changelings, I wouldn't say that to their face. I wouldn't ever wanna be one though.”

Was she being racist? Lake couldn't tell, but that sounded vaguely like the pony version of racism. Roxanne held back her snickers while Tory looked down at his hooves with disappointment. He wasn't sure why. It wasn't like they were gonna be here forever. Hopefully.

“Oh. Well… why are they called ‘earth ponies’ then?” he asked. “You said this world was named Equus.”

“Because they work with earth all day, and apparently ‘dirt pony’ and ‘mud pony’ are derogatory things to call them. Just like you wouldn't call a unicorn ‘rhino’ or a bat pony ‘rat-bird’.”

Good to know. Lake wasn't gonna do that either way, but better to know how not to piss off the locals.

The disappointment he saw in Tory though was more than he thought it would be. He seemed almost genuinely upset to not have special powers according to Sapphire Glow. It almost gave Lake an idea about what he could do to wipe that disappointment off his face, but he stopped the thought in his tracks once he realized it. Absolutely no way. Especially not if Roxanne could read his mind.

Like she was right now. It was easy to tell with how her smile grew into a toothy, teasing grin as she stared at him. Lake let out a long breath of frustration. It made her laugh.

Tory and Sapphire Glow thankfully didn’t seem to pick up on what was going on. “Anyway,” the unicorn said, pushing herself out of the chair, “it’s time for me to get back to it, I think. I have some books on the basics of unicorn magic you can read, Roxie, if you want. The same concepts should work if you really are a changeling, and it shouldn’t take that long to get telekinesis and a few basic spells down. Don’t have any books on flying though, Lake. You’re on your own there. But like I said, you can read or do whatever you want in my house. I don’t mind.”

“Do you mind if I talk to you while you read?” Tory asked. “Like, as questions about this place and stuff?”

“Sure. You can get all those answers from the books laying around, but I don’t mind. I’m gonna be back at my desk though, so you’ll have to pull up a chair from the table if you wanna sit.”

Tory did, and Lake forced himself back into the living room to chill out. Roxanne rummaged through the books on the shelf, stacking them haphazardly in a pile like it was her own house while he flopped onto the couch. Sitting with Tory just to be next to him and pining for him would’ve been sad.

He let out another breath and flexed his wings as he wiggled where he lay. How was he able to move foreign appendages with ease? Did the structure of his brain change when he came here? His mind somehow transferred into a horse—a pony? Or was he a copy of himself, the original killed the second he stepped through that portal? He had no idea, but he hated the thought of it. He tapped a hoof against the ground anxiously.

He wished there was something he could actually do besides sit around. Having his fate in someone else's hands—or rather, their hooves—was bad enough. In the hands or hooves of someone as eccentric as Sapphire Glow was torture!

“You can help by not stressing out and stopping the panic attack you’re about to have in its tracks,” Roxanne suddenly called from across the room. Lake jumped in surprise and turned to face her. “Seriously, it’s starting to stress me out.” Not in any way that was annoying either, it seemed. Her blue eyes looked like they were showing fear and anxiety like he felt.

“Take a breath and calm down, Lake,” she said forcefully. “It’s gonna be fine.”

“Yeah. Sorry. I’ll stop.” Like it was that easy.

It wasn’t as hard as he thought it would be. He took a nap on his back where he lay for a few hours, and went back to playing poker with Roxanne and Tory once he woke up again. He still felt his heart beating hard, but tried to relax some and control his breathing as he listened to Tory talk about what Sapphire Glow told him. It wasn’t like there was anything else he could do.

She apparently was insistent about showing the three off to her humans club, even if they looked like ponies at that particular moment, and said that it might be longer than a few days before she got something put together.

“How long is longer than a few days?” Lake asked. “Because we’ve already been here long enough. I don’t wanna be here for longer than necessary.”

“She said it might be a few weeks,” Tory explained. “But it’s gonna be fine, trust me,” he said before Lake could argue. “We’ll hang around here for a while until she comes up with something, and do our own research in the meantime.”

Lake nodded and stayed quiet, pretending to be focused on his cards. Things just seemed to be getting worse and worse. How was he supposed to stay here for weeks? What was gonna happen back on Earth? Did anyone even know they were gone?

“Hey, Lake?” Tory interrupted his thoughts. “It’s probably the magic in the air. The tension, Sapphire said? It’s gonna be fine.”

He let out a breath. “Yeah,” he nodded. “Probably.” He closed his eyes for a long moment, then said, “So we stay here and research stuff in the meantime. What else?”

“I say we leave and try searching that house we showed up in,” Roxanne said flatly. “What was her name? Lilac Beauty? A few weeks is a few weeks too long in my opinion. I raise.”

“Let’s not do something like that yet,” Tory told her. Lake didn’t have to say how he felt about that idea, his relaxing shoulders speaking for him. “We’re not in the worst spot here as it is. The best idea I think is to just hold tight and hope Sapphire can help us for now. If it looks like it’s gonna take a long time, then we can think about that. Raise.”

“Fold.” Lake put his cards down and looked around the house. How much of this could really be a coincidence? It was all exactly like he’d expect from Earth—well, mostly anyway—except they were horses and magic existed. That was the only difference. And they just so happened to stumble into someone who could help them, who spoke English, who happened to have a poker set in her house. The same game existed across universes? Lake wanted to doubt it. His senses must have been betraying him somehow.

He flexed his wings and rolled his shoulders, and Roxanne did the same. Then she stood up and set her cards down to stretch her legs, too. “I’m gonna walk around outside,” she decided abruptly.

“What? Where are you going? We should be sticking together, Roxie,” Tory told her.

“I'm not going anywhere,” she said quickly. “Just around the block. I need to walk around.” Lake watched her leave through the door without another word. Tory didn't stop her. What was he gonna do? She was an adult.

“My fault,” Lake apologized immediately. “She's stressing out because of me, I think.”

“How?” his friend asked with a raised eyebrow. “None of us have been even doing anything.”

“Apparently she's been reading my mind and can tell that I'm stressed out, and it's making her nervous, too.”

Tory nodded, but didn't offer any words of encouragement or reassurance. “Let's go back to the game,” he said firmly. Yup. Lake was the dead weight and he knew it. Not that knowing that would help anything. He probably should’ve brought some Zoloft through to this planet, Equus. Nothing he could do about it now though.

“Hey. Lake. Call,” Tory told him, a hoof tapping impatiently. Lake shook his head to clear those thoughts and tried to think of nothing else. Even if he was dead weight right now, Tory and Roxanne were more than capable of picking up for where he failed.

Suffer

Roxanne took in the foreign city of Manehattan as she walked around, down one block, then two, the more. This particular neighborhood might have been kind of dinky, but it was still someplace no human had ever seen before—so far as she knew. She might have even been the first one!

It was rundown houses and dying trees and brown grass she took in as she walked along the cracked pavement sidewalk, but it was still interesting nonetheless. Subtle differences made themselves known to her as she gazed from one side of the street to the next. The houses here had the same basic stylistic choice of beige wall and pinkish colored doors, although there were some colored differently. Most of the homes here had thatched roofing, like something she’d see out of a documentary on medieval times, and as far as she saw, all of them had multiple stories. Interesting.

The animals she saw here weren’t any different than she might see in her hometown. Squirrels scurried along the browning grass and through the trees, and sometimes a rabbit would hop out from behind a bush while birds flew overhead. No weird alien creatures made themselves known in this horse world, except for the horses, sort of. Was this just an alternate dimension? Did they travel through time? Or something else? Everything felt and sounded the same as far as she could tell.

But not everything was just like home, namely herself. The biggest difference she’d encountered so far was the unseen. A new sixth sense pervaded her, letting her take in the thoughts and emotions of everything around her. Most of what she felt at that particular moment was fear from the animals that scurried away as she cantered past them—how was she able to do that without tripping?—but occasionally there was curiosity as they took her in. It was only faint whiffs of emotions she got from these things, not like the powerful, complex emotions from her friends and the new company.

Sapphire Glow was mostly excited and intrigued and confident, Tory for the most part had been positive and level headed and hopeful, and Lake was an anxious, needy mess. But even Lake was doing his best, too, to relax and keep thinking of what was next and how he could be helpful. He wasn’t dead weight like he thought. She and Tory—herself especially—dragged him here. Not the other way around. And he thought to grab his phone and text people and send messages beforehand just in case, didn’t he? She and Tory didn’t even think it through.

He also thought, before she left, that he was the reason she was out here now, which wasn’t true. No, that was because of how terribly uncomfortable she was getting about… she didn’t know. Her body, maybe? Roxanne was unsure, but it was demanding something of her. A change. Or a new form to be in. Something.

The unicorn felt tense, like the air around her, her neck and shoulders rolling almost on their own as she walked along. She wasn’t sure how Sapphire Glow and her mother could call this place home for so long, but she was getting pretty fed up with it after just a few hours. She was glad for her new sixth sense, because it was keeping her head away from just how tense the air was. How were Tory and Lake able to deal with it without complaint? Well, she knew how. The former talked to Sapphire Glow and laughed with her as he asked basic questions while the latter took a nap. Whatever worked, she guessed.

But man, her body was uncomfortable as hell, almost itchy. She knew Lake and Tory didn't feel that way. Things might have been awkward, but they weren't bad like this. She stretched out her neck again and stopped to rub it with a hoof.

If she could shapeshift like Sapphire Glow said, she definitely would. Into herself again. Her muscles seemed like they were starting to tense up, this sucked so bad. Maybe a walk and being away from all those emotions wasn't what she needed. She should instead be looking for a book about the creature she apparently was, a changeling, and trying to–

Something entered her senses. Someone. She didn't know what, but probably another horse. Just one, she could tell, but they weren't friendly. They were following behind her, watching her, planning something. A mugging? Murder? Something worse? She didn't know, but it was bad.

She wasn't gonna run though. Sapphire Glow said the horses of this world were mostly timid, she remembered. Besides, this horse didn't seem like they were high out of their mind or planning to charge after her. They were uneasy, unsure, like they'd run at the first sign of danger. She laughed aloud at that. Even Lake wasn’t that pathetic.

She didn’t keep moving. Instead, she turned around to face the creature behind her. A horse, just like she thought. A stallion, one with a unicorn horn, one that was much bigger than she was. And much more afraid. His coat was different shades of gray, like he was losing the color in parts of it, and a dirty blonde mane hung over his forehead in bangs that slightly covered brown eyes. For someone so timid seeming, he had a few scars on his face and chest, a prominent one going from his upper right cheek down to his chin. If Roxanne weren’t able to feel his emotions, she might have been more nervous.

Doubly so if she noticed him when he was closer. He was a good forty yards away, and held a knife in his magic next to him. A ballsy move while the sun was still up. Not that anyone was around watching them. But still.

“G-give me your money,” he told her, his voice more shaky than it was threatening. “All of it. Take me to your house and give me all your bits.” Desperation was in his voice, almost a pleading tone was what Roxanne felt. Yeah, he wasn’t gonna be doing anything to her.

“Get the fuck out of here,” she demanded threateningly. This wasn’t her first rodeo. She’d been on the north side of Philadelphia more than once. Normally, all she had to do was show confidence and demand whoever was following to leave her alone before they got too close. Although she’d never been harassed in the daytime. She made a mental note to not come out here at night.

She thought the horse was gonna turn and run, and it looked like he almost did. He glanced behind him, and then stole himself and took a nervous step forward. Then another, and another. Roxanne was about to yell at him again when all of a sudden, without a word or any emotional indication, he screamed loudly and started to charge at her. Roxanne gasped in shock at the unexpected move. The tension in the air, Roxanne silently remembered.

She didn’t keep standing there. She turned and galloped away as fast as she could, farther down the street through the neighborhood. She didn't even think about how fluidly her body moved, no stumble or trip of her hooves coming as she galloped off like it was second nature. She didn't want to either, for fear that she would trip if she started to.

His emotions changed quickly. Gone was the unease and fear and in its place was anger and determination. He wasn't gonna stop until he got her. And he was slowly catching up. Roxanne's legs weren't as long as his.

“Stop!” she yelled frantically, changing her direction and turning down random streets and alleys to try and lose him. “I don't have any money!” She wasn’t able to shake him off, the stallion still following right behind her.

“You won’t get away from me!” he yelled angrily. “You think you can talk to me however you want?”

She was breathing hard, and so was he, but slowly, he was still gaining on her. Forty yards of distance turned into thirty, then twenty, and then fifteen, ten. He was gonna get her, and then she would be killed when it turned out she really didn't have any cash. Couldn’t he see that from her lack of a bag, or any clothes to hold money with?

Of course he could. Her confidence and comment in telling him to get lost was apparently the wrong move. He was angry. She'd make a note to herself that emotions couldn't predict the future if she got out of this. At least not with the air so heavy and full of tenseness.

Left through an alley, then a right, then another right. The stallion was still on top of her, and ten yards was dwindling into five. She needed to know faster. At least as fast as him. Whatever endurance she had, adrenaline would give her an edge if she could just move faster. Just until he started to tire. Hopefully he wasn't a distance runner in his spare time.

Need to move faster… come on! It might have taken four days, but Roxanne could say she was definitely afraid for the first time since coming here. Just a little faster, she pushed herself. At least as fast as he is…

She moved faster. Roxanne didn't immediately notice herself changing, but realized it by the time it was complete. She was larger, her galloping hooves now gray instead of the pastel pink they were before. A dirty blonde mane hung from her head as her snout became more pointed and squarish. More importantly, Roxanne was just as fast as the stallion giving chase! She'd turned into him!

She didn’t stop moving, but the unicorn behind her did. Roxanne turned to glance back at him and saw him drop the knife and take off in the opposite direction. He was deeply afraid of her shapeshifting, she knew, and wanted no part in whatever she might do next. Good. She smiled in victory as she finally began to slow down. What a perfect time to learn that new skill.

That… she thought to herself as she breathed hard. That could’ve… been bad… man… How lucky had she gotten?

Roxanne's breathing was heavy as she came to a firm stop, her heart being hard now against her chest. That? That was terrifying. The most terrifying experience of her life. She had gotten very lucky, and she knew it. If she didn't change, it would have ended much differently. Thankfully Sapphire Glow had told her about it before she went walking around. That was scary.

She settled her hooves under her and lay on the sidewalk to try and catch her breath. How did she even do that? She knew she was thinking about it, at least partly consciously as she ran. But to bring a power she'd never used before to the surface in the heat of the moment, when her life was on the line? That was improbably lucky.

Going off and finding… that old mare's house on our own… not a good idea, Roxanne thought as she breathed. They were gonna have to stick with Sapphire.

At least the itching was gone now, that terribly uncomfortable feeling. She didn't know it before, but instantly realized it now what was going on—her body was itching to transform. Like those stories about how shapeshifters got uncomfortable if they held one form for too long? This must have been like that. But could she do it again?

She didn't test it yet. She just closed her eyes and focused on breathing. She could test out her new powers later. Right now, she needed to rest.

Oh, shit… I gotta find my way back…

She took a good twenty minutes to rest first before she finally got back up. Man, was she exhausted. And her heart was still beating almost out of her chest, not to mention the acid reflux she felt from the forced workout she just did. This was how Lake felt all the time, wasn’t it? Whatever. The first thing she was gonna do was steal a move of his and take a nap once she got back. Or maybe chat up Sapphire with Tory. Something that didn’t require much mental exertion. Positive feelings around her were much better than negative ones. Like all this tension in the air.

Roxanne didn’t exactly know where she was, but it wasn’t too difficult for her to figure out how to get back. All she had to do was walk back generally opposite of the direction she ran in until she saw something familiar. Plus, she still had her new sixth sense. She was sure if she got close enough, she'd be able to pick out Tory and Lake’s—

“You are not a normal changeling, are you?” someone said from behind her.

Roxanne screamed as she jumped in surprise, and then screamed again at what she saw. Could she be blamed? Her nerves were still raw after the last encounter with some creature. But what the heck was this thing doing sneaking up on her?

It was, from the best the newly turned stallion could tell, a black bug. One the size of a horse and legs that seemed like they were made out of swiss cheese. It had wings like that of a dragonfly and a jagged horn sticking out of its head, where it sat above two large, buggish eyes. No pupils either. It looked pretty hideous.

And she couldn't feel its emotions, the first creature’s she had failed to find. It wasn't bored, or flat, or uncaring—there was nothing at all drifting off of it. Not even emotionlessness. She'd felt emotionlessness from Tory a few times so far. This was a creature that gave off nothing.

It was the second time Roxanne felt afraid so far on this little adventure. She took a step back, waiting to see if it revealed anything. It only stared ahead at her, unmoving, barely even letting itself blink.

“What do you want from me?” she asked aggressively, probably more aggressively than she should have. Her voice was rough, and deep, deeper than either of her friends. She hoped it sounded menacing. If not, she'd be testing out her shapeshifting powers right here.

“You've shared the love in your heart,” the creature said, its nasally voice hitting her ears. “However, you have tenacity and confidence about you as though you are the Queen's personal advisor. It is strange.”

What the heck did that mean? “I don’t know what on Earth… err, on Equus, either, you’re talking about,” she said slowly, forcefully. “But please leave me alone. I don’t have any money, and don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“I can tell,” was the flat reply. At least she heard some sort of emotion in this creature’s voice. “Why? I do not know, but you lack knowledge. I will leave now. Have my scent, strange changeling. Maybe we will speak again.”

“Have your scent?” she asked with a raised eyebrow, a hint of exasperation starting to leak into her voice. As she said it though, she immediately understood what the creature meant. He meant his emotions. For a second, he emitted something confused, curious, tired, and protective. Protective of her? No, protective of people like the two of them… changelings. He was sympathetic to her, but only because of the fright she gave the pony who chased her, not because her life was in danger. Interesting. She wasn’t sure what she needed protection from, but she closed her eyes and took it in.

A moment later, the feelings vanished, and the creature lifted his wings and took off to… somewhere. It left Roxanne standing there feeling nothing but completely confused about what that was about. She wasn't sure if she was particularly curious though, but she was intrigued. She'd look into changelings more if she and her friends were gonna be here longer than expected.

She wasn't tired anymore though, or fearful or anxious. Her heart wasn't beating against her chest, and her lungs didn't hurt. It was like she was completely rejuvenated after that terrifying experience with the stallion she changed into. Rejuvenated from the feelings the changeling sent her way. Strange.

And she could shapeshift! This opened up a whole world full of possibilities. Or maybe even a whole universe full, since this meant she could get into that house again without being caught! It was perfect! Tory and Lake and Sapphire Glow were gonna love this! And if they could eventually pass back and forth between Equus and Earth whenever they wanted, oh boy was this gonna be fun!

All that was left was finding her way back to Sapphire Glow’s house. Roxanne didn’t bother changing back as she wandered around, looking for something familiar. Maybe if she looked like a stallion while she was out here, she’d be given less trouble. It wasn’t like it felt weird or strange or anything. It was just different. Maybe a little uneasy since this was a stallion who just tried to kill her, but so what? He ran away with fright like she thought he would in the end. Eventually.

It took longer than she would’ve liked to finally find a familiar place to lead her back to Sapphire’s house. The sun set impossibly fast, like it was being physically moved through the sky, but that didn’t bother her much. It only took fifteen or twenty minutes to get back to the house once she found the road she was on before. And she had a shapeshifting power to protect her if someone else came up to her.

She recognized her friends’ emotions as she stepped up and inside the home, then tasted Lake and Tory’s curiosity as Sapphire Glow sent surprise her way. The three of them were still playing poker while Sapphire’s mother cooked dinner. Beans and rice and oats like she said, but it smelled good anyway. Roxanne’s stomach rumbled.

“Who the heck are you?” Sapphire Glow asked. “I’ve never seen you before. You can’t just walk into somepony’s house unannounced like you know them.” Roxanne laughed at that. Like Sapphire wasn’t in trouble before for doing exactly that.

Then she closed her eyes and changed again. It was a remarkably easy power to use. Her body did exactly what she wanted it to, and she felt herself melt and morph until she was herself again. Well, the unicorn she’d been so far anyway. She didn’t need to see Tory and Lake’s mouths hanging open to know they were impressed.

“I figured out how to shapeshift,” she grinned superiorly.

“Whoa! That’s great! Amazing!” They all showered her with praise, and her superior grin became a little more happy and proud. The moods of all three of them rose significantly, especially Lake and Tory’s. They both knew how this could be used.

“That’s perfect, Roxie!” Lake said, excitement and hope in his voice for the first time in days. “There’s a million options for us with a power like that! How did you learn to do that?”

“That doesn’t matter,” she said quickly, waving a hoof in dismissal. Thankfully, that itching had stopped. Mare versus stallion didn’t feel very different to her, strangely enough. But being able to change felt good. There might have been tension in the air, but it felt like a lot of it had left her body.

“It was just something I figured out how to do while I was out there. But yeah! It’s pretty epic. Let’s see if I can… here!”

She changed again—this was already starting to become second nature to her—this time into the human version of herself. Light skin with short, spiky black hair and freckles just like always, although she wore no clothes right now. She didn’t particularly care; four days was more than long enough to get over embarrassment about modesty. Sapphire Glow didn’t care either, and actually clapped her hooves excitedly while both Tory and Lake glanced away immediately. She laughed at that.

“That’s a real life human!” Sapphire chattered excitedly. “Right in front of me! Not that I had doubts you were, but you actually are a homosapien! You know what they look like! Is that supposed to be what you looked like on Earth? You’re taller than I expected. Can I take some measurements of you? Can you show me what Lake and Tory are supposed to look like, too?”

Roxanne laughed again. Yes, this was already fun. “Sure, I can show you them and you can measure me if you want. I wouldn’t say five foot five is very tall though. Both of them are an even six feet, I think.”

“I wanna see!” Sapphire Glow practically begged. “Show me!”

Roxanne wasted no time in obliging her request and changed to look like both of them. No surprise came to her when both were less embarrassed about seeing a human male, although it was kind of funny the way Lake radiated shy attraction at the sight of Tory. Tory didn’t seem to notice though as he spoke again while Sapphire Glow found a ruler and notepad to measure Roxanne’s new appearance.

“We can use this,” the stallion said as Sapphire Glow marked things down and asked the occasional question. “Especially if Lake can learn how to fly, too. It opens up a lot of possibilities. Like potentially getting back into Lilac Beauty’s house to investigate if need be. This could work.”

“I think so, too,” Sapphire Glow commented as she measured legs and feet and arms and hands and other things, too. “Somehow I don’t think Judge Standing was joking about sending me to prison if I get arrested again.”

“You’re gonna end up in prison if you keep doing shit like that, Saph,” a sudden voice called from the kitchen. Sapphire’s mother, Shimmering Diamond, peeked her head through the doorway with slight bags under her eyes and a stern expression on her face. “And you three humoring this ‘humans’ obsession she has when I’m letting you stay here and encouraging her behavior isn’t what I want to see.”

Roxanne could feel the hope the group had quickly evaporate again, and for good reason. Even without her new senses, she could tell by the look on the older mare’s face what she was about to say.

“We weren't trying to—”

“You know what?” Sapphire's mother interrupted her, speaking to her daughter now. “We're not gonna keep playing this game. Your new ‘friends’ have to leave tomorrow. No more inviting people over without asking, and no more of this human business. You just got out of court this morning and are already trying to get yourself locked up again. I’m sick of it.”

“Mom, they’re not—”

“I don’t want to hear it, and that’s final!” The mare stomped back into the kitchen and opened the fridge to grab another drink, then headed back to the bedroom, saying along the way, “Dinner will be ready in a few minutes.” Then she left them in silence.

“That… that’s not good,” Roxanne said lamely.

“Oh, god, what are we gonna do?” Lake anxiety was already popping back up after a few minutes of hopefulness, but she couldn't blame him this time. It was a pretty shit situation to be in.

“We can't live on the street,” he continued anxiously. “I don't wanna be homeless in this world!” He was on the verge of another panic attack until Tory put a hoof on his shoulder to help him breathe. Roxanne wondered if he genuinely had an anxiety disorder that he'd been treating before they got here. He wasn't this bad as a human. But then again, their situation on Earth wasn't one where they had to face potential homelessness.

“This place is like Earth,” Tory said. “If it comes to it, I'm sure a city as big as this one has a shelter for us somewhere. And we can get jobs, too, if need be.”

“Yeah… yeah, sorry,” Lake apologized, breathing deeply. “And we're not even planning to stay here for very long anyway. There's other options.” He said it mostly to himself.

“Yeah,” Roxanne nodded, then put on a smile. “We’ll figure it out, trust me. And once we're back home, and we're rich and famous and able to pass through to Equus whenever we want, there won't be anything to worry about.” It was a statement that got Lake to smile and chill out a little bit more.

“What are we gonna do in the meantime though?” he asked a second later.

“Just relax and do what we’ve been doing,” Tory said. “There's not really much we can do at this exact moment except relax and rest and talk. We'll figure it out though. Sapphire's helping us, after all.” Roxanne knew Tory said it in a kind of playful teasing way, but the mare still didn’t pick up on it and smiled proudly. She chuckled at that.

There wasn’t much said for the next few minutes as Roxanne settled back into the couch, changing back into the pastel colored unicorn she’d been for days now. It was impressive how easy it was to change into different things already, how such a thing was even allowed by the laws of nature. She didn’t question it though. Instead, she closed her eyes and settled herself onto her back until Shimmering Diamond came back out and announced that supper was finished cooking.

The older mare invited them into the dining room to eat, and all three of Roxanne, Tory, and Lake followed behind Sapphire Glow to the table. All three stayed mostly quiet while Sapphire chatted to her mother about how she really should let them stay and how humans were real.

“I’ll show you once we finally are able to live on Earth,” she said, mixing her oats, rice, and beans all together. “You’ll see.”

“Yeah, I'm sure I will,” was her mother's sarcastic reply as she rolled her eyes and sipped her drink. “Just like all the other times.” Her behavior wasn't a surprise. What would Roxanne say if she had an almost twenty year old kid who was telling her to let strangers stay at her house because they were from some alien planet?

She could feel Lake debating something as he picked at his food and took a bite. He glanced between his plate and the floor, then said, “I know we're intruding, but thank you for cooking dinner for us and letting us stay the night. It's a nice thing to do for a group of strangers.”

“Yeah, thank you,” Tory added. “We appreciate it.”

“Same feeling here, too,” Roxanne finished. Was Lake just being polite, or intentionally working this mare? He didn’t give off a feeling that would give her a clue.

It didn't matter either way, Shimmering Diamond softened up. “Thanks, guys,” she said, less harshness in her voice now. She took another sip of her drink, and added, “I guess you can stay for a while if you need. Might as well give you the same treatment I've given everypony else so far.” It was news that got smiles all around and a cheer from Sapphire Glow, but before the emotion could last, her mother spoke up again.

“I don't wanna hear you talking about breaking into houses or sneaking around or stealing anything or any of that nonsense though,” she instructed. “Sapphire is bad enough as it is—”

“Hey!”

“—and I don't need three ponies enabling her and making her legal record longer than it is. Seriously.”

“We won't,” Roxanne assured her. “We promise.”

Probably, she thought silently as Shimmering Diamond nodded, satisfied. Maybe Judge Standing was wrong, and Sapphire Glow would do better to stay away from them.

Snail

Tory wondered about Sapphire Glow. She really was a character.

Smart and confident and knowledgeable and reckless and impulsive were all good words used to describe the mare. She seemed like she knew what she was talking about, but Tory didn't exactly know how trustworthy she was. How could he? They'd only known her for a few days.

He was thinking that especially now as they finished dinner and sat back in the living room to talk everything over. She paced casually while Lake sat on the couch next to him and Roxanne laid on another. She had changed into the gray stallion she had turned back up to the house in while Sapphire Glow talked.

“My mom will come around, you’ll see,” she said while she walked and stared at the ceiling. “I’m pretty sure she already likes you guys since she changed her mind about you staying here.”

“I hope so,” Tory said. “But I wouldn’t want us to stay here forever, obviously. We have to get home.”

“I know that.” Sapphire Glow waved a hoof nonchalantly. “I wanna get to Earth, too. Someplace where we don’t have to live in this dumpy little house and Mom won’t have to work so hard for money. It’s gonna be great.”

“Uh, well, you’ll still have to work on Earth…” Tory started. Roxanne gave him a look from across the room, a small shake of her head, then he continued, “But you’ll figure it out, I bet.”

“I will, I’m sure,” she smiled confidently. “Anyway, I'm gonna go take a shower now,” she said as she stretched her limbs and yawned. “I don't know about you three, but waking up at six in the morning isn't my favorite thing to do.” She paused, then smiled slyly and said, “You can join me in the shower if you want, Tory.”

Tory smirked back at her. “Thanks for the offer, but I'll have to decline. Don't wanna waste water.” Sapphire gave a hint of a chuckle, then made her way up the stairs.

“You don't like her, do you?” Lake asked with a raised eyebrow. “She's a horse.”

“Not really,” he replied, “but it pays to have good relationships with people who are letting you stay in their house for free and are helping you.”

“That's a little more than a good relationship, I think,” Lake told him. It made Roxanne laugh for some reason. “It's not gonna be good if someone as eccentric as her thinks you're leading her on.”

“It’s a good thing I said no then, isn't it?” Tory smiled. “I’m not gonna do anything with a horse, no way. That would be gross.”

“Yeah, not yet,” Roxanne half laughed, half scoffed. “You're basically flirting with her, even if you don't think you are. We all know where that's gonna lead.”

“You better run while you still can, Tory. Before she sinks her hooves into you.” Even Lake was joking now. Tory just smirked again and shook his head before standing up.

“I'm going to bed,” he decided. “You guys can stay up if you want, obviously, but I'm hoping we get a lot done tomorrow. I'll see you guys in the morning.” His friends bid him a couple of quick goodnights, then he headed up the stairs. He was barely able to turn the corner at the top to get to the bedroom though when he ran into Sapphire Glow.

“Sorry,” he quickly apologized as he shook his head and rubbed his nose, muzzle now wet with water that coated her fur. “I was heading to bed. I didn't think you'd step out after only two minutes,” he said.

“I forgot to get towels before stepping in,” she replied as she shook her coat and mane, getting water on him. Tory scrunched his nose again, and then opened his eyes to see the flirtatious, sly smile she'd put on a few times before.

“But I can head back in without them if you want,” she told him, slightly seductive. “I've always wondered how humans use their hands to keep themselves clean.”

“I guess that means you'll have to get us back to Earth to find out the answer,” he shot back without missing a beat. “It gives you another reason to help us.”

Sapphire turned and walked off, letting out a huff of a breath as she made her way to a closet in the hallway. “Humph. You're no fun,” she said as she passed. He couldn't tell if she was actually annoyed or if she was still teasing. He leaned toward guessing the latter by the way she slightly swayed her hips.

Yeah right, like I'm gonna have sex with a horse… a pony, he thought. Maybe if he met her at a bar on Earth, as a human. Absolutely no way right now.

The sleep was okay, even if it had to be on the ground now next to Lake, although he did have a strange dream about going back to Earth but being forced to remain a pony. It felt real enough that he almost thought they'd gotten back to Earth when he woke up until he realized he was still sleeping on the floor, listening to Roxanne snore. Lake didn't budge from beside him in the slightest, but the girl seemed to stir with just Tory raising his head.

“Go back to sleep,” she muttered tiredly. “It's too early to be awake.”

“You can hear me?” he whispered back curiously. “How?”

“I feel your emotions,” she said. “Now go back to sleep. Six in the morning is too early to be awake. One time was enough.”

Of course she could still read his mind, even when she was half awake. It'd be nice if Tory had a power like that.

“No it wouldn't,” Roxanne said groggily, replying to just the general thought he put out there. “Sleep.” Okay then.

He didn't follow her instructions, and instead yawned, rubbed his eyes, and stood up. Roxanne groaned from her spot on the bed and turned over, putting a pillow over her ears, but she didn't complain. Tory let her be and carefully stepped over Lake to quietly make his way downstairs.

He was surprised to see another pony awake at this hour; Shimmering Diamond had a drink held in both her hooves while she sat on the couch, reading a magazine. No beer this time though. Instead, it was hot coffee that she stirred using magic. She only glanced up at him for a second before turning her eyes back down to the magazine.

“Didn't think anypony else would be up at this time,” she said. “Even Sapphire doesn't like to be awake until at least nine in the morning. I guess you're an early bird.”

“Not really,” he said. “Just woke up early yesterday, so I didn't stay asleep this morning. Can I ask what you're doing awake at this hour though, Miss Diamond?”

“You can just call me Shim, guy,” she told him. Shimmering Diamond let out a breath and took a sip of her coffee, then continued, “I work the four-thirty shift at the factory downtown. So used to being awake in the morning that I can't help getting up early, even on my days off. Want any of this? It's in the kitchen.”

“I'll get some later, thanks.” He let a long, silent moment pass, then asked, “How many other people… ponies has Sapphire invited over about humans, uh, Shim?”

“Ha, dozens,” she chuckled. “Maybe hundreds. They all stay for a few days, eat my food, use our water, then leave without so much as a thank you cause they know they can take advantage of that filly. It honestly surprised me when your friend thanked me up front, even after I told you guys you could only be here the night.”

“Well, what can we say?” Tory smiled. “We’re grateful for your hospitality.”

She smiled back and nodded at that, taking another sip of her coffee. “Well, don’t mention it. I try to help ponies out where I can. Even if you are humoring her in this whole ‘humans’ business. What is it with you all and that, anyway? Sapphire Glow’s been on about it for years, even before she moved back to Manehattan.”

“We are humans,” he told her simply. “I don’t know how Sapphire can know about humans, but my friends and I just showed up here in Manhattan—err, Manehattan—less than a week ago from Earth. We actually are supposed to be humans. That’s the thing you saw Roxie looking like before.”

“Yeah, I know. It’s all that mare talks about, like I said.” She sighed and put her drink down, then laid back on the couch. “If you guys are really from that mythical world Sapphire always talks about, you should take me with you. Couldn’t be worse than Manehattan.” She was being mostly sarcastic, Tory could tell, but there was a smidge of sincerity there.

“With how generous you’ve been to us,” Tory told her, “it’d only be fair to let you stay in our house on Earth once we get back.” Shimmering Diamond smiled at that, then went back to her magazine. He wondered if she’d still be smiling once they were back on Earth again.

He grabbed some coffee while he stared out the window, watching the sun quickly rise and listening to birds chirp outside. Roxanne woke up next, followed by Sapphire Glow, who looked like she'd rather still be in bed despite it being eight in the morning already. Lake was the last one awake, shuffling downstairs by nine o’clock.

“I’d ask if having six limbs was weird for anyone else,” he said as he plopped down into one of the sofas next to Tory, “but I’m the only one who does. I feel kind of like an insect.”

Roxanne laughed at that. “It took you a week to realize you have six limbs?”

“No. This is just the first time I’m noticing how weird it is. It’s like I have four arms.” He wiggled his wings and forehooves for emphasis, finishing, “And I think the feathers are getting out of place because of how I slept last night. I want the bed tonight.”

It must have been a joke by the universe giving Lake wings instead of making him a regular horse like Tory. His friend not only didn't enjoy adventure, he wasn't much for excitement, either, and got motion sick easily. It would've made a lot more sense if Tory had wings like that. He'd already be trying to figure out how to fly, whereas Lake probably hadn't given it more than a passing thought. Not that Tory was jealous.

“I wonder if I could shapeshift into a bed,” Roxanne said thoughtfully, “and have myself lying on top of myself. It'd mean I wouldn't have to share a bed.”

“That seems like it would go a step above breaking the laws of physics to actively making your own new physics,” Lake commented.

“I can’t imagine what the difference between the two would be.” Then, suddenly, Roxanne turned to Tory and asked, “Are we making you jealous?”

Maybe he was a little bit envious. But who wouldn’t be? One of his friends could shapeshift, and the other one could probably fly. Tory, apparently, was intended to be good at growing plants and being strong. Not really all he was hoping for from a mythical, magical world. Not that he necessarily hoped for anything.

He smiled and laughed it off. “Nah, I’m fine,” he said with a shrug, waving a dismissive hoof. “I don’t care.” Then he turned to Sapphire, and asked, “Do you have a plan for what we’re doing today?”

“Sure,” she said with a stretch and a yawn. She scratched her back with a hoof, then stood up. “The community service they assigned me. Didn’t they give you guys a hundred hours of it, too?”

“Uh, yeah, but I kind of assumed we’d just skip out on doing it, to be honest,” Roxanne said. “I mean, we’re not even from here, so why would we care? And I thought you were trying to go to Earth with us before you say you don’t wanna be arrested.”

“I am, but I also don’t wanna be arrested if it takes a while to help you guys,” she said. “Just because I get caught in places I shouldn’t be sometimes doesn’t mean I’m a criminal.”

“Yeah, of course not,” Tory smiled jokingly. “We would never think that of you, Sapphire.” He expected the joke, like before, to blow straight past the mare without her understanding, but this time, she actually smiled slyly and chuckled.

“Keep messing around with me, human, and see what happens,” she told him with a little look on her face. Roxanne let out a breath, and Lake rolled his eyes for some reason. Tory didn’t really see why. He was obviously just being friendly and teasing, like Roxanne did to Lake.

“Anyway,” she continued, “after that… I don’t really know. We’ll probably go to the public library and do some more research on humans. I’m still waiting on Twilight Sparkle to send me back a letter, but when she does, we’ll have a whole host of better options. In the meantime, we can see how to use Roxie’s magic and Lake’s wings, if he knows how to fly, to help us. We also need to talk to my friend Record Keeper, but I don’t know when we’re gonna be able to see him. I’m sure it won’t be long though. Don’t worry.”

Long, of course, was a relative term. ‘It won’t be long’ could’ve meant anything. Nothing Tory could do but find out how long it would be.

After showers and a breakfast of fruits and veggies and cereal—interesting that they had something similar to Frosted Mini Wheats on Equus—they followed Sapphire Glow back to the courthouse they were in yesterday, shaking off the tense air they passed through in her neighborhood. It turned out community service in Manehattan meant the same thing as it did in Pennsylvania; it consisted of wearing a high visibility vest and picking up trash in the road and under bridges that people threw on the ground. It was easier for his three companions to do than it was for Tory. Roxanne shapeshifted to look exactly like Lake, and both held their debris pickers and their bags in their wings, while Sapphire Glow used magic to help her. Tory himself was left to hold the bag in his teeth while he worked. Yeah, he was jealous of them.

Sapphire Glow paid for lunch for them—Tory wondered about how she had money when it didn’t seem like she had a job—at a place that served whatever Equestria’s version of Mexican food was. It made him also wonder about whether or not Equus had the same sort of history as Earth. Similar food styles existed, and games, and city names, too. Except the country was unlike any on Earth as it was ruled as a benevolent dictatorship. Why didn’t the universe just copy America fully and have a president?

They went to the library next, where Sapphire Glow wandered around on her own to do research while Tory sat with Lake and Roxanne to read about the history of Equestria. If the country seemed similar to America, it was only in the present. The history they read about was straight up mythological. The book they picked out talked about things like an ice age that would've lasted forever if the Earth ponies, unicorns, and winged ponies, which they called pegasi, didn't get together and put aside their differences, and how the previous dictator of this world raised the sun in the sky herself every morning and the current one defeated mythological monsters and saved the planet time and again. Tory would've passed it off as just nonsense had this world not proven itself to be filled with magic. It seemed this Twilight Sparkle character, as well as her predecessor, Princess Celestia, had built up quite the cult of personality for themselves.

There were also other cult-like figures, like the Tree of Harmony and an all powerful chaos deity named Discord, and the general sentiment of ‘friendship’ being the most powerful force on Equus. Not just as some sort of school of philosophy, but as actual power, something that could be harvested and contained and used for good and evil and as a weapon against others. It was, truthfully, a little bit jarring to see it described in a factual way as just part of the nature of this world.

“Friendship is apparently respected enough that you can avoid long prison sentences for breaking and entering,” Lake smiled. “Lucky for us, and for Sapphire, too, because she’s definitely gonna do it again.”

“Oh, that judge wasn’t messing around,” Roxanne said. “I could tell. If she gets caught again, he’s definitely gonna make her go to prison. We’re gonna wanna be careful.”

“Wow, Roxie, you’re being careful? That must be the first time ever,” Tory smiled. “I can’t believe it.”

“Not like you didn’t follow in through that portal right behind me,” she said with a light punch on the arm. “Even cautious Lake went through… speaking of which, do you have your phone with you, Lake? Get video of all of this, too. Oh, and me shape shifting, get that.”

“I wanna provide some commentary, too,” Tory said. “Tell me when you’ve got the video recording.” Lake fiddled with his phone for a second, then gave a thumbs up with the tip of his wing. Interesting that his wing could even bend like that.

“You’re going? Great. Uh, here we are, as horses in Equestria,” he said, waving a hoof to indicate to the scene behind him. “Technically, they call themselves ponies here, but they’re basically horses. Equines,” he explained to the camera. “I’m supposed to be an earth pony—a horse who is good at planting, not that they’re from Earth—Roxie is meant to be a changeling pony, and Lake is supposed to be a winged pegasus pony.” He watched his friend quickly turn the phone to wave at the camera with a wing before putting it back on Tory and Roxanne.

“We’re pretty sure Lake can fly, if he ever tries to–”

“You know I get motion sick just being on airplanes.”

“—but we definitely know Roxanne can shapeshift. Show them?”

Roxanne didn’t waste any time using her changeling power, this time changing to look like Tory. She grinned widely, then said, “I’m pretty sure I can only change to look like things I’ve already seen.” She even sounded like Tory as she continued, “But it’s a pretty cool power, even if it does go against the laws of nature. Also, like Tory is about to say, I can read minds and people’s emotions like a sixth sense. I can basically tell what they’re thinking. Generally, anyway.”

“Yeah. That,” Tory said. “Basically none of the horses here wear any clothes, except as fashion and for uniforms, like shirts and dresses, but no underwear or pants. There’s electric lighting and stuff–” Lake panned the camera up at the chandelier hanging from the ceiling in the library and to the clock on the wall. Tory continued, “—but no TVs or radios or computers or things of that nature. There are trains though, and record players and such.

“And right now, we’re working with a unicorn named Sapphire Glow to get back to Earth,” he finished. “We hope she knows what she’s doing, but there’s obviously a lot of uncertainty. If all goes well though, hopefully we’ll be back on Earth in a few days.”

They weren’t back home in a few days.

They didn’t get news from Sapphire about the dictator of this country, Twilight Sparkle—no surprise there—nor did they ever hear anything about this mysterious pony named Record Keeper, who apparently had gone to Earth, too. The mare talked to them about the progress she was making; she was taking all the measurements of humans that Roxanne transformed into and reading everything she could about distant lands and other worlds or universes and a whole lot of other semi-scientific stuff that went over Tory’s head. But it seemed to get them no closer to getting home as far as he could see.

One day turned into two, and then three. A week passed, and then two, with no apparent change in the situation. Sapphire Glow still wasn’t able to get them back to Earth. She was working hard, obviously. He didn’t need Roxanne to tell him she was doing all she could to see that. She had bags under her eyes from how late she stayed up some nights. But it wasn’t getting anywhere.

He was honestly beginning to consider the possibility that they might have to stay here long term. No surprise when Lake became stressed out by that idea.

“I really, really don't wanna stay here forever guys,” he said anxiously, as though either he or Roxanne had any control over whether or not they could go home. They picked up trash again, something they were coming to expect to do every Wednesday. A hundred hours of community service was gonna take a long time to do. Tory sighed as he stabbed a piece of trash while holding the bag with his mouth. This sucked.

“Like, for starters,” he continued, “I don't know if you noticed, but I haven't taken any anti anxiety meds in weeks now, and I hate going without them.”

“Oh, we noticed,” Roxanne replied cheekily. Tory couldn't tell if she was teasing or genuinely annoyed.

“And this is starting to get past the point of just being away from family,” he said. “I'm gonna start missing rent and car payments if we keep staying here without a way out.”

“Just take a breath, okay, Lake?” Tory told him. He seemed to be telling him that a lot lately. It was actually news to him that he took medicine for anxiety, but it made sense. He couldn't blame him for needing it, especially not now.

Tory didn't even bother giving an assurance that they'd be home soon. He didn't know if he believed it.

“I'm fine right now,” Lake told him. He closed his eyes and breathed deeply, then opened them again to help pick up more trash. “I'm probably gonna have to learn to fly at some point if we're here for long enough.” Then he flexed his wings and said, “And figure out how to get these feathers organized. They're all messed up.”

“I'm pretty sure you're describing preening,” Tory smiled. “You know, like a bird?”

“I guess that makes Lake a parrot,” Roxanne teased. It got him to smile and relax a little more at least.

“If we're gonna stay here for a long time,” Lake said, “we should probably find jobs… and houses of our own? Or at least one to rent with three bedrooms. Sleeping on the ground five days a week is killing my back, as nice as having free housing is.”

“Awww, how could you want that for Tory?” Roxanne grinned. “Then he'd have to stop flirting with Sapphire Glow. He'd be so lonely. Oh wait, she doesn't have a job either. He could see her everyday anyway.”

“Yeah, right, I'm not even flirting with her,” he said. “She's flirting with me. It's not mutual.”

“Suuuurrrrreee it's not,” Roxanne teased. “Riiiiiight.”

It didn't embarrass him like she probably thought it would. He wasn't Lake. Besides, what he said was true. Sapphire flirted with him, and he nicely and politely continued to reject her advances. Besides, he'd probably have to be here for a lot longer than three weeks before he saw ponies in a way that would mean something.

He ignored the fact that it was looking like they might be here for a while. The plan was still to get home as quickly as possible.

“Why don't you just be direct with her then?” Lake asked, a smidge of playfulness in his voice. “That's what I did. She hasn't tried to talk to me like that since.”

“Because he doesn't want us to know that he likes it,” Roxanne teased. “But I can read your emotions, remember? You can't hide your feelings from me.”

“I don't like it. But I also don't hate it. I just think that—”

“Guys! Everypony! I have news!” the familiar voice called from across the field as she galloped toward the three of them at full speed. Tory and Lake looked on with interest as Roxanne snickered.

“Speaking of which, here comes your girlfriend,” she said. “Her ears must have been burning.” Tory ignored her and focused on Sapphire. He caught her with a hoof and stopped her forward momentum before she crashed into him.

He didn't need to ask what was going on because she explained automatically. Roxanne's sly smile changing to a hopeful expression told him what he needed to know anyway.

“It happened again!” Sapphire Glow exclaimed, excitement in her eyes. “A magical signature showed up at Lilac Beauty's house! The portal is back!”

Tristessa

Lake could’ve kissed Sapphire, it was such great news to hear. He was honestly starting to think that nothing would continue to happen for weeks or months more. It had already been almost one month. Why would a one in a billion chance portal decide to return for a second time?

Well, he wouldn't have actually kissed Sapphire Glow. That was a direction Tory seemed headed if he wasn't careful. Or maybe he didn't care. It might have been fun for him to joke around with the mare, but Lake couldn't exactly say he was confident Sapphire Glow would be chill if she had her heart broken. Plus, she was a horse. He figured that would be reason enough for Tory to take a firm step back, but apparently not.

He wasn't pining after his friend or anything, no way.

But it wouldn't matter soon either way, if Sapphire Glow was right. There was a way back to Earth! And even better, it was in the same spot as before, Lilac Beauty's house! This could all be over right now! At least, the part where they were trapped on Equus. He was sure there were gonna be thousands of interviews taking place afterward. Nerve wracking, but exciting! Better than staying here forever.

“Calm down now guys,” Roxanne said before anyone could respond to the news. “It's not gonna be as easy as all that. We still have to get in there, and last I checked, we weren't allowed within a hundred feet of the place.”

Yeah. That. That might be a slight issue.

“I’m sure if we talk to her, she’ll understand,” Lake said hopefully. “Especially if the portal is back. I’m sure she’d understand and let us in her house.”

“Or she’d call the police on us,” Tory shot back. “Since we’re not allowed to be there? We’d just get arrested again.”

“We’re probably gonna have to sneak in,” Sapphire Glow said. “I have a teleportation spell that’ll get us in there though. And if Roxie disguises herself as Lilac Beauty, we’d probably be able to get away with it.”

“We should probably come up with a plan in that case,” Roxanne said. “If you could teleport us in, or if Lake learned how to fly, we could unlock the door somehow. If she thought her house was broken into twice, she’d probably up her security. That’s what I’d do.”

“Or we could talk to her,” Lake said again. “Seriously, why wouldn’t we just ask?”

“Because you’re being naive, Lake,” Roxanne told her. “I felt her emotions when we first showed up here. She’s gonna be angry if we knock on her door and will just call the police.”

“And she won’t call the police if we break in?” Lake asked incredulously. “What would we do if we got in there and she spotted us? It seems just unnecessarily risky for no reason.”

“Unnecessarily risky is knocking on her door when she doesn’t believe us and doesn’t want us there and we already have an order to keep away from the place, Lake.”

“That doesn’t– you’re being– Tory, what do you think?” he asked. “I’m right, right?”

Tory sighed. Lake knew what that meant, but listened anyway. “It’s probably gonna be better for us if we don’t talk to her,” he said. “If we were the only ones who she thought broke in, that would be one thing, but because Sapphire Glow was in there, it won’t be good to let her see us again at all.”

Were Lake’s friends holding the idiot ball? Or was he just overthinking it and being an anxious mess like usual? He had a feeling this time it was the former. Breaking into a house when—if the portal really was there—they could prove to her that they were telling the truth was outrageous!

“We’re not being stupid, Lake,” Roxanne said seriously. “Talking to that old mare is a bad plan. But if you’re really that worried about it, we can scout it out for you before you follow after us if you want.”

“Sorry,” he apologized. “I was just offering a suggestion.” Whatever. He wasn’t gonna argue the point, not right now anyway. If he got home, he wouldn’t care either way what had to be done. Within reason, of course.

“We should probably–”

“Hey, you three!” one of the officers supervising their volunteer work called. “Get back to work, or you’re not gonna get your hours! And you, Sapphire, don’t think I’m marking you down today when you only just showed up!”

But first they’d finish their four hours for today, just in case. If the portal really had reappeared in Lilac Beauty’s house, a couple more hours wouldn’t make a difference. Thankfully, there were no arguments with him about that idea.

It was around noon when they finally finished volunteer hours for the day, ignoring lunch this time as they moved toward downtown where the house was. Once he got back to Earth, Lake was gonna have a burger and fries to make up for all the meat he'd been missing for almost the last month, along with fifty milligrams of sertraline. That would make him feel better.

Tory asked the obvious questions as they stepped through downtown toward the house. “How did you find out about the portal in her house reappearing? Were you scouting it out?”

“Of course I was! I’m a scientist!” Sapphire Glow put a hoof on her chest like she was offended. Lake couldn’t tell if she actually was or not. “I haven’t just been sitting on my haunches, I’ll have you know! In fact, I was about to leave for the day to prepare for the Humans in Equestria club meeting this week when I felt it! A burst of magical energy hit me, and it came from inside! It was kind of subtle, so I’m sure not many unicorns picked up on it, but I definitely felt it! It was the exact same as when I felt it the first time from Lilac Beauty’s house!” She turned to Roxanne and said, “You might be able to feel it, too, once we get there, since changelings have horns for magic. It’ll feel kind of like a pulsating wave.”

“I’ll watch out for that. Wouldn’t wanna feel pulsating magic in public,” she joked. “Tory might start hitting on me, next. We wouldn't want that, would we?” She glanced at Lake, and gave him an expression that said it all. He tried not to feel so embarrassed. At least Tory was oblivious. He only shook his head and continued forward.

Oh yeah, she was definitely teasing him. It was obvious what the idea behind her changing into one of the stallions they passed by was. He quickly trotted up to walk beside Sapphire Glow and not look at all of that. If she really could read his mind, then she should know he really didn't want to be teased like that specifically. He was certainly thinking about how he didn't like it.

“I have to keep changing,” she said to no one in particular, although almost certainly directing it Lake's way. “It gets uncomfortable staying as one thing for too long. I didn't shapeshift for almost a week.” Yeah, of course. What a great coincidence.

It wasn't long before they stepped up to the house, Roxanne adding a horn to her new figure to become a unicorn. “I don't feel anything,” she declared. “No pulse or whatever you said it was.” The group stood a good distance away from the home, wanting to make sure they kept their distance, lest Lilac Beauty be wandering around.

“Oh, it's definitely there,” Sapphire Glow assured her. “It's even stronger than it was a few hours ago, but it's subtle. You have to pay attention.”

“Well while Roxie pays attention, what do we do?” Tory asked. “If the portal is really here again, we obviously have to get back in there. You said you can teleport us inside?”

“Pretty easily,” Sapphire nodded, “since it's such a short distance. There's no way for me to be able to tell where Lilac Beauty is though. We could appear right in front of her if we're really unlucky.”

“I don't think she's in there,” Roxanne said as she looked around between the house and the street they stood on. “I can't be sure though. There's too many ponies out here to tell. It might be easier if we came back at night. Or if Lake could fly and see through the windows.”

All three of them looked his way expectantly. Lake shuffled his wings awkwardly as he shifted his weight around. “I made known what I think we should do,” he said defensively.

“And we told you that it’s not a good idea,” Roxanne said impatiently.

“It's not like I know how to fly,” he continued anxiously. “Like, I'll obviously learn if need be, but…” He sighed deeply, then let out his nervous breath. Then, before she or someone else could talk him out of it, Lake stole himself and trotted forward up to the door. Before he knocked though, he turned back around and asked a question.

“They're not gonna arrest us for trying to talk to her, will they, Sapphire? Because if not, then—”

“Me? They probably would,” she called. “I think for you though you'd just get a warning and have to appear in court again. Probation is the most likely.”

As she said it, Roxanne rolled her eyes at him and Tory shrugged indifferently. “If you're too nervous, you can go ahead. I don't think it's gonna work though.”

“And it's probably gonna make things harder,” Lake could hear Roxanne mutter, even from so far away. Whatever. Two out of three people's approval was good enough.

Not as hard as it's gonna be to get in trouble for breaking in again, he thought to himself as he knocked firmly on the door, then took a step back to give space. No turning back now.

The mare must have been in her living room, because Lake immediately heard hoof steps approaching the door. A few seconds later, the thing swung open, revealing Lilac Beauty. Her expression quickly changed from neutral to an angry scowl once she saw it was him and his friends.

She didn't hesitate. “If you don't get from within a hundred feet of my property right now, I'm gonna message the police and press charges for trespassing!” This was going swell already. He might not have been able to read minds, but he could imagine what Roxanne was thinking.

He didn’t focus on that though, and instead pushed ahead, doing his best not to roll his neck or shiver anxiously. “We wanted to stop by and tell you that we’re very sorry for entering your home without permission, ma’am.”

“Oh, are you?” she asked sarcastically. “Maybe you might be, but your friends behind you don’t look very sorry. And how can you apologize when you’re coming up to my house after the judge told you not to?”

She raised an eyebrow and waited for an answer. Lake opened and closed his mouth a few times, but after a few seconds of him not speaking, she continued.

“I bet you think I’m an idiot, too. I know you just want to get into my house again so you can find whatever fantasy game you foals are trying to play. I’ve been around for many more moons than you have, guy. I’m not gonna be tricked with an apology.”

He couldn’t help shifting around on his hooves. This was stressing him out. The only good thing was she was still talking and didn’t immediately go to call the police. If he could find the right way to get across to her that she should let them inside, this would work.

“We’re not—” He stopped before he got too much out. The way she was staring at him, she wasn’t gonna wanna hear about how they weren’t trying to trick her, even if they weren’t. Lake took a breath and glanced back to his friends, noticing Roxanne giving him a slightly hopeful look. It gave him the confidence he needed to speak again.

“We really are sorry for being in your home, Miss Beauty,” he told her, “but we also really would like to see inside of it. It’s very important to us. We really need to get home, and we think the closet in your house will help us get there. Please.” Short and direct, with no admission or rejection of guilt. He hoped it was enough to get through to her.

The mare glanced back into her house, then behind Lake to his friends. She bit her lip and rubbed a hoof against the ground before finally deciding, “I’ll let you come in and look around, guy. Not your friends though, since they didn’t have the guts to come up to me and apologize like you did.”

“Thank you!” Lake shouted excitedly. No surprise to Lake that she understood when he explained it to her. It was a bit of an issue that she'd only let him go inside, but one thing at a time. He was certain that if the portal was there like Sapphire Glow said, Lilac Beauty would let them all go through it.

He turned around and flashed a wide, superior grin to the group, getting one back from Tory and a reluctant, embarrassed grin from Roxanne. He'd have something to tease her about in a few minutes, once this was all over.

He didn't expect it, but he wasn't surprised when Sapphire Glow complained and stomped a hoof on the ground in frustration.

“What about us?” she called, exasperated. “You're just gonna make us stand out here? I'm a scientist! It's my right to take a look around! I'm working for the betterment of Equestria and all of ponykind!” Lake hadn't heard entitlement like that from her before, but it seemed in line with her character. She sounded like an upset five year old.

“You're lucky I'm letting your friend here work for the ‘betterment of ponykind’ with an attitude like that,” Lilac Beauty shot back. “You'd be the last pony I'd invite inside!”

“But–”

Lake watched Tory put a hoof on her shoulder and whisper something to calm her down. Then he turned to face Lilac Beauty again. “Can I come in, please?”

She actually seemed more at ease with the question. “Follow me,” the mare told him.

He walked through the familiar building silently, following behind the older mare as they went upstairs and into the main room they originally arrived in. No surprise that it looked almost exactly the same now as it did three weeks ago. The only difference was four metal bars that went from the floor to the ceiling in each corner of the room.

“Magic sensors,” she explained as Lake looked around. “To keep ponies like you and your friends from breaking in again. Two times is two times too many.” Then she told him, “Go ahead and see whatever you need to see so you can be on your way. Just don’t touch anything.”

“Thank you, I appreciate it,” he told her again before he started forward. He headed immediately for the closet, not having any better idea of where else he would look. Sapphire Glow said it should’ve been in the same place, and Lake couldn’t see why she would be wrong.

Except for the fact that it disappeared a few minutes after they went through it last time. It could already be gone.

“Please let it be there,” he whispered to himself, eyes closed as he rested a wing on the doorknob. “Please, God or the universe or anyone out there who’s listening, please let the portal be here.” Then he rolled his neck, took a breath, and opened the closet door.

“What the hell!”

“Yes!” Lake shouted excitedly, doing a little jump in the air and clicking his hooves together. The universe clearly listened to him.

“It’s here!” he said as he faced the blank, infinite black wall, a wide grin plastered on his face. “I knew it would be here, and it is! Fuck, yes!” Against all odds, Sapphire Glow was right! The portal was actually back! They were gonna be going home soon!

“What in Celestia’s name is going on here?” Lilac Beauty demanded. “What happened to my wall?”

“This is the portal we were telling you about, the one that we came through! Can you go get my friends from outside, please? They're gonna wanna see this!” Lake was more excited than he had been in a long while, and so was Lilac Beauty, because she did what she asked without hesitation, leaving him alone. Lake took the moment to step through the thing, back into his apartment. He hoped his stuff was still there and that rent wasn't due yet.

Lake Cleaver didn't find his apartment. All of his excitement disappeared in an instant when he saw what was on the other side.

“Oh, fuck, he whispered to himself as he pushed the rest of his body through, taking in the scene. It was the last one he wanted to see.

The air was thin, and cold. It was probably under ten degrees out here, and snow covered the ground where he stood. He had no clothes on, a fact that made him remember all of the modesty he was getting used to going without for the last few weeks. It was okay for right now while he was alone, but he'd be around his friends pretty soon, and the thought of that made him anxious.

But much more pressing than that was the snow capped mountain he now stood on. He shivered as the wind whipped around him. Being out here with no clothes and getting anywhere was suicide. He only took another second to survey the scene, then a particularly bad bite of wind made him pull himself back through the portal. It was too cold to stay out there unprotected.

Lake didn't have time to realize his heart was beating hard and fast and his breathing was quickening its pace when his friends showed up. Sapphire Glow had an excited look on her face and wasted no time in stepping right through as Roxanne and Tory came up to him. Both had smiles on their faces, at least until they saw his anxious look.

“Why aren't you in there already?” Tory asked immediately as Roxanne quickly stepped through. Lake didn't speak, only shook his head and placed his face in a wing. What the heck was there to say anyway?

Tory didn’t step across fully, but did poke his head through to get a look around, just like Lake did when he first looked at Equestria. Lake shuffled back and forth on his hooves as Lilac Beauty went off somewhere else before his friend finally pulled back. He turned to look at him, eyes just as wild now as they were when he first turned into a horse. He couldn’t blame him.

“Where is your apartment, Lake?” Tory asked seriously, shakily, blinking back at him. Lake still had no response, and instead gave a tense shrug and shook his head again, stretching his wings out with an expression that was fearful. His breathing picked up further, and his chest started to hurt. This shouldn’t have been happening.

Tory stepped through fully as Lilac Beauty came back and touched Lake's shoulder. “Are you okay?” she asked. “What in Equestria is going on with my closet? That wasn't there before!”

Another shake of his head, and Lake finally spoke. “I don't think I'm okay,” he said. He answered one of her questions at least. This was almost worse than being trapped on Equus.

“What's going on though?” Lilac Beauty pressed. “Where does that portal lead to?” Lake ignored her this time, and quickly stepped back through her closet. He hoped he'd get his apartment this time.

He knew it was a foolish hope, the confirmation of such coming when more icy cold wind bit at his unprotected skin. He felt lightheaded, nauseous at just the idea of what he saw. Why didn't it take them back to his apartment?

“Whoa, Earth is colder than I expected,” Sapphire Glow said from where she stood. She had dark skin now and brown hair that went to her shoulders, and stood shorter than Roxanne by about an inch or two. She was naked, too, just like he and the rest of his friends were, but he wasn't particularly concerned about that at the moment. There were much more pressing things on his mind.

“You didn't tell me you hiked up a mountain to get here though,” Sapphire commented as she wrapped her arms around herself and shivered. “How could you stand something like this? It's colder than the Crystal Empire!”

“We didn't hike up here,” Tory explained worriedly. “We came here through Lake's apartment closet. This isn't where it was supposed to take us!”

“We don't even know where this is at, to be honest,” Roxanne continued for him, her voice more calm than the situation demanded. “It could be anywhere though. The Rockies, the Alps, Brooks Range in Alaska—anywhere.”

Lake's teeth were already chattering, although he couldn't be sure whether it was from anxiety or not. It was cold out here. Too cold to be standing around naked. Longer than a few minutes out here and they'd start to get frostbitten. He tried to bear it for just a little while, long enough to get a good look at everything.

There were no trails or ski lifts or light poles or any sort of permanent structures out here, although there might have been a small light in the distance. It was much too far for anyone to get to like this though, probably about three miles down if he was estimating correctly. The four of them stood in a small cave, gazing out at the mountain range all around them, one with other peaks far in the distance. It looked more like the Appalachians than the Rockies from what Lake could tell.

No sort of city or village or anything that could cause much light pollution stood out. Other than the small light far away, one that seemed like nothing more than a speck—probably just the moon reflecting off the snow—there was nothing useful to see. The only good thing it seemed was the clear night they were fortunate enough to be under. Lake shivered harder and his chest started to hurt more.

It didn't take long for their company to increase though. “What the heck is—woah! It's c-cold out here!” Lilac Beauty exclaimed as she stepped through the portal to join them. “What in Faust's name is going on? Why is this in my closet?” Hadn't Lake asked himself that the first time he saw Equestria?

“And what the heck did I turn into?” Lilac asked frightfully. “I'm not supposed to be this– this– this thing!”

“You're a human, Lilac!” Sapphire Glow said eagerly, much too cheerfully. “I told you and everypony else that humans exist! This is Earth!”

“Except we're definitely not in Pennsylvania,” Tory said, sounding as anxious as Lake always did as he ran fingers through his hair. “Why would it put us somewhere random like this? What happened to your apartment?” As though anyone knew the answer to that.

“I'm going back inside,” Lake said breathlessly, wasting no time to get himself back to warmth. A pony, he turned back into again, with the same orange coat and ruffled up wings as before. Still in Lilac Beauty's apartment. They'd found the portal to Earth that they needed. It was here. Except the middle of snow covered mountains were not what he wanted. Wasn't it supposed to be late September anyway? Then again, they had been here for close to a month.

He was still breathing fast and his chest still hurt as the other four of them made their way back through, chattering with nervous excitement. Lake barely heard it, caught up in his own emotions. What in the world were they supposed to do about mountains suddenly in the way? Ones that led to seemingly anywhere when they had no supplies or clothes or any idea of where they were going? Why was the universe acting like this?

He felt a sudden hoof touch his shoulder, and turned to see Roxanne's gaze piercing into his eyes. She had changed to look like a pegasus stallion he'd never seen, and wrapped a wing around his back as she spoke. Her look might have been serious, but the touch was more gentle than he thought his friend could ever muster.

When she spoke, her voice was assertive and firm. “We just need to take it one step at a time,” she said. “We've got a portal to Earth. That's practically half the problem solved right there. The rest will be easy. Just take a breath and calm down. You're about to have a panic attack.”

Everything she said was true. They had a way to Earth, which meant they had a way back home. That would be a lot easier than navigating the horse world had been in, he thought. The impossible magic they needed was there. He slowed his breathing and his heart calmed down as he let her words run through his head while Roxanne rubbed his back.

“I'm sorry,” he apologized shakily. “I know I'm stressing everyone out with my anxiety,” he said. “If that were my apartment, I'd have already taken my meds.”

“It's fine, Lake,” Roxanne assured him gently. “We don't blame you. Tory and I are here for you. And you did help us actually get back to Earth by talking to Lilac. You're okay.” She had a look of sympathy on her face as she said it. It helped.

He did his best to smile as he relaxed some of his muscles. “I mean, I'm a little bit not fine.” It was as much of a joke as he could muster. Roxanne smiled anyway.

He didn't know why she had to change into a random stallion to help him settle his nerves, but he chose not to think about it. Instead, he continued to breathe, before finally listening in and picking up on what the other three were talking about.

“—going and see Earth! It's not that cold outside,” Sapphire Glow was saying. “Ponies brave temperatures like that all the time without much protection!”

“Humans can't though!” Tory was on edge. Lake could hear it in his voice. “We'll die out there in less than an hour if we head out without protection! Trust me!” Roxanne shapeshifted into a mare again and moved over to touch his shoulder and rub his back with a wing. Tory pushed her away before she could though. “I'm fine!” he told her roughly. He definitely wasn't fine. It wasn't like him at all. Roxanne shot a look Lake's way.

“But what in Equestria’s name is a human anyway?” Lilac Beauty asked. “I've never heard of anything like that, and this is the first time some portal has shown up in my house!”

“The second time at least,” Sapphire Glow mumbled under her breath.

“Maybe I need to call the police again,” the old mare continued, “or message the Royal Guard. I don't know what's going on, but I don't like it one bit!”

Lake closed his eyes and kept track of his breathing, calming himself down as Tory became more worked up. He was anxious, obviously, but more than that, he was frustrated. No one could blame him.

“We're gonna need camping gear and winter clothes and who knows what else just to get anywhere, not that we have any idea of where the heck we are! This shouldn't be fucking happening! Why didn't it just go back to your apartment?”

Tory stomped a hoof in anger and clenched his jaw. Lake couldn't say he'd ever seen such an unhappy state from his friend. He took an uncomfortable step back while Roxanne sent another look his way. Only Sapphire Glow seemed to be oblivious to his anger.

“It’ll be fine,” she said with a grin, her voice way too nonchalant for the given situation. Tory didn’t push her away as she put a hoof on his shoulder and continued to speak. “Sure, you might not have magic, but that’s Earth! You have hands and long legs and technology that fills in for those things! Doesn’t Lake have a device that can contact people without magic anyway? Just use that!”

Why didn’t he think of that? He had his phone right in his wing with him! Lake wasted no time in heading back out, turning the thing back on as he instantly shifted into being a naked human once again. Man, was it cold, though.

He was glad for his conservative use of the device. His phone’s battery was still at forty-nine percent, hopefully enough for them to get to whatever town might be closest to their position. There was no cell service, unsurprisingly, but he still should’ve been getting GPS pings from satellites overhead as they orbited Earth. He let out a wispy breath into the cold air as his quickly numbing fingers fumbled to open the Google Maps app. Hopefully they weren't somewhere too far away, like Alaska. That would be an automatic no-go.

Lake stared down at his phone intently, waiting a few seconds for the GPS to find his location. When it did, he cringed at what he saw.

At least it’s better than Alaska, he thought. He wasn’t sure how much better it was though.

Daydream

Lake paced nervously as he always seemed to do, back and forth in front of the black hole of a portal to Earth. He didn’t dare to step through it right now though. What if it disappeared when he did, just like it had upon arriving in Equestria? No, he wasn’t going to be stepping foot through that portal again, at least until his friends were back. And even then, still probably not until Sapphire Glow had significantly analyzed it like she wanted to do.

It didn’t stop him from poking his head through on occasion, hoping beyond hope that it led back to his apartment again. Or at least to somewhere more hospitable. To his dismay though, it continuously provided a view of the cold, night, mountaintop air of Norway. The list of places worse than here was a very short one.

Lilac Beauty couldn’t help her own curiosity, as she stuck her head through the portal and stepped through it again. She came back to Equus just a second later, thankfully. Lake didn’t want to have to explain why someone disappeared after everything that was going on.

“Are you four ponies really supposed to look like those… things?” she asked. “That mare keeps calling them humans. Is that what you’re supposed to be?”

“Uh, yeah,” he confirmed. “Ponies… aren’t what we really are,” Lake said. “It’s just as weird for us to be horses as it would be for you to be a human.” Well, maybe a little less weird for he and his friends since horses existed in the real world.

What even is the ‘real world’ anymore? he wondered to himself silently.

“But, uh, not Sapphire though,” he continued. “I don’t know how she actually knows about humans and Earth and stuff, but she somehow came across that information. But she’s a regular pony from Equus.”

She nodded, then asked, “Why did it disappear when you three showed up in my house? And when your other ‘friend’ went to look for it, she didn’t find anything. Why’s that?”

“I have no idea,” Lake shook his head and shrugged. “You’ll have to ask Sapphire about that. As far as I know, none of this should be possible. I don’t even want to be here.”

Maybe though the University of Pennsylvania’s physics department was working on it. Or someone at the New York Times read his email and didn't shoot it down as bullshit. Maybe, maybe, maybe. Maybe nothing was happening and no one cared.

If he had even one bar of cell service, he could get somewhere with just waiting around. Check the news, upload videos—even just sending a text message and calling someone would be infinitely more helpful than having his stupid GPS available. What good was it on an island that showed no roads or cities on it?

Heck, it might have been more useful to just go back to Earth as the pegasus pony he was now. Maybe he could fly somewhere and get help, as long a trip as it would be, as anxious as just the thought alone made him.

“So then what is that world of your's like?” Lilac Beauty asked, slightly timidly. “Nothing like Equestria, right? That looked a lot more like the Crystal Empire to me.”

Lake actually laughed at that. “I don't live in Norway,” he explained. “That would be way too cold for me. I'm from a country called the United States. A city called Philadelphia.”

“Fillydelphia?” she asked. “Like, the city a few hours away from here? You have a city named Fillydelphia, too?”

Fillydelphia? Were all the cities here named after cities on Earth, except with dumb equine puns? Lake would almost believe he was having a schizophrenic break if not for the fact that it had been three weeks thus far. Someone would’ve noticed by now.

“Well, it’s Philadelphia on Earth, but yeah,” he nodded. “And it’s Manhattan, not Manehattan.” Maybe there were a few dumb human puns in cities on Earth, too.

“But anyway,” Lake continued, “it’s basically the same on Earth as it is here. Mostly. We have better technology, and you guys have magic when Earth doesn’t. Honestly, this seems like the little girl’s TV show version of Earth, but for all intents and purposes, they’re the same.”

“Well, I don’t wanna have a bunch of ponies waltzing through my house like I’m giving out free cookies,” Lilac said with a little scowl on her face. “I already messaged the Royal Guard to get out here as soon as possible though. No offense, but I wouldn’t trust that mare, Sapphire, as far as I could throw a barn full of pianos.”

Lake pranced nervously at that idea as his wings twitched—was it weird how comfortable he was becoming with being a horse? He didn’t know, but he definitely knew what he thought about not being able to find a way from Norway to Pennsylvania in time to get home.

“How long is it gonna take for them to, uh, get here?” he asked. “You can probably understand why we wouldn’t wanna be stuck here without figuring everything out, like you wouldn’t wanna be trapped on Earth.”

“It’ll probably take them a week or so to get out here,” she explained, then let out an annoyed huff of a breath. “I doubt they would move any faster if Equestria itself were in danger. They’re a bunch of good for nothing ponies who suck at their jobs and rely on the princesses to fix everything. Not that I can message the princess herself. I would if I could.”

Then Lilac Beauty let out a sigh, and settled herself onto a comfortable looking reclining chair. “I might as well be honest, I don’t really like your friends. Especially not that Sapphire character. I don’t want her tearing apart my home doing this little… ‘science experiment’. You should’ve seen the state she left it in the first time she was here. And that was after she broke in.”

“Yeah, I haven’t known her for very long, but that sounds like her,” Lake admitted. He hated hearing about this, knowing her opinion was already formed by things outside of his or his friends’ control. One of his forehooves bounced nervously where he stood. Man, could he use some Zoloft right now. Or Valium.

“Honestly, I don’t think I trust your other friends very much either,” Lilac continued. “Neither of them seemed to really care when the police showed up for you three, or even worried at all. Only you were. Those other friends of yours seem like the type to break into my house first before asking me to come in.”

Hah. Roxanne thought she was a mind reader? The old mare seemed like her match. She definitely wasn’t an idiot.

“I’ll make sure they don’t do anything like that,” he told her. And Tory could probably keep Sapphire in line if need be, with how close he’s getting to her, Lake silently added.

“Good. I’m trusting you,” she told him, like a stern parent, before getting up again and heading to the portal. “I’m gonna close this thing,” she said as she took one last look around through to Earth and used her magic to firmly shut the door. “Staring at that… thing, it’s giving me the creeps.”

“Wait, can you keep it open, please?” Lake asked. “I don’t want something like—”

“What the hell!”

“Wh.. wha?” Lake got out, wide eyed at what he saw once Lilac Beauty opened the closet again. “W-w-what the heck happened to it?” he stuttered as his heart quickly started to race. “What did you do?”

“I didn’t do anything!” Lilac shot back defensively. “It’s just gone now!”

“Why!”

Lake was up and fumbling against the wall with his hooves before he even knew what he was doing. What in the world was going on? Twice now, it disappeared! Was closing the door enough to send the portal away? Why?

Don’t have an anxiety attack, he told himself as he closed his eyes, working to slow his fast, shallow breathing. You’re fine. It disappeared before, and it came back before. There’s no reason it won’t come back again. This isn’t the end of the world.

Maybe this could even be a good thing, or at least, he tried to convince himself it might be. Maybe it would send them to his apartment next time if it reappeared again. Or hopefully it would at least put them somewhere workable. Europe—well, mainland Europe—or Oceania would be the best options. Anywhere with or near a US embassy or consulate would be fine. Russia was the largest country. Maybe they’d end up there. Or Asia, the largest continent. Somewhere without mountains and oceans blocking any path to civilization. And somewhere that had cell service. Maybe this could be a good thing.

It didn’t feel like a good thing at all. It was hard to get his breathing under control.

He managed to avoid panicking though. Panicking wouldn’t help anything. Instead, he tried to think. Why the heck would it disappear twice when the door was shut? Was it something to do with the door itself? Or maybe Lilac Beauty, who opened the thing both times? Lake was the one who opened the door both times to find the portal in the first place. Maybe he had something to do with it?

“Let… let me try something,” he told her breathlessly as he backed out of the closet, closing his eyes and putting a hoof on a chest that was hurting. “Close the door again, please? I wanna see something.”

The old mare didn’t waste any time in obliging his request, then stepped back from the closet door, too. “What are you trying to do? Make it reappear again?”

He didn’t answer, instead keeping his breathing under control. What had being an anxious mess ever accomplish for anyone? Other than stopping his friends from breaking into a horse’s home on the other side of the universe?

He ignored the intense stare of confusion Lilac gave to him, and closed his eyes to count to ten in his head. For more reasons than one. When he was finished, he went up to the door again, and opened it.

“Oh my god! Oh, fuck…” Lake practically collapsed to the ground in relief.

“What in Celestia’s name is going on?” Lilac Beauty demanded. “Why is this thing disappearing when I close the door but coming back when you open it? Are you doing this?” she asked suspiciously.

Lake ignored her for now as he breathed out deep exhales of relief. He focused back on the portal. The one that disappeared when she closed the closet door and reappeared when he opened it, twice. Should he risk trying it for a third time, to make sure?

No, not yet. First, the human-turned-pegasus had to see what was through it this time. Would it be his apartment again, or Norway? The most likely option was somewhere else entirely. Where would it be? Philadelphia would be great. Hawaii or Thailand would be pretty cool. North Korea, or the inside of a volcano, or under the ocean—none of those options would do much good for him. Where would he go?

He couldn’t say how surprised he was when he stuck his head through and felt the same blistering wind against his ears and saw the same clear sky hanging over the mountains.

He quickly pulled himself back through the portal. There was no reason to not test out his theory then, if it was still Norway, even as nervous as it made him. “I want you to close the door, and then open it again,” he told Lilac Beauty. “And then, if the portal disappears, close the door again, and I’ll open it after you.”

The old mare didn’t argue, and did what he instructed. Once again, after she closed and opened her closet again, the portal was gone, and once again, it reappeared when he opened the door. Once again, it led to the same spot, the mountainous Norwegian island the GPS said they were at. They tried the pattern two or three more times before Lake was satisfied. Nothing changed.

“How in the world is this happening?” Lake wondered aloud. “Is it me, or is it you?” he asked as he looked around the closet curiously, shuffling his wings and wiggling his neck. “Unicorns are supposed to be the ones with magical powers in this world. Are you doing something to make the portal disappear?”

“The portal disappeared?” Sapphire Glow suddenly asked from behind them, strutting in without warning with an entire store of things in her grasp. Quill pens and paper, markers and folders and books, rulers and apparatuses and a whole collection of other things Lake had no name for. They all floated in her magic in one big pile, a pile she casually dropped on the floor in front of the closet. Lilac let out a huff of a breath and rolled her eyes as she stomped a hoof. Sapphire either didn't understand social cues, or just didn't care, because she ignored her as she moved past them to the closet. Lake was betting on the latter.

“It looks like it's still here to me,” she said as she grabbed a device that looked like a thermometer and pressed it against her lit up horn. Then she headed through the portal again. Lake followed after her, with Tory and Roxanne joining a second later.

“We figured out that when she closes her closet door, the portal disappears,” he told her as the now human Sapphire fiddled with her device. She didn’t seem particularly concerned about the cold as he continued, “When I open it after it disappears, it shows up again.”

“That’s interesting,” she said politely, waving the thermometer looking thing around, placing it near the portal for a second before moving further away. How was she not shivering? Lake’s teeth were chattering after just a few seconds being out here!

“Hmmm,” she hummed aloud. “Looks like the magic thins out once you get about four feet from the portal. Point zero six magic particles per cubic centimeter is what seems to be about average, as far as I can tell. Obviously I’d need to measure more than just this spot, but I wouldn't expect it to be higher anywhere else.”

“Okay, what does that mean?” Tory asked for the group. He glanced at her for a moment, then looked away a few seconds later, crossing his arms over his chest. Was he checking her out? Roxanne sent a look his way, then looked at Lake to roll her eyes before heading back inside, deciding that it was too cold.

“It means there's not much magic here,” she told the two that remained. “For reference, Equestria has around two hundred or so particles per cubic centimeter, and Equus in general averages about ninety five. It's not nothing, but it's very close to nothing here on Earth. Nothing you could gather and store up for yourself, unless there were pockets of magic around Earth. You're gonna wanna tell that friend of yours not to use very much shapeshifting while she's on Earth. Oh, by the way! Do you think I could measure you both while you're here? I know it's cold, but I wanna make sure my human measurements are accurate!”

“Hold on, what are you talking about?” Lake stopped her. “Roxie’s not a changeling pony on this side.” He paused, and asked, “And can we not have this conversation out here, at least not without some clothes? It's too cold to stand around out here!”

“Sure,” Sapphire nodded, heading back for the portal. “I'll have to measure you guys once it's warmer. Although I'm curious to learn how hairless creatures like humans can brave such frigid conditions! But about your friend—”

Sapphire Glow and Roxanne explained what she meant about shapeshifting on Earth. It required once more for Lake to go through the portal to Norway to get a demonstration before he finally was able to lay down in the warmth of Lilac Beauty's house. Roxanne offered no explanation as to why she was still changed on the Earth side when Tory and Lake were both fully humans again. Sapphire Glow spoke in vague theories about somepony named Gaia the Great and magical residue and how staying too long might permanently alter them. It wasn't anything he wanted to hear, but Lake shoved his anxiety down anyway. It helped knowing they had a way to Earth right here, as well as hearing Sapphire say that normally it took years, explaining that her change to human on Earth proved that.

It helped more when Tory put his hoof on his shoulder and Roxanne changed into a pegasus to rub his back with a wing. What could he say? He needed to be carried a little bit more than his friends. He couldn't help it.

He only felt a little bit insecure about how much attention he seemed to need lately. He wasn't anywhere near this bad on Earth. He hoped Roxanne and Tory didn't mind.

“We don't mind, Lake,” Roxanne answered, reading his mind. “It's all good. We're all here for each other.”

And they needed Lake in some ways, he found out. One of them presented itself when they learned that it wasn't Lilac Beauty making the portal disappear, but instead, Lake making it reappear. No amount of opening or closing the closet door by anyone else did anything but reveal a normal closet. Every time Lake opened and closed it though, the portal showed itself once again. What was up with that?

“I'm not sure,” Sapphire Glow said thoughtfully as she looked between him and the door. “It could be anything. Maybe you just have an unnaturally large amount of friendship magic inside of you. It is the most powerful force in the universe, after all.”

Of course. Like a kids’ TV show, friendship was the reason that magical portals existed, ones that only he could call up without knowing what he was doing.

“You guys are gonna have to show me some more respect, in that case,” he joked. “You're not friendly enough.”

“I bet Tory knows a way he could be more friendly,” Roxanne teased. “At least, more friendly with Sapphire.”

Lake almost didn't realize the subtlety of what Roxanne was implying, and blushed when she sent a little wink his way. Thankfully, Tory didn't seem to notice, since he was preoccupied with pretending to brush off Sapphire Glow. His face had a little bit of a red tint to it, too.

No surprise. He doesn't like men… and stop reading my mind, Roxie!

“I can't help it,” Roxanne replied in response, shapeshifting to be a colorful, buggish looking creature with a wide grin. “You're the one putting the feelings out there. It's like asking me to stop breathing.”

Of course.

“What are you two going on about?” Tory asked curiously.

“Nothing,” Lake replied, waving a dismissive hoof. “Anyway, how exactly does that work?” he asked. “Do I just… have more friends than Tory and Roxie?” Because Lake would find that hard to believe.

“It's way more complicated than just that,” Sapphire Glow told him. “If that was it, I'd be the most powerful unicorn in the world.”

“Oh, I'm sure,” Tory replied with a teasing smile. It was one of the few times Sapphire didn't flirt in response to his light teasing, her voice serious.

“I don't really have the patience to teach it to you guys right now,” she said, “but I told you before that friendship is the most powerful force in the universe. Just a little bit of it can go a very long way, toward good or evil.” Ominous.

It was a long, boring day that they worked, watching Sapphire take all of the measurements she could want on both Equus and Earth. He avoided thinking about the awkwardness of Sapphire looking over his shivering, naked body so intently, and spent most of the time discussing what their next move should be while she did. Lilac Beauty interjected every so often with her thoughts, and said she understood their plight. She didn't want the four of them here every day though, and gave them a time limit of one week to do all they wanted in her home. That was when the Royal Guard would be here. They promised they would come up with something by then.

It seemed like the main idea being presented and agreed upon was taking some tents and winter gear and exploring the region. It wasn't a bad plan; all things considered, it was probably the best plan available. But Lake had serious doubts about the viability of such an operation. He assumed Tory and Roxanne did, too, but neither spoke up about any concerns. It was settled.

They weren’t able to put the plan into motion immediately the following day; that day was spent gathering the supplies they would need. Sapphire Glow would be fronting all of the money, of course, since the three of them still didn’t have jobs. They assured her that if they weren’t able to get anything out of the portal in Lilac’s house, they would find a way to pay her back. For someone so invested in humans, Sapphire didn’t seem like she wanted to do it for free, not even in ‘the name of science’.

Roxanne declared that she wouldn’t need any winter clothes since she could still shapeshift as a human again, but he, Tory, and Sapphire Glow would all need them. Things like coats and shirts and hats and mittens were easy to find, but still there were no pants anywhere they went to shop. They would have to settle for long, heavy dresses. Great.

Camping supplies was much easier to come across. They were able to get a large tent and some sleeping bags, as well as a camp stove, fire starter, compass, and some non-perishable food. Lilac Beauty didn’t mind them setting all the stuff at her house for the night, while they rested for however many days were to come.

Finally, the day after that, they were ready to go. Sapphire Glow briefly mentioned the idea of waiting a couple of more days to see if she could get in touch with the mysterious Record Keeper so he could go with them, as well as Princess Twilight Sparkle, however, that suggestion was quickly shot down. They had only a week—about five or six days now—before the Royal Guard was supposed to get to Lilac’s house to investigate the portal, and they wanted to maximize their time before whatever they were going to do with it happened.

There was one more thing brought up before they set off onto the cold Norwegian island they found access to.

“I think you should stay here for now, Lake,” Tory told him. “If you’re the only one who can get that portal to appear when the closet door closes, it’ll be safer for all of us to have you on this side. At least until we find out whether where on Earth we are is useful or not.”

Lake didn’t know if he minded that idea or not, but he didn’t argue. It made sense. If he was the only one that could make the thing appear, it’d be too risky for him to travel the unknown with them.

“Take my phone with you then,” he replied, handing the device over to Tory. “If you can find somewhere with cell service and call someone, come back and get me. But don't take too long out there? If it doesn't seem like it's getting anywhere, just come back, and we'll figure something else out.”

“I'm sure this will work,” Roxanne replied confidently. “How could it not? It's Earth already. Sure, there's not a lot of people in Norway, but I bet someone will be around.”

Yeah. Someone. Hopefully.

“Don’t stay out there longer than a day?” Lake told them. “Two, max? If you guys got hurt while I was here—”

“Oh, we’ll be fine,” Sapphire said, waving a hoof, just as confident as Roxanne but way more annoyingly nonchalant. “It’s Earth! And we’ll be humans, with hands! How could anything go wrong under those conditions?”

Lake had to force himself to not roll his eyes. Yeah, how could anything go wrong? he thought to himself doubtfully. Because it’s been nothing but sunny skies and smooth sailing so far.

Cherub Rock

Tory was confident things were moving in the right direction, in spite of the hurdles he and his friends faced. He might have been angry and frustrated before at the situation, but in the end, this was a net positive. They knew where on Earth they were and had a portal back there, and a plan for how to go about getting back to Pennsylvania from Norway. And if they were unsuccessful, they had an intelligent mare in Sapphire Glow who would figure out what to do next. He had high hopes for returning home before too long.

They left Sapphire Glow’s house with an assurance to Lake that it probably wouldn't be longer than a day or two before they got back. They made the familiar walk to Lilac Beauty’s home, one that Tory and Roxanne stayed mostly silent for as Sapphire Glow chattered away excitedly about all of the things she wanted to see. Other cities, humans, the technology they had, history books about the world—basically, all of the things that Tory and his friends had been mostly ignoring about Equus. Once they were finally back home, Tory was going to do some serious studying into the history and culture of Equestria, more than just the basic essentials he picked up so far.

“Oh, this is gonna be so much fun!” Sapphire Glow talked excitedly. “I can't wait to see it all!” She stepped a little bit closer to Tory, continuing, “And maybe you can show me what those hands can do once we're on Earth.”

He ignored the comment, but smiled politely as they trotted along, eventually finding their way back to the house with the wormhole to Earth. What was Sapphire's obsession with human hands? Was it some kind of fetish? And was she just joking around when she flirted with him, or being serious? Tory genuinely couldn't tell. He hoped he wasn't leading her on. Even if her personality was slowly rubbing off on him.

No way was he kind of into Sapphire's flirting. That would just be ridiculous. Knowing what she looked like as a human changed absolutely nothing.

It wasn't long before he saw what she looked like as a human again. They quickly stepped through Lilac's house and gathered up the stuff they planned to take with them. He let Roxanne explain to the old mare that Lake would show up here over the next couple of days to make sure the portal was still there for them to come back through while the three of them put on a few layers of clothing. Then, with Tory carrying the bulk of the supplies on his back, the trio headed through the portal.

“How come the clothes didn't stay on us when we first went to Equus?” Tory asked as he pulled the black coat he had on tighter around him. It would've been nice to have his jeans and hiking boots back. Or anything besides these stupid mitten shoes and a dress that ruffled up and chilled him and uncovered his crotch with every gust of wind. This pretty much sucked.

But it was better than being naked, at least. It was overcast tonight, but a little bit warmer, by at least twenty degrees it felt like. The snow reflected off the clouds, brightening the scene with a grayish, almost faint orange glow. The snow was crunchy beneath his feet as the three of them walked, Tory carrying most of the supplies strapped to his back as they moved at a steady pace. It was strange how light it felt, enough that he double checked it was still securely fastened to his back every few minutes. Maybe he was stronger now? Why not? If Roxanne could shape shift on Earth still, a little extra strength was the least he deserved.

Roxanne had changed to be a fluffy looking unicorn mare while Sapphire Glow walked beside Tory. The latter casually looked him up and down every so often as they walked while the former laughed at some untold joke.

“You didn’t tell us you were a femboy, Tory,” Roxanne chuckled. “I wonder if Sapphire’s into that kind of thing.”

“Yeah, a femboy with a full beard and toned muscles, you got me,” Tory shot back without missing a beat. “Lake’s way closer to being one than I am.” That made Roxanne laugh harder, although he wasn’t sure why.

“What’s a femboy?” Sapphire Glow asked curiously.

“Doesn’t matter,” Tory said quickly, shaking his head. “How far should we be going?” he asked aloud to neither of them in particular. “I don't see the light Lake said he saw yesterday. Where is it?”

“It was probably just the moon reflecting off of a frozen lake or something,” Roxanne said. “I don't know how far we should be going either,” she told him. “This is the middle of nowhere Norway. We don't know if there's anyone on this entire island, let alone camping in our general vicinity.”

“Where exactly is “Norway” on Earth?” Sapphire asked with interest. “Can I see that device you have? The one with the map?” The dark skinned girl grabbed the phone from Tory’s hands before he could even respond. “Is Google Maps the right one?” she asked casually. “Also, who is Google?”

“Google is a technology company,” Tory told her as he snatched the device back from her. “And don't take things without asking,” he reprimanded, like she was a small child. He clicked into the app and then scrolled out, holding the screen out to Sapphire to show her. “It’s in the northern hemisphere,” he explained. “Far north. We're almost eighty degrees north, I think.”

“Definitely past the arctic circle,” Roxanne commented.

“What’s the ‘arctic circle’?” Sapphire asked.

“I’ll tell you later,” Tory shook his head. “It doesn’t matter. What matters right now is seeing if we can find that light again, and looking for towns and stuff around here. I don’t know how far I want to wander in the middle of nowhere.”

Zooming in and out on Lake’s phone in the app, Tory saw nothing. No towns, no roads, nowhere where civilization might be. If they at least had access to wikipedia, they could find out more about this island they were on, Nordaustlandet.

Tory made sure the three of them made deep footprints in the snow so they could find their way back to the cave when they had to return. Sapphire Glow fiddled with her fingers and occasionally stopped them to get out one of her instruments, taking measurements of whatever grabbed at her interest. It was mostly silent while they traveled, with Roxanne walking far in the lead by several dozen yards. Tory stayed near Sapphire Glow, who walked in front of him by a few steps. He didn’t mind, although it was strange how a horse was able to walk like a human without any issue. Maybe it was the same way he could trot and gallop and canter around without tripping over himself.

She had brown hair that the same color as his, although hers went down to her shoulders while Tory’s stopped at his ears. Her darker skin was covered up by a royal blue coat that matched her fur color as a pony, and she wore a ski cap that was the same purple and green her mane and tail were. He didn’t know if it would be considered fashionable necessarily, but it looked good on her, just like the long, red dress she wore below it did. If he didn’t know her and they were at a bar, he might try to pick her up.

And if she wasn’t a horse, of course.

It took a minute for Tory to realize that he was staring at her. He shook his head clear and looked away, putting his eyes on the scenery ahead. He didn’t need Roxanne thinking something that wasn’t going to happen might happen.

Despite the circumstances, the scenery was picturesque for a barren, mountainous, snow covered wasteland. It was slightly light outside from the reflective snow, with colorful rocks sticking out of the ice and mountains showing themselves as they traveled along, gradually changing into hills and a rocky plain littered by frozen lakes. There were no trees, but there were some animals, like birds flying overhead and reindeer running by in front of them every so often. If not for the situation, Tory would’ve said this was a great place to go camping. They were gonna do that either way anyway.

“If it looks like it’s gonna start snowing, we’ll need to turn around and book it back to the cave,” Roxanne said. “We don’t want our trail to disappear. That would be very bad. And make sure to mark down our latitude and longitude coordinates, Tory, just in case.”

“I'd normally be leaving a trail of magic behind me to make sure we don't get lost,” Sapphire said, “but just like I thought, humans can't do magic. Not that there's any out here anyway. I'm picking up about point four particles per centimeter max in spots. It's a wonder a portal to Earth was able to appear at all, honestly.”

Yeah, it was a wonder it appeared at all. Or maybe not, if he assumed that physics was different from how humans thought it worked. She was measuring magic, after all. Magic was fictional, and yet Sapphire was able to measure it.

They walked for a good five or six hours before Tory suggested they stop and set up camp for the night. He had a feeling that walking farther, regardless of the direction, wasn’t going to yield them anything good outside of time wasted making their legs sore. This island was probably uninhabited. At least in Alaska they might have had cell service to call someone.

“We should probably just turn around tomorrow,” Tory said after their tent was set up and dinner was cooking in a pot on the camp stove. “I doubt there’s anything out here. There’s no point in continuing in a place without any people unless we can find somewhere with cell service.”

“A satellite phone would be pretty nice right about now,” Roxanne commented. “You’re probably right on the no one being out here thing.” She turned to Sapphire Glow and asked, “You said your friend went to Earth through some other portal. Where exactly did he go?”

“He said it was some place called… das moneys, I think?” Sapphire scratched her scalp as she took off her hat, and continued, “It was spelled weirdly. D-e-s-m-o-i-n-e-s, he said it was.”

“Wait, you mean Des Moines?” Tory asked. “Like, the city in Iowa?” How was she able to remember such a thing? Impressive.

“I don’t think there’s very many other cities named Des Moines, Tory,” Roxanne said lightly.

“That’s where he said he went,” Sapphire shrugged. “Like I said, the portal is in the mysterious south, but I don’t have the book I got from the Canterlot Archives anymore. Record Keeper might remember where it's at though. That’s why I’ve been trying to talk to him about you guys!”

“Is there any way we could, like, go to his house and talk to him or something?” Tory asked, taking the beans he heated up off the stove and stirring them to cool it down. “It’d be better than waiting for them to get back to us, I think.”

“It’s not as simple as all that,” Sapphire smiled, like it wasn’t that big of a deal. “I don’t really know where he lives necessarily. But he should show up to the Humans in Equestria club meeting in a few days! He never misses a session!”

Tory shot her a questioning look, then glanced to Roxanne for confirmation on the explanation. She nodded her head and said, “She’s telling the truth.”

He sighed at that, and served himself and his companions dinner before lying down on his stomach. Coming out here was just a big waste of time then, it seemed. What was the point of this? Walking miles in the middle of nowhere just to get no closer to being at home than they would’ve been had they just stayed on Equus?

“Does anyone mind if I take this stuff off?” Tory asked as he pulled off the clothes he was wearing. “No? Cause I'm not wearing a dress for longer than I have to”

“Oh my, how risque,” Roxanne joked sarcastically. “I don't know what we'd do if we saw you naked again after almost a month of seeing you naked already.” It didn't even earn a smile from him, his frown a far cry from the laugh he usually gave. His mood was sour once again.

“Come on, there's no reason to be pouty like that,” Sapphire told him as she used a hand to rub his back from where he lay. “Think about all the cool stuff you're seeing being away from home! And once I talk to princess Twilight Sparkle–”

“I somehow have high doubts that the monarch of Equestria is gonna take an interest in our case.”

“She will,” Sapphire assured him as she used her hands to massage his shoulders, too. “I was her student in her school for gifted unicorns, after all! She probably hasn't gotten back to me because she's been busy.”

“And what good does her being busy do us, exactly?”

“Not much,” Sapphire admitted, “but if need be, we can always raise some money for a train trip to Canterlot to see her.”

Tory turned his head to eye her carefully. “Is that something we can actually do, or are you just saying that?” he asked. “Seeing the ruler of a country doesn't sound as simple as all that, even if you do know her personally.”

“She visits anypony who walks into her court,” Sapphire Glow explained. “And she's the best magician I know. I'm sure if we explain the situation to her, she'll help us.” The girl rubbed a hand behind her head, then smiled sheepishly. “She, uh, might say I have an ‘obsession with humans’ that she doesn't like, though. But she'll help us, trust me!”

Of course, Sapphire Glow was predictably unreliable. He couldn't help but smile though as he joked, “Yeah? She might say that? I didn't notice.”

“What can I say? Humans are cool!” she smiled brightly. “Especially their hands, see?” Sapphire massaged her fingers farther into his back, working into his shoulder blades. He let out a small grunt of pleasure as she asked, “That feels good, doesn't it?”

“Yeah, it does,” he smiled, turning to look at her again as he did. “But I've been a human all my life, so I already knew that.”

“Oh yeah?” Sapphire Glow raised an eyebrow, a little bit seductively. “What else do you know about being a human, Tory? Mind telling me?”

“There's a third person in here,” Roxanne suddenly cut in. “Don't forget that.”

It wasn't a surprise when Sapphire Glow didn't back down at that statement, not that Tory was interested in going farther right then. “We can turn this into a threesome if you want,” she said slyly. “I'm not into mares, but I'll let you have fun with him, too. You two and Lake are basically a herd already anyway.” It was a statement that might have embarrassed the friend back in Equestria, but not Tory.

“No thank you,” Roxanne said seriously, just as seriously as Lake did when Sapphire tried to flirt with him. Apparently casual flirting was over the line for both of his friends. Interesting.

“It's not that interesting,” Roxanne said, reading his mind. “I just don't wanna set expectations of a hookup.” She shrugged, and finished, “You can if you want. I'm just not gonna.”

Tory's face went just a little bit red at that comment, and Sapphire Glow stuck her tongue out at her. “Killjoy,” she said only half seriously.

“Not usually,” Roxanne responded without missing a beat before sticking her tongue out at Sapphire, too.

The girl continued massaging his back and whispered something into his ear. “Maybe when we're back in Equestria, you can come spend the night in my room,” she said. “I won't make you sleep on the floor.”

No way was the thought much more appealing now, seeing her as a human instead of a pony. That would've been silly.

“Are you being serious?” he asked back quietly, voice casual. “Or are you just being a flirt?”

She smirked at him again, and shrugged. “Maybe I am, maybe I'm not,” she told him. “I guess you'll have to find that out for yourself.”

“Yeah? Will I? I might just investigate in that case.” Why should he not flirt back? It wasn't necessarily doing any harm, and didn't imply anything.

“But I'll have you know that one night stands aren't really my thing,” he continued, a little more seriously.

“Wouldn't be a one night stand if it was more than one night,” she whispered back.

“Even though you've only known me for a few weeks?” Tory asked her. She shrugged, and ran her fingers along his spine, working them in deep and releasing any tension they might have had. “Do you have a fetish for humans or something?”

In a rare sight, the pony-turned-human actually blushed, and wasn't able to send back a quick reply. It made Tory laugh loudly to see. “You actually do? Oh my fucking god!” It was the most hilarious thing he'd heard thus far.

“I– no! I don't!” she stammered quickly. “It's not a fetish! I– I just have an interest in humans!”

“Oh, yeah, just an interest,” Tory laughed. “Of course.”

“I'm gonna go outside,” she got out quickly, thoroughly embarrassed now. “I'll be back soon. I'm gonna do some experiments.” The dark skin on her face was bright red as she left, like she put makeup on. Tory got another good laugh out of it.

It was interesting how quiet Roxanne stayed, but then she could read his mind and didn't really need to ask any questions. She knew he didn't really like her, even if they were more friendly to each other than Lake and Roxanne were to her. He was obviously just playing alone with her flirting.

“Yeah, obviously,” Roxanne teased from her spot. “I'm sure you don't really like her.”

“Okay, I have a genuine question,” Tory started. “Can you please not do that? The whole ‘reading my mind' thing?”

That made her sigh for some reason. He wasn't sure why. “I'm not really reading your mind,” she said. “I can read your emotions, and that helps me guess at what you're thinking. It's not like you're speaking your thoughts to me or something.” She sighed again, and continued to speak before he could respond. “I know it's creepy though, probably,” she said, her energy deflating. “Lake said the same thing. I'll try to stop doing that.” Then she shapeshifted herself into the weird buggish creature she seemed fond of being now and pulled herself under her sleeping bag to sleep.

“Try to set an alarm for three or four hours,” she said before she drifted off completely. “I wanna see how far up this island we can get before we turn around and head back.”

He wasn't sure why she wanted to. There was nothing here for them to see. Why wouldn't they just go back immediately? Still, he did as she requested and set the alarm.

It felt like about five minutes before Lake’s phone was blaring the chorus to Chasing Cars at full volume, forcing Tory’s eyes open. Roxanne, who had shapeshifted into a human by the time the alarm went off, wasted no time in standing up, but Sapphire Glow groaned from her spot next to him. He couldn’t blame her, although he half expected her to crawl into his sleeping bag while he was out. Then again, that would be a huge step over the line compared to just flirting.

“Sweet Celestia, turn that music off already!” she demanded, turning over and putting her fingers in her ears. “Buck, it’s too early for us to get up! I just fell asleep!”

“It’s time to get up anyway,” Roxanne said. “We need to get a move on. I wanna see what else is out there.”

“We can see what else is out there when Celestia raises the sun at least,” Sapphire shot back. “It’s still dark outside.”

“We left in the middle of the day,” Roxanne continued as she rubbed her eyes. “And no one raises the sun on Earth. The Earth revolves around it.” Then she asked, “What time is it, Tory?”

“Three twenty three in the morning,” he replied, just as tiredly as Sapphire Glow did. “The sun might take a long while to come up, if it comes up at all,” he explained. “It’s late October and we’re above the arctic circle. Chances are it doesn’t come up.”

“You never told me what that is,” Sapphire Glow said groggily as she finally started to climb out of the sleeping back. She apparently copied Tory’s idea and stripped off her clothes before bed, too. He might have seen her naked as a human before, and all the time as a pony, but he still couldn’t help but blush right then. He wasn’t entirely sure why he did.

“It’s a place on Earth where, because of its tilt, the sun doesn’t rise at all in the winter and it doesn’t set at all in the summer,” Roxanne told her. “Now get dressed so we can get moving. I wanna see what’s at the end of this island before too long has passed.”

It’s gonna be a bunch of nothing, Tory couldn’t help but think. He didn’t voice that thought though. It wouldn’t be helpful in the slightest.

He and Sapphire got dressed while Roxanne watched before she shapeshifted back into a fluffy pony, a pegasus stallion this time. Despite her insistence at wanting to get a move on, she looked just as tired as Sapphire did, and probably as tired as he thought he looked to them. Maybe more so. He didn't mention it though as she spoke up.

“I think I'm getting better at changing,” she yawned. “I can kind of choose what I want to look like instead of copying the things I see. I wonder though if I could change into inanimate objects. I've been trying, but haven't been able to. I don't see why I couldn't though.” She looked at Sapphire expectantly, waiting for an answer.

The dark skin girl shrugged and let out a yawn of her own. “You'd have to ask a changeling about that one,” she said. “I have no idea. Did we bring any coffee with us?”

Coffee and a breakfast of cereal and peanut butter sandwiches was had, Tory remaining silent for most of the meal. It would probably be another half a day of walking from what he could tell before they reached the end of the island. Another campout after that, and then they'd have to book it home so they could meet the two day deadline Lake had for them. It was going to be exhausting, traveling across this cold, mountainous Norwegian island, all for nothing most likely. No people, no cell service, no sign of civilization at all. What a waste of time.

“I know you said it's creepy when I comment on what you're thinking,” Roxanne started as she scarfed down another sandwich, “but it's not a waste of time. We're ruling out the possibility of this island being useful. What if the map is wrong and we find a town with a port? Or what if we can't get to whatever portal Sapphire's friend went to and we have to build a boat from here to the island below it? There was a city farther into that one, wasn't there?”

“Yeah, miles and miles from us, across mountains and through water, in the winter, with no sun and presumably wild animals,” Tory complained. “Traveling through all that is gonna be useless if Lake’s phone’s battery runs out, and dangerous if there’s a blizzard or a polar bear or even a walrus that attacks us. We basically won’t be able to get anywhere from this island until the summer, and that’s almost a year away! And that’s not even getting started on all the issues trying to use a boat brings!”

He wasn’t yelling, but his voice was on the edge of it by the time he finished, his fists on his forehead as he closed his eyes and seethed. Why did he have to be an idiot and go through that portal in Lake’s closet? Why didn’t he just listen to his friend and wait for someone else to investigate it? He wasn't usually that impulsive, and it wasn't really impulsive even then! He was genuinely planning on just getting a look around and heading back out. And because of that, he was stuck in this useless situation.

“It'll be fine, Tory,” Sapphire Glow said kindly, softly, with more comfort in her voice than she ever displayed before. He didn't even know she had it in her as she rested a hand on his back. “We'll get you back home. Like Roxie said! This is just in case Princess Twilight Sparkle can't help us, and if we can't find the portal Record Keeper used when he visited Earth. It's just a contingency that you probably won't even need! Look at it like an adventure. An adventure of science and exploration for all ponykind!”

“Yeah. That,” Roxanne nodded. They were both right, of course. There were plenty of other options. This island in Norway was just gonna be a last resort, one they should be prepared for before they might have to use it. If they ever even did need it. Tory closed his eyes and breathed out a long sigh like he saw Lake do many times to get back to calm.

“Yeah,” he said as his frustration faded to the back burner. “Of course,” he nodded. “Why don't we set off out of here now then, so we're there and back before Lake dies of an anxiety attack?” With no disagreements, Tory unzipped the flap of the tent to step outside, and gasped at what he saw.

It was snowing.

It wasn't heavy snow; in fact, it was pretty light. But light or heavy wasn't the issue. The real problem was that their footprints they left as a trail back to their cave were quickly being covered up and obscured. In a few minutes, or less, their path back would vanish completely and they would be lost. Then Lake really would have a panic attack. Why didn't any of them think to bring something else to mark the trail?

“Fucking shit,” was all Tory could think to say.

Quiet

Roxanne did not like what she saw. None of them did. Even Sapphire Glow was intimidated by the scene in front of them, and wiggled where she stood as the three took in the falling white fluffy flakes. Lake would've had a breakdown if he was with them right then.

“Uh, somepony knows how to get back to the portal, right?” Sapphire asked, sounding unsure. “Because this doesn't look good. As cool as human hands are, I don't want to get stuck in the middle of nowhere in someplace where the sun never rises.”

“Did you write down our latitudinal and longitudinal location like I told you to, Tory?” Roxanne asked. “We can use that to get back. It won't be an issue.” As soon as she said it though, the way Tory’s feelings hit her, she knew it would be an issue.

“No?” was his concerned reply. It was enough to make Roxanne feel concerned for probably the first time during this whole adventure. This wasn't fear like what came from that scary chase when she first shapeshifted. She knew what to do then. She had no idea what to do now.

“You never told me to,” Tory continued, glancing between her, the ground, and the falling snow.

“I one hundred percent absolutely told you to write it down,” she asserted, doing the best to hide the frustration and anxiety that wanted to creep into her voice. “I made sure to tell you, just in case something like this happened.”

“If you did, I would have written it down,” he said. He sounded confident, but the emotions wafting off of him told Roxanne that he was unsure. He should’ve been. She told him to write it down.

“Check the notes app,” she told him. “Maybe Lake wrote it down. He’s way too careful to not have kept information about where we were.”

To both Roxanne and Tory’s surprise, he didn’t write it down. She imagined if he went with them, he would’ve made sure to note it. He wasn’t the kind to leave things like getting back to Equus up to chance. But he wasn’t here, so why would he? But then that was why Roxanne told Tory to write it down.

“Well I don’t think standing there talking about it is gonna help any,” Sapphire Glow said from farther away, bringing Roxanne and Tory’s attention back to their surroundings. “Pack up that stuff and let’s go! While the trail is still here, preferably!” Then the girl turned back around and continued moving away.

Thankfully, she didn’t move very far away from them, stopping after a few hundred yards of walking to wait for she and Tory to disassemble the gear. The snow didn’t look like it was getting any heavier, but Roxanne knew it wouldn’t matter before too long. Why the heck did they think it was a good idea to rely on a snow trail to get back? Maybe they really were a bunch of idiots like Lake thought before. He would’ve had none of that plan if he was here. He would’ve insisted on a better option to get back than just a snow trail.

“Maybe there’s a way to see previous locations on Google Maps,” Roxanne offered as she loaded up their supplies on Tory’s back. “I don’t know, but there’s no reason not to check.”

Tory let out a long, deep sigh as he stepped forward. Roxanne followed beside him. “Sorry that I didn’t write it down,” he apologized. “I know you probably said to, and I don’t know why I wouldn’t have… it’s just one roadblock in our way we have to pass to get to the next roadblock. And our own dang fault. Again. Mine this time.”

“It’s fine,” she told him. “Not your fault. We all mess up sometimes. And I’m sure it’s stressful being in your position.”

That earned her a quizzical look. “What position is that?” he asked.

“The leader.”

She watched Tory’s look change from quizzical to skeptical, and felt the confusion drifting off of him. He shook his head at her. “I’m not the leader of us,” he said. “I honestly thought you were the one leading us.”

He didn’t explain further, only silently turned his head and continued his way forward. He didn’t need to anyway; Roxanne could easily decipher what he meant. She definitely disagreed with his assessment. She wasn’t leading anything. She certainly wasn’t directing anything. Was she? Sure, she offered suggestions about what to do, but that was just it. Suggestions. Maybe Lake was doing the most directing of their actions? But Roxanne wouldn’t call him the leader either, even if he was definitely less reckless than she and Tory were turning out to be.

She didn’t say anything about it, walking in silence as they caught up with Sapphire Glow. The snow showers fell around them, brightening the dark day a little bit more, the clouds still reflecting a purplish orange glow as the moon hung steadily in the sky. More animals passed them by, thankfully nothing like polar bears or walruses though. Roxanne wasn’t entirely sure how dangerous the caribou were, but they didn’t bother them, walking gently along without so much as a second look. It was scenic and pretty out here. Beautiful even.

The trail they were on didn’t disappear immediately, but it did eventually fade away. Slowly but surely, over the course of a couple of hours, the deep footprints they left to mark the way back were filled in until nothing remained. They continued forward for another half an hour after the last footprint sighting before Roxanne suggested they stop and make a new plan.

“Ah, shit, this is such a shit situation,” Tory complained. It seemed like something he was doing a lot over the last two or three days. When the heck had his attitude gotten so sour?

Sapphire didn’t seem to mind though—when did the mare mind anything besides waking up early—and moved to stand next to him as they assembled their supplies once again.

“We’ll be fine,” she said, back to being just as nonchalant as she always was. “I have a natural sense of direction. If we keep going, we’ll find our way back. I’m sure of it!”

She absolutely was sure, in spite of the circumstances. How was this mare always so positive and upbeat about everything? Was it the ‘power of friendship’ that she talked about before? It made Tory smile again anyway.

“And if not, I’m sure somepony will come looking for us,” she continued. “You said before that Lake was cautious? Well I bet he’ll be here if we need his help. But we won’t.”

“Yeah, after he yells at us for going about this stupidly.”

And it was infectious, too. Before Roxanne’s mood could fall, she was smiling again. She wasn’t sure she believed it would be as easy as Sapphire Glow made it out to be, but Sapphire’s belief in it helped a lot.

“It’s only been a couple of hours,” Roxanne started, “but since the trail is gone anyway, we’ll rest for a little while longer, then keep going.” She turned to Sapphire and said, “You can take the lead when we do, if you’re sure you know how to get us back.” The girl smiled widely and proudly at receiving the task. She wasn’t a terribly difficult person to make happy.

“Since I’m already awake,” she said, “I’ll go off and take some more measurements. Right now, I’m not really sure how so much magic could build up on Earth that a portal to Equus appeared, but it happened. That’s what I’m trying to figure out.”

“Do you have any theories?” Tory asked. Roxanne had to admit, she was interested, too.

“Beyond the magical buildup theory, not really,” Sapphire admitted. “Maybe Lake is just a magically gifted pegasus? He hasn’t really shown an exceptional amount of friendship per se, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t exemplify friendship, or that my assumptions are correct.”

“I wouldn’t call him extroverted,” Tory said, “but he does have other friends outside of us.”

Sapphire nodded, then grinned widely again. “But that’s why I’m a scientist!” she declared. “I’ll be able to get you an answer before too long, trust me. This kind of thing is what I live for! I’m on Earth as a human like I always knew I would be! Even if it’s someplace the sun never rises!” She held out her hands and wiggled her fingers excitedly before starting off away from them with her notepad and scientific devices in hand.

“Don’t go too far!” Tory called after her. “It’s still snowing, and we don’t want you getting lost!”

“I won’t,” she assured him without looking behind her. “But it’s nice to know that you care about me,” she said playfully. It didn’t seem to embarrass him like Roxanne expected the words to.

“Do you actually like her?” Roxanne asked as she bent over to lay the sleeping bags on the ground. “And don’t set up the tent yet. We’re just resting, not stopping.” She shapeshifted back into a human and grabbed some of the clothes they brought along with them to dress in.

Was this taking a toll on her? Shapeshifting all the time like this? She didn’t know, but she felt like a little bit of her energy was draining each time she changed into something else. That wasn’t the case for her on Equus. Only here. Was it because of the lack of magic on Earth? How was magic even real to begin with?

But she couldn’t help it. If she waited too long, the urge to change pressed upon her. It made her feel itchy, like there was something on her skin that she needed to wash off by shapeshifting. Male, female, human, horse, something else entirely—it didn’t matter. So long as she kept changing, she felt fine.

Except when she was the changeling form of herself. The need to shapeshift didn’t press on her then. But then, as comfortable as that form felt, it looked strange and felt weird in different ways. Ways she couldn’t exactly describe. She didn’t know what it was, but it felt way more alien than any human or horse or other creature she could change into. It was throwing her off, natural as it seemed to fit her.

She needed to find that changeling she met in Sapphire's neighborhood again. Or any changeling. Someone to talk to about this would be good.

Roxanne stretched and yawned tiredly as she listened to Tory answer her question. “Not really,” he told her. “We’ve only known her for a month. It’s no different than having a college roommate in your dorm for a semester, or meeting someone who works at the same job as you. I’m obviously not being serious when I flirt with her, and neither is she.”

Roxanne was grinning a toothy smile at him by the time he finished. “That’s a pretty long explanation for someone who doesn’t like her,” she teased. It made her laugh when he scrunched up his face and looked away. He wasn’t as easy to embarrass as Lake was, which made it better.

She raised her hands up and shrugged. “Look. You do you,” she said. “Or do Sapphire. I don’t care. It's not like I'm her or her older sister or something.”

“Yeah, right,” Tory rolled his eyes as he laid the sleeping bag on the ground and sat on top of it. “Why are we talking about this anyway? Shouldn't we be trying to find that portal back to Equus? Or at least figure out how to get back to it?”

“You heard your girlfriend,” Roxanne smirked. “She has a natural sense of direction. And she was completely confident saying it.”

Tory didn't say anything, only sat where he was and tried not to smile at the slight joke. “Whatever,” he replied, trying to brush her off. It was kind of cute how he tried to pretend he wasn’t attracted to her.

What an awkward love triangle it seems to be, Roxanne thought silently. Not that Lake ever had a chance with Tory anyway. Even Lake knew that.

They laid on sleeping bags outside while it snowed, the white flakes taking another hour or two to finally stop falling from the sky. Sapphire Glow was back before then, a wide grin on her face as she talked happily about what she found.

“Did you know that there are parts of the land around here that are at almost two particles of magic per cubic centimeter? And it's not a symmetrical pattern of spots! It’s completely asymmetrical, and fades in and out depending on where I stop at!”

“Okay… what does that mean?” Tory asked. It was a good question. For all they knew, nothing.

“Well, a place with four times as much magic around it means that would be a good spot for a portal to form!” she said excitedly. “Maybe that's why it formed out here to begin with! I think we should set up camp around spots like that! We could rest and get some magic in our system before we continue to the portal, just in case it takes a long time to find it again.”

Roxanne sent a questioning look to Tory at that idea, who only shrugged. There were no complaints about it, and so they picked up their stuff again and moved.

“I'm sure it'll be fine,” Tory suddenly said in the middle of the walk, nodding his head as he spoke to no one in particular. Maybe it was just to psyche himself up. “Sapphire knows what she's doing,” he said aloud.

“That's right, I do!”

“And even more, I might have forgotten to write our location, but I remember where on the Maps app we were when we were at the cave. We’ll find it again soon enough. Certainly not before too long.” He felt like he believed what he was saying a little bit, but not a terrible amount.

Roxanne went with it anyway. After all, as terrible the cards dealt to them were, it might only have been a day or so, or less, before they got back to Equus to plan their movements more thoroughly. No harm, no foul.

It was longer than a day that the trio spent in the cold and snow.

They wandered around for an hour or so until Sapphire Glow finally found the spot she wanted to study. This time, they did set up the tent as Tory turned off Lake's phone to preserve the dwindling battery. Roxanne had to admit it: the additional magic Sapphire said she was measuring did make her feel better. She was still drained, and feeling moreso hour after hour, but it lessened. Apparently four times the amount of magic made a difference.

It did bring up concerns about the future though. What was she gonna do when she was back in Pennsylvania? She couldn't keep shapeshifting all the time, for both the obvious reason and others. This might get tricky in the long term.

But then again, once they were able to get the word out that other worlds existed, who the heck would care? That would leave a lack of “magic” on Earth as the only problem. Still a very tricky situation it would be though.

“If worldgates can form on Earth,” Sapphire explained when Roxanne asked, “then that means there are pockets on Earth with higher magic concentrations than others. And Pennsylvania must be one of them since you said you live there and showed up from there, even if it might be finicky. I wouldn't worry about it.”

Roxanne took her advice and didn't worry about it. There were more important things to worry about anyway. Like finding the spot the portal was in.

It didn't take a scientist like Sapphire claimed to be to understand that the darkness didn't help them. They should've brought a flashlight with them; that was something that even Lake hadn't thought of, so they couldn't be blamed for forgetting an important tool like that. But the moon and the stars and a camp stove didn't do much for helping their sight line. As well, Sapphire Glow couldn't teach Roxanne how to make her horn glow like a light since there was no magic here and she was a human right now anyway. The moonlight was basically all they had. At least it was almost full, still waxing.

“I'm really sorry I didn't write down our location,” Tory apologized again once it felt like the hour was getting late again and Sapphire suggested they rest. “I know you probably told me to do it.” He sighed, undressing for the night and continuing, “It's a pain Lake is so cautious sometimes. He turned off location saving on his phone, so the history isn't there for us to trace back to. We basically have to guess.”

“Well this part looks familiar at least,” Roxanne offered. “That's a start. I'm sure the cave is somewhere around here.”

And there were only three of them out here right now. If she sensed a fourth person, she would definitely notice it. Lake would come looking for them eventually, and that might be their way out. She knew Tory was wrong about him. His nervous caution was usually a strength, even if it stressed her out. She and Tory weren't that much better at making decisions than Sapphire was.

Lake never came looking for them though.

Roxanne expected to sense him sometime the next morning, but she didn't. Nor did she hear his voice calling from anywhere in these mountains, something that should've been easy given they were probably a couple thousand feet lower than the surrounding area. Where the heck was he? This wasn't like him. Did something happen in Equestria? Roxanne hoped not, but she couldn't come up with a better explanation for his absence.

He didn't appear at all that day, nor did he the next day or the day after.

Sapphire, for lack of better phrasing, did not have a natural sense of direction. She may have known a lot of things, but how to get back to the portal from out here wasn’t one of them. The idea of trying to follow the direction of a stronger magical signal was no worse than any other, but it effectively led the three in circles. They were no closer to finding their cave now than they were before two days of wandering randomly. They might actually have been worse off.

By that time, patience among the small group was dissipating. Even Sapphire Glow's normally upbeat personality was being worn down. They were all tired and cold and a little hungry and wanting anything but to be out here anymore. Why the hell did they think trusting footprints in the snow was a good idea? They deserved this for their stupidity.

“I'm sure we'll find it soon,” Tory tried to encourage them, although there wasn't much feeling behind the words. All three lay lazily tucked themselves inside their sleeping bags after a smaller than normal portion of breakfast. It was agreed between them that it would be best to start rationing food until they found their cave again. It didn't make anyone feel any better.

“The army of Equestria or something is supposed to inspect that portal right?” he offered. “I don't know how long that'll be, but I'm sure they'll wanna cross through to investigate it. There's no way we don't see people then and get back to Equus. Or maybe someone else will come along.”

“It would be nice if Lake would hurry up and come along,” Roxanne said tiredly, her eyes closed as she lay on her side. She was in the form of a neon green unicorn that wasn't too dissimilar to the pastel pink mare she showed up to Equus as. If—when— someone came along, it would stand out in the dark and against the snow. It might be life saving.

But she needed to be careful. With each successive change, Roxanne felt more and more of her energy being drained from her. There were dark bags under her eyes, and her shoulders slumped while she walked, her mind full of thoughts about how exhausted she felt. Never mind the discomfort that came to her when she waited too long to shapeshift.

“It's pretty strange that he hasn't come yet,” the mare continued. “I genuinely wonder if something happened to him. If I could just taste his emotions—”

“Would we even be close enough for you to feel him?” Tory asked. “I don’t know how it all works for you, but I doubt you’d be able to sense the emotions of someone miles away. Otherwise we could just start looking for civilization on the southern island.”

No, of course she wouldn’t be able to. She didn’t sense a stallion that was planning to kill her until he was about forty yards from her. But then again, that was in a denser neighborhood in the largest city in that country of horses. This was an island that presumably held nothing but animals, and Roxanne could tell the difference between people and animals.

“Maybe if we were able to get within a few thousand feet…” Roxanne started, then let out a sigh. If they were able to, then they would just be able to hear Lake when he called, or anyone else for that matter. Heck, they might even be able to see the cave, so they could just head back.

“Lets try and get moving again, I guess,” Roxanne decided as she stood up tiredly. “We’ll move in a semicircle this time, and scan the area for anything that stands out.” She looked at Tory and asked, “Are you sure this is around where on the map we started?”

“I’m certain,” he nodded. “We weren't that far from the inlet on the map to our north. This should be around the area we were at.”

“I hope so,” Sapphire spoke up, “because I don't wanna be here when the Royal Guard gets here.” Both Roxanne and Tory turned to her, and she continued, “Technically, being in Lilac's house violated my probation, even though she invited me inside. I don't wanna get caught here and go to jail.”

Roxanne slapped her forehead with a hoof and let out a huff of a breath. Why didn't Sapphire bring that up before? She could've stayed with Lake on Earth in that case!

“Sorry,” she shrugged, like potentially going to jail for two years wasn't a big deal. What would they do without her? What would they do if Roxanne and Tory were caught with her? Lake might fall over and die at that news.

They walked, slowly and carefully, making sure to thoroughly examine the terrain for anything that looked familiar. It all did to Roxanne, in a vague sort of way; they'd been out here wandering around for three or four days now. Of course it looked familiar. Nothing seemed to stand out though.

“There's no chance it just disappeared and leads somewhere else now, is there?” Tory asked, glancing to Sapphire for a response. “Right?”

“It's possible,” Sapphire nodded, without much energy. She was getting tired, too, from lack of magic, Roxanne knew. At least she wasn't downright exhausted like the changeling was. Another day or two of this and she was going to simply fall over.

“There's nothing to suggest that happened though,” she explained. “When magic dissipates suddenly like that, the magic in the air around the spot rushes in to fill the void. But then again, it'd be harder to detect that happening on Earth with so little of it around.”

“So then if Lilac closed the door so the portal disappeared, and Lake opened it again, that might be able to lead us to it?”

“I don’t know,” Sapphire sighed. “It might, but how would they know to do that from our end?”

Tory sighed at that, and Roxanne stopped to sit on her haunches. “This might be useless,” he said. “We're getting lost out here.”

Roxanne knew that, and didn't bother asking if there was anything else they could do. She could tell from Sapphire's emotions that there weren't other, easier options. This was going from just a shit situation to very, very bad. Why didn't Tory just mark down their coordinates like she said?

Lake, please get here, Roxanne silently thought as she used a bit of energy to shift into a bug. And let me feel your emotions when you do.

Another day went by with no portal. Another day went by where Roxanne felt more exhausted. She didn’t know how much longer she would be able to be out here, but she felt like she could barely move right now. Her friends saw it, and offered their bodies to lean on so she could walk. Once they got home permanently, this was going to be an issue.

“Just stay upright, Roxie,” Sapphire assured her. “We got you. It won’t be good, but I’m sure the Royal Guard will be here soon.”

Roxanne could only grunt in response. She was beginning to feel absolutely terrible. Not that Sapphire or Tory were doing any better. This was such a stupid idea. What did they expect to find? Nothing. This was a dumb, uninhabited island. They should’ve given up on this before they even got out here, the second Lake said they were in Norway. If they had, they could’ve–

“I hear something!” Tory suddenly called out, jumping away quick enough that Roxanne fell over on her side. He turned around to face behind them, and both she and Sapphire followed suit after the girl helped her up. Sapphire only radiated confusion, contrasting against Tory’s hopeful excitement. She obviously couldn’t hear anything.

And neither could Roxanne. Tory’s ears might have pricked up, but Roxanne heard nothing, felt nothing. No emotion beyond her two companions came to her senses. There was nothing out here. Not even animals.

“Yeah, that’s him!” Tory declared, a smile plastering itself upon his face. “Lake! We’re over here, and coming to you!” he called loudly.

“I don’t hear anything,” Roxanne said quietly, her eyelids drooping just like her shoulders. “There’s no emotion over there.”

“I don’t hear anything either,” Sapphire agreed, shaking her head doubtfully.

“It's there, trust me,” Tory said confidently. “You can't hear that?” He turned around and called out again, “Lake!”

What was he, a bat? Roxanne shook her head, but didn't question it. He was confident in himself, absolutely certain he was hearing whatever he was. Besides, even if he wasn't, it wasn't like they had any better plan anyway.

“Lead us to him then,” she said tiredly as she leaned on Sapphire for support. She hoped it was him.

Today

Lake thought that being a pegasus was weird. Being a horse was strange enough, but a horse with wings? It was downright strange.

The former human waited until after Tory, Sapphire, and Roxanne departed for Earth before he checked out one of the books at the library on his species. If he was being honest with himself, he didn't have much confidence in his friends’ objective of finding anything. The map made it look like the island was uninhabited, with many miles separating it from civilization. They were probably gonna be here long term, which meant he should start getting used to living in this world.

And one of the things he had to get used to was having large, feathery wings. They ruffled and shifted subconsciously sometimes, they felt stiff and sore when he slept on his back, and his feathers were starting to look like a mess after so long on Equus, to put it frankly. They were uncomfortable and seemed a little bit mangy, compared to the nice, neat, orderly feathers he had almost a month ago at the start of this adventure.

The book he checked out explained why; pegasi, like he was, needed to preen their wings. He didn’t know how to do that, but he kind of figured he would have to, with how mussed up they were looking.

The book explained how to him, too, thankfully. However, the process it described made his cheeks warm, even as he lay alone in the spare bedroom in Sapphire Glow's house. Apparently, there were two main things that made up the activity: something called “rezipping” feathers, and oiling them up to keep them waterproofed and to repel lice and bacteria. The first part wasn't anything too crazy. He was just supposed to take them in his mouth, straighten them out, and reposition them nice and neat. There was a graph and everything that showed him exactly how he should do it.

The embarrassing part came in when the book told him where on his body the preen oil gland was located. No, this wasn't going to be an activity to do in front of other people, not even if he was naked all the time. Fiddling around with his dock and tail like that in public, especially having to use his mouth—he would die of shame before he ever finished. He didn't even know his neck and body were that flexible to begin with.

It did feel good though, having his feathers straightened and looking nice and shiny after a few hours of figuring it out. Pretty relaxing too, actually, somewhere in between just stepping out of the shower after working all day and taking a low dose of alprazolam. It was enough so that Lake found himself sighing contentedly as he worked and even still a little bit after he finished. Whether it came from the preen oil or just his now bird-horse brain interpreting this as the right thing to do, Lake didn't know.

But then, of course, that feeling made sense. The book said he was supposed to do it every five to seven days for good maintenance. Too little, and the feathers would get brittle; too often, they'd fall out. Preening them regularly was considered a big part of pegasi health, large enough that he might not be able to fly properly later if he didn't.

And flying was something else he was going to have to learn to do eventually. If they were gonna be here long term, it was going to be useful for him to learn to do. He was a little worried about it at just the thought; he very much got motion sick easily and didn't like doing exciting things. But he would try to learn. It would be a pretty neat experience, one that no other person in history could claim to have had if he did.

Not right that second though. First, he made himself lunch, and then took a nap on the couch, able to lay more comfortably on his back again now that his wings were preened. He was feeling relaxed enough that he was able to doze off for a couple of hours before he continued reading the book. He was even able to mostly ignore his worries about Tory, Roxanne, and Sapphire.

Flying for Lake, according to the book, should have been easy. Pegasi apparently had a natural inclination to fly, although Lake wasn't sure he'd felt that instinct so far after almost a month or so in Equestria. The book said that as long as he was preened properly and his wings were fully grown—which seemed to be the case on both fronts now—then all he should've had to do was jump slightly and flap them steadily, and the magic around and inside of him would kick in automatically. It made no sense, but it seemed simple enough.

He stepped outside, and tried his best to do what the book said. He flapped his wings, kicked off the ground, and… he was in the air, and slowly rising! Lake gasped in surprise, and then, forgetting to flap his wings, promptly fell back to the ground as gravity kicked in enough for him to land on his face. Ouch.

Note to self, he thought as he rubbed his now sore muzzle with a hoof. Concentrate on what I'm doing.

The second time he tried to fly, it hurt a lot less when he fell. It helped when he made sure to land more on his body than on his face. It turned out, pegasi bodies were also a lot lighter than the bodies of other kinds of ponies, and their bones had more flexibility to them. It sounded strange, but it meant that they were more resistant to damage and healed faster when they were hurt. It was a good thing, Lake decided, since it meant he would be safer not only flying, but in general.

And he needed it, because he fell over and over and over again. Five times, ten times, a couple dozen—concentrating on keeping his wings flapping in the air was difficult. He didn’t know what it was exactly; probably a combination of controlling his body the way he wanted and focusing on his breathing as he lifted into the sky. Eventually, he realized if he sort of pushed himself forward while flying and kept his wings outstretched, he’d glide instead of falling straight to the ground. It wasn’t before he received several black and blue marks under his orange coat though. He was gonna be sore tomorrow.

It wasn’t as bad as flying on an airplane; being able to control his body himself rather than riding along inside a machine made the motion much easier for his stomach to deal with. But he was still kind of dizzy after a couple of hours of attempts. He might have managed to get himself one or two stories off of the ground by the time he made himself dinner, and could stay in the air for a good minute or so. It was something, he supposed, considering he largely had no idea or instinct for what he was doing.

“I watched you out there for a while,” Shimmering Diamond commented as she ate dinner with him and drank her usual beer. “I thought pegasi were supposed to be natural fliers, but you looked like a school aged colt.”

“Well like we said before,” Lake replied, “my friends and I are supposed to be humans. It's a wonder I can even walk without tripping over myself.” He rubbed his aching body and stretched out his now sore wings as the mare sipped her drink.

“Well, if you say so,” she shrugged. “It's easier with just you here right now. You're a lot easier to deal with than Saph or your friends are.” Then she lit up her horn to pick up her plate and take it with her to the bedroom. Interesting words.

It was now two ponies in this world who said Lake was handling things better than Tory and Roxanne were, and he wasn't sure why. Did being nervous and stressed out all the time do anything to put them at ease? He didn't know; he only knew that caution was usually the best idea, rather than his friends’ recklessness. Maybe that was the difference. Ponies liked it when you used common sense and appreciated the things they did for you. Just like any human. Friendship was a tangible force in this world after all.

Maybe they could use that to their advantage somehow. He wasn't sure how, but maybe.

But there was still tension outside when he headed over to Lilac Beauty’s house the next day to check on the closet. It wasn’t that bad once Lake got out of the neighborhood, or was just sitting in or around Sapphire’s house. But the walk between her house and the main part of Manehattan was stressful. Even more so since he still hadn’t been able to take any anti anxiety meds.

He chilled out for an hour or two at Lilac’s house, then headed to the library for a while before making the journey back. He could understand why carriage taxis existed with how much walking he’d been doing the last month or so. A few miles a day, at least. The entire trip to Lilac’s house and back had to be around three or four hours. It was getting dark as he started to get back into the neighborhood.

Lake very much disliked being outside at night, especially alone. It was one of the many things that made him anxious, and a problem that he couldn’t really do much about since he had to visit Lilac’s house every day, except maybe wake up earlier. It didn’t help that his friends had his phone, so he couldn’t play music to try and ignore those feelings. Even worse with all this uncomfortable unease in the air. When did Sapphire say whatever cleaning crews came around would be here?

He stopped for a moment and closed his eyes to take a breath before continuing on. How many times before did he think someone was following him because of anxiety? A thousand times, at least. It was just a feeling, one he could easily push back with just a glance over his shoulder. No one was here, just as expected. It would’ve been nice if there were street lights anywhere in this city though.

A couple of ponies walked in the opposite direction on the other side of the street, and a bird, a creature that looked like a griffon, stared bored at nothing in particular as Lake passed their house to continue to Sapphire’s. The neighborhood might have been a bit run down, but obviously the people who lived here would be normal. He might have been irrationally anxious, but could still rationally think at the same time that it would be stupid to just randomly attack a stranger walking along. Especially given that it wasn’t that late out yet.

Another griffon on the other side of the street, a couple of ponies arguing loudly in front of their house, a black buggish looking creature crossing the street to get to his own home. A pony coming up behind him to quickly pass him, and—wait, he’d seen that stallion before. A gray unicorn with a dirty blonde mane?

“What the heck are you doing out here, Roxie?” Lake called. “I thought you and Tory and Sapphire were back on Earth! Why are you all alone?”

The stallion turned around, looking around to see if Lake could’ve been talking to anyone else. Then, irritatedly, he asked, “Who the hell is Roxie?” Oops. Lake should’ve known it wasn’t her.

“Sorry,” he apologized quickly, shaking his head. “Mental lapse. I thought you were someone else.” That was awkward.

The stallion grunted, rolled his eyes, and turned back around to continue onto wherever he was going. He didn’t take more than three steps though before something apparently clicked and he spun back around. Lake almost jumped out of his skin, it was so sudden.

“You’re talking about that changeling, aren’t you!” His voice was suddenly much louder, much more angry, with a venom in it that Lake didn’t expect. Gone was his anxiety; it was already replaced completely with fear. His wings twitched nervously as he tried to take a step back.

The stallion stepped closer in response. “I– we–” Lake stuttered. He didn’t need to be able to sense emotions like Roxie to see how infuriated this guy was. When had she even had the chance to interact with him?

“She’s not supposed to be a changeling,” he tried to say. “I don’t know what she did, but we’re not actually from— aah! Let me go!”

There was suddenly a yellow aura enveloping his front and back hooves, holding his legs tightly in place, as well as his wings. The unicorn's horn glowed brightly in the darkening street, and a few creatures around them stopped to look at the two. Not that any of them seemed particularly interested in helping him.

The stallion had a hateful expression as he stepped up to Lake, practically pushing his muzzle in his face. His jaw was clenched while Lake’s own teeth were chattering, his eyes wide. What the heck had set him off so quickly? He didn’t know, but his breathing was already picking up.

“Is that what it is?” he demanded. “Your friend thinks that because they’re a changeling they have nothing to worry about? Is that what you think? You think because you look clean cut like she does there’s nothing to be scared of?”

“No! I don’t think that!” Lake was already begging, wriggling around to try and get free as the stallion kept his nose to his face. “Please! Please let me go!”

“And then you transform into me like you think you're better than me?” he snarled. “Like your friend did?” What in the world had Roxanne done to piss off this random stallion so much? She never mentioned an encounter like this!

“I can't transform! I'm not a changeling!” Lake got out. “I don't know what she did, but I promise, I won't do anything to you! Please! It's probably just all the tension in the air making—FUCK!”

Lake was suddenly crying out in pain as a sharp something hit his side, cutting into him. The good news was that this stallion dropped him to the ground. But now it was his own jaw that was clenched as the spot just above his left hip seared in pain. It felt like a burning knife in his side, but he didn’t look right now. Instead, his eyes were shut tight as he shivered and tried to hold back a scream. He didn’t do a very good job, not that it mattered. It still didn’t seem like anypony around them particularly cared what was going on, outside of slight curiosity.

“That’s what you get for thinking you can talk to me however you want!” the stallion yelled at him. “And you better tell your friend that that’s what they’ll get, too! I’m not gonna let them walk all over me next time!”

What? Was this not him doing whatever he wanted to Lake right now? He couldn’t think—only kept his eyes closed and breathed deeply, painfully and held back his scream this time. What the heck had Roxanne done to him? Lake had a feeling that asking was only going to make things worse. The stallion was at least walking away now, muttering something to himself.

Lake opened his eyes again, slowly standing back up and putting a hoof to his side as he looked around. Still no one really seemed to care. A couple of ponies looked at him from across the street, and then continued on their way to wherever. Another griffon passed from behind him, not even giving him a glance. Wasn’t this world supposed to be dominated by friendship? Lake let out a breath and shuddered from the pain.

Blood was on his hoof when he pulled it away, with some dripping down to the ground and onto his leg, staining his coat. It wasn’t gushing thankfully, only trickling out steadily, but it still felt horrible. The wound burned enough that it brought tears to his eyes. He definitely needed a hospital. Which way was the nearest one? Back in town probably. Was he even going to make it there? Did this town have an emergency line possible to call?

He winced and groaned in pain, shivered again, then moved to head back the way he came. Walking back home again even later in the night was going to be terrifying. What the heck had Roxanne done to that guy?

If it didn’t before, being in Equestria officially sucked now.

“He was upset with your changeling friend because she spoke back to him,” someone said out of the blue. Lake tensed up quickly again, then gasped in pain from the motion. He turned around slowly, and came face to face with a black buggish looking creature, one with dragonfly wings and holes in its limbs. It had an unreadable expression on its face as it looked him up and down. Just like the other creatures, it also seemed not to particularly care that Lake just got stabbed.

“What?” Lake breathed deeply, still wincing. “Please help me. Can you call someone?” His voice came out quieter than he wanted, and his limbs were shaking. His eyes were getting more wet, and a tear touched the fur on his cheek as he stood there. What the hell had even just happened?

“Only because you are friends with the changeling,” the black bug told him. Why it took until now to click for Lake that this thing was a changeling, too, he didn’t know, but if they would help, he didn’t care. He felt light headed, but not like he was about to pass out. How could he, with how badly his side now hurt?

“You are not a changeling,” they said—Lake couldn’t tell if they were a guy or a girl, they’re anatomy looking stranger than anything he’d seen yet. “Yet you are the same as your friend. You have more confidence than a normal pony. Do you hail from the same place as they?”

“Yeah,” he said, completely unable to ignore his pain. “Can you please help me? Can you do the same magic as the other ponies?” He didn't feel very confident, even if most of his anxious fear was replaced with sharp, searing pain. He couldn't imagine what it must've been like to have even less.

“Yes,” the changeling told him. “You will go now. Tell your friend that I await a time when we will speak again. I am certain they have many interesting things to say.”

Their jagged looking horn lit up in a sickly green glow, and Lake closed his eyes once again, knowing he was about to be teleported like the police did with them before. A second later, he was inside a bright building—a hospital, and had a couple of nurses rushing up to him and leading him along to get treated.

He didn’t even realize he was being given an anesthetic until he was groggily waking up again in a hospital bed, his side still very much burning. He was breathing hard, and already starting to sweat as he tried to refocus his thoughts. What the hell was all that? What the heck had Roxanne gotten herself involved with? At least that changeling came to his aid. What would’ve happened had it just ignored him like the other creatures did? He was pretty sure he knew the answer.

“Glad you’re awake, guy,” the familiar voice of Shimmering Diamond said from beside him as she looked up from a book she was reading. “I can’t imagine you’re feeling very good though.”

“No…” Lake got out in a hoarse voice. He cleared his throat, and asked, “How the heck did you get here?”

“You guys have your address listed as my place,” she said. “Of course they’re gonna message me. What do you expect?” She sighed, looked back down at her book, and said, “They apparently already caught the stallion, since he stabbed you with everypony around. A gray one with a yellow mane? What happened to you anyway?”

“Don’t know,” Lake got out breathlessly. “Was walking back to your house when he stabbed me… fuck.” He closed his eyes again. He felt bad.

“Well, doesn’t matter if they already got him,” Shimmering Diamond shrugged. “You’ll probably feel rough for a few days, I think, but it shouldn’t be that bad. You really shouldn’t be walking around at night if you don’t know how to fly though. I thought Saph would’ve told you that.”

“She did…” But he had to, because he decided to go to the library instead of coming straight back home. Or more generally, because the portal only showed up when he opened the closet. Apparently friendship was enough to make impossible wormholes to other universes but couldn’t stop you from being physically assaulted by some crazed pony.

“Hey, Lake?” the mare beside him started again. “Be careful. Seriously. I know you guys are all serious about that human stuff, but it’s not worth getting stabbed over if it comes to that.”

“Yeah. I know,” he told her. He hoped he did know.

The book might have said pegasi were fast healers, but as Sapphire Glow’s mother told him, it was still a rough few days. The very first thing was talking to the police, the same two cops that arrested him when they first showed up. Normally, he wouldn't have cared about how crazy the story about the portal might have sounded, but Lake could see by the look on their faces they weren't as sympathetic as they would've been with someone else. He focused on just describing the incident itself and not the context around it.

They were professional enough though as they took down the information, and told him a few days later that the stallion entered a guilty plea in exchange for an eight and a half year sentence. Lake figured that was okay enough. The doctors said he'd only take a couple to weeks at max to be back to full strength after this, and he’d never see that horse again.

It was definitely still a rough few days. The pain meds they delivered through the IV helped, but the catheter didn't. He didn't even realize he was wearing one for the first few hours until the police left and the nurses came to talk to him. Both were gone within a day, and were replaced by going to the bathroom on his own and a week’s prescription for pain meds. He wasn't surprised by the fact that they had oxycodone and hydrocodone in this universe. He opted instead for acetaminophen though.

He was released a couple of days later, with orders to take it easy for a couple of days more. Sapphire Glow walked him home, and then he followed the instructions, not heading out anywhere for two days. He was sure his friends would understand if it took him a little longer to get back to Lilac’s house, and preening his wings helped to calm some of his anxiety about it. Hopefully they’d have found a way to get to somewhere useful when he got back to them.

Of course he felt his anxiety coming back in full force. He didn’t want to stay here forever. Especially not after something like what just happened. Why did he even follow them through to Equus? But then, if he hadn't, both of them would've been trapped here in the best case. Worst case, they'd be in jail.

What was even happening back on Earth, in Pennsylvania? Did they think he was dead and doing a murder investigation? Did they sell his possessions? Were his friends and family crying at a funeral they held for him? Hopefully instead they had the New York Times and other newspapers doing a scientific investigation. He somehow doubted it though. Who the heck would believe something like this? Lake wouldn't. He still almost didn’t, with nothing but his sore body keeping him grounded in reality right then.

The pegasus decided eventually that it was time to stop feeling sorry for himself and head back over to Lilac Beauty's house. He felt good enough to walk, although he moved a little slower through Manhattan to get to his destination. Maybe he could stay at Lilac’s house if it got too late. He was not going out again on his own.

Hopefully the portal was still there. If not, he hoped Tory and Roxanne wouldn't be upset with him for taking so long to get back.

Or that they would have the chance to be upset. There was a crowd of stallions around Lilac Beauty's house, all of them white coated ponies of different breeds, wearing armor as they chatted with one another. There were a few police officers talking with the home’s owner as the old mare stood outside. A couple of them eyed Lake as he approached, giving him a look as though silently telling him to keep back.

And before he could even call to Lilac to ask what was happening, there was Tory, Roxanne, and Sapphire Glow being led out by police again.

Hummer

Lake wasted no time in hurrying up to his friends as the police stopped by Lilac Beauty to ask her something. Hurrying in his case though meant half walking, half hobbling up to them.

“—you to take them in!” Lilac was saying as one of the cops talked to her. “I let them into my house! I said it was okay this time! Even that annoying mare, Sapphire!”

“I’m not annoying!”

“If you’re being coerced or feel unsafe,” the cop told her, “you can tell us. We can have guards stationed here if you feel you need protection.”

“I’m not unsafe!” she said frustratedly. “I just told you I let them in!”

“What the heck happened to you, Lake?” Tory asked as his friends took him in. “Did you get hurt?”

“Stay back, unless you wanna head to the station with them,” one of the other cops said.

He did as the officer ordered, and took a few steps back, but it didn’t stop him from talking. “Yeah,” he got out. “I saw one of the ponies Roxie changed into before, and thought it was her,” he explained. “And the guy took offense to it for some reason, and stabbed me, if you can believe it. I was in the hospital for two days. It still hurts.”

“Oh my god! Are you okay?”

“When did that happen? You weren’t walking alone at night were you?”

“It was the stallion with the gray coat and blonde mane, wasn’t it?” Roxanne cut in. She looked tired, and had dark bags under her eyes, like she was absolutely exhausted. Tory and Sapphire Glow looked tired, too, but Roxanne looked particularly bad. Lake could imagine how they felt after so long out there. Not that he had to.

“I’m glad that same changeling was there for you,” she continued, as she shapeshifted to look like the colorful version of it. “And yeah, I know he wants me to talk to him. He left his scent all over you for me.”

“I don’t smell anything,” Lake said, putting on a hint of a smile again. Then the cop that had his friends interrupted again.

“Stop talking to them,” he said seriously, “or you’re going to be taken in, too, for interfering with an official investigation, understand? I’m serious.”

Now was as good a time as any for Lake to test out a small theory. If friendship really was the most powerful force in this world, then this should work.

“We’re very sorry,” he said, as sincerely as he could. “We know we’re making your job harder, and they should’ve known that even asking Lilac Beauty if we could go into her home didn’t make it okay for us—errr, them—to do that.”

“That’s right,” the cop told him. “They should have known.” Tory and Sapphire gave him weird looks of confusion, but a quick glance to Roxanne told Lake all he needed to know about whether or not this would work.

“If you could just let them off with a warning, this one time, we promise we won’t ever come by her house again, even if she lets us,” Lake said. “We know we don’t deserve it, but we would really appreciate it if you could help us out, please.”

He gave the cop the most innocent, pleading look he could possibly make. He stretched out his wings slightly before wincing in pain from his wound, hoping he looked exactly as pathetic as he thought. The cop looked him up and down, considering it, then glanced to Lilac Beauty, who put on an equally pleading look. His gaze shifted down to his hooves, then he let out a long breath and spoke.

“I don’t care if she lets you in,” the cop said. “You’re not allowed to be here. If we see you here again, it won’t be a warning next time. Got that?” He turned to the other three and said, “Consider yourselves lucky your friend was here to help you out this time. You understand what I'm saying?”

“Yes, we understand,” Lake said quickly, nodding his head as the cop’s horn stopped glowing and his friends were released. “Thank you so much.”

Friendship was a really interesting property of this world, Lake though. You could get into people's houses that they thought you broke into, stay at people's homes for weeks for free, and get out of violating probation after you broke the conditions of your release. He wondered what else could be done with it.

The three of them were finally released a few seconds later. Lake laughed nervously in relief as Roxanne leaned on his good side tiredly and Sapphire and Tory explained what happened.

“We were lost out there until the Royal Guard showed up,” she said as they moved away from Lilac Beauty's house. “Tory was the one who heard them. And when we got in, the police were there, too, and grabbed us. I think they were expecting us to be there.” She paused and smiled, “You really saved us, huh, Lake?”

“Did you find anything useful?” he asked back. “Is there any reason we'd need to go back there?”

“Other than to see if the portal leads somewhere else, no,” Tory sighed. “It was just snow and rocks out there. No cell service, no radio towers, nothing. Just a big waste of time. Your phone is at twenty four percent by the way.”

That made Lake sigh in response. He wasn't surprised. That was why he tried to work on flying before he got stabbed. Man, his side still hurt.

“I can get off of you if it does” Roxanne said quietly, already moving away from him. “Sorry.” She slumped back and moved to lean on Tory now. “I feel completely drained, because there wasn't any magic there. I don't understand what's going on with me.”

“There was some magic, actually more than I expected!” Sapphire said, giving off a little energy no one else had. “Some spots had almost two particles per cubic centimeter! There wasn't any pattern to it though, strangely enough. But it makes more sense why a portal would show up in random spots, if the magic isn't evenly distributed throughout the land!”

“She's been doing nothing but nerding out about being a human with fingers and being on Earth, seriously,” Tory said with a little smile, like he thought it was cute. “At least until we got lost.” He glanced to the mare, then looked back at Lake and said, “Tell us what happened with you though.”

He explained the details to them as they slowly walked, about how he mistaked the guy for Roxanne and how he got offended and stabbed him in the side, how he needed to stay in the hospital for a few days after the changeling took him there. Then he looked over and said, “What the heck did you get involved in Roxie? How do you know that guy? And the changeling?”

She waved him off with a hoof. “Too exhausted. I'll tell you later. I'm gonna take a nap forever first. After something to eat. What time is it anyway?”

They all returned to Sapphire Glow’s home a few hours later, to be greeted by Shimmering Diamond before Roxanne promptly headed up to bed and Sapphire Glow took a shower. He was alone with Tory to talk to him.

“Are you okay, Lake?” he asked. “You look like you're still in pain.”

“I'm fine,” he sighed. “Pegasus ponies and earth ponies are supposed to be fast healers, and I think that’s true. It still kinda hurts though. But I preened my wings, see?” he said, stretching the appendages out and showing off the neat looking feathers. “Apparently I have to do it once a week. Oh, and I'm learning to fly.” Well, he was until he got stabbed.

“That's great,” Tory said kindly as he sent a smile his way that Lake had to avoid blushing at. “How far can you fly?”

“Not very high, and it's only for a minute max right now.” There was a momentary pause before Lake asked slightly nervously, “What are we gonna do?” It earned another sigh from Tory.

“I don't know,” he admitted frustratedly. “We all decided that the portal is useless unless there's no other options at all. Then we'd try to make a boat or a raft to get to the other island. I think the city there is Longyearben? Or something like that.”

“I wish I was surprised,” Lake admitted.

“Sapphire did tell us though that we could get a train to the capital of this country and talk to the Queen in court for free. That might be the next plan actually. After talking to that human club friend she supposedly has anyway.“

Lake nodded. It seemed as good a plan as any. He didn’t expect a random Norwegian island to lead to anything useful anyway. Why the heck couldn’t it have just put them back at his apartment?

“Do you actually trust her though?” Lake asked, a bit more quietly. “Not that she's trying to get us into trouble, but you know she's kind of reckless.”

“Does it matter?” Tory asked back with a shrug. “Don't really have much of a choice, do we?” Lake sent a serious look his way, and Tory finished, “Yeah, I trust her.”

Lake nodded at that, then asked the obvious follow up question. “Do you like her? I wanna know, just so I can know,” he said. “I won't tell anyone if you actually do, but I'm pretty sure Roxie can figure it out either way.”

“Nah,” he waved a hoof casually, no sense of embarrassment about him like Lake would show at a similar question. “She's cute as a human, but I'm not into horses. Maybe if she moved to Earth like she says she wants to do, but not here.”

That sounded like the opposite of a no to Lake, but he didn't bring it up. Instead the conversation moved on to Tory asking more about what happened to him and how he got stabbed before heading into the shower following Sapphire Glow’s reappearance. Naturally, Lake asked her the same question in between her excitedly chattering about their adventure and what she thought they should do next.

She actually blushed at the question, and stuttered, too, surprisingly enough. Lake wasn’t entirely sure why; it wasn’t like she was ever secretive about her intentions.

“I– I mean, I– I don’t not like him,” she got out. “We’re just teasing each other, and he knows that. Kind of like how he and Roxie tease you and—wait a minute!” Sapphire suddenly gasped, and then, in a hushed voice, asked, “Do you like him?”

Now it was Lake’s turn to have his cheek become hot. He would’ve immediately said no if not for how obvious his expression made the answer. “Does he know?” was Sapphire’s immediate next question.

“Uh, no,” Lake admitted just as quietly. “I’m kinda… trying to get over it,” he told her. “So, uh, if, uh, you were interested… it’d help a little.”

“I mean, I am kind of,” Sapphire smiled, a little sheepishly. “Don’t know if he actually is in me though. But it’d be cool to be with a human. All the ponies in the Humans in Equestria club would be so jealous!”

Lake had to close his eyes to avoid rolling them. But it did help to hear that they both liked each other on some level. There was a strange comfort in knowing there was basically no chance without having to directly ask.

Of course, once the conversation passed and Sapphire went back to doing whatever she did at her desk all day, his anxiety flared up again. About her knowing he liked Tory, about how dangerous Equestria could be—about the whole stupid situation in general. The three of them were going to have to be here long term. That was a fact. He definitely lost his job and was reported missing, and already missed some of the bills he had to pay, so even once he got back to Earth, there were going to be problems. Not to mention the whole world knowing about this place, Equus. He was already dreading how many interviews he’d have to give once he got back. It was going to be a lot. He hoped he’d be compensated at least.

If they even got back. Seventy five percent of Earth was covered in ocean, and then there were a bunch of inhospitable places like Siberia and the Andes and the Gobi Desert and wherever else. If Lilac Beauty’s portal changed, what made him think it wasn’t going to change if they found whatever portal Sapphire’s friend used? How improbable was it that they’d put them in Des Moines, Iowa, or anywhere in America? What if it didn’t even place them on Earth at all?

Suddenly, Tory was putting a hoof on his shoulder that was still wet from the shower he took. “We're fine, man,” he told him slowly. “Just take a breath and calm down. We'll figure it all out.”

Lake closed his eyes and let out a long breath. “Since we're gonna be here a while, do you think they have any psychiatrists here?” he asked. “I need my anti anxiety meds.”

“You should probably talk to Sapphire about that. I bet she'd know, since she probably needs ADHD meds anyway.”

Lake laughed at that. It eased his nerves a little bit. It was a process.

It was a night the four of them spent lounging around again like they'd been doing for the last month, with Shimmering Diamond cooking dinner while they discussed what they should do after Roxanne woke back up. Sapphire Glow explained that she was still preparing for the next Humans In Equestria club meeting, which would take place in a few days, and waiting for Twilight Sparkle’s letter to arrive.

“She'll send something back, trust me,” Sapphire Glow assured them. “And if she forgets, like I said, we can take a train to Canterlot to talk to her. But not until after the HiE club meeting. Record Keeper is always there.”

“And he'll definitely be able to help us, right?” Tory asked. “I really don't wanna stay here forever.”

“And what's going on with the Royal Guard at Lilac's house?” Lake added. “I haven't been able to check on it the last few days. Are they doing anything with the portal?”

“They're gonna have some scientists investigating and report back to Twilight Sparkle about it,” Sapphire Glow explained. “Lilac Beauty's not very happy, but I'm sure it's better to her than having us hanging around. Well, us three anyway. She doesn't hate you, I don't think.”

“What can I say?” Lake shrugged with a small smile. “I didn't expect friendship to be so powerful.”

“And useful,” Roxanne added. “Except for you getting stabbed by that stallion. He's lucky we didn't go to jail with him, because he would've gotten it from me at least for that shit. He tried to kill me for money and telling him to fuck off when he asked.”

“That's why he was upset with me about you,” Lake nodded, using a wing to rub his sore side. “When did you even have time to meet that guy?”

“He’s just some jackass I ran into,” she shook her head. “I don't even know, honestly, but fuck him. He deserves to be in prison.”

“I'd honestly hit him if I saw him,” Tory added. It made Lake smile to hear.

“It's a good thing you're supposed to be a fast healer,” Roxanne continued, “even if you're still hurting. But anyway, what did he say to tell me? The changeling? I recognize his scent—it’s all over you.

“Huh? Oh. Uhh… I don't even remember,” Lake shook his head. “Something about how he can't wait to talk to you? When did you get the chance to meet him?”

“Same place,” she explained tiredly. “He helped me out a little bit, and knew we weren't from Equestria by how I felt. I do wanna talk to him if I can find him though. It might be useful… actually, Lake, since you saw him, too, did you wanna go walking with me tonight? Or some night soon?”

“Uhhh, not tonight,” he told her. “Not before I feel better. And only if Tory and Sapphire come, too. More safety in numbers.”

“Yeah, I understand that,” Roxanne nodded. “I might go out myself though anyway, just to see if I can find that changeling. I'm really curious about what he has to say.” Before anyone could argue against her, she continued, “I don't think I will though. It's just an idea, guys… when is that humans club meeting again, Sapphire?”

“Day after tomorrow,” Sapphire broke in excitedly. “Record Keeper is gonna love meeting you guys! They all will, but he especially!”

“And he'll definitely be able to help us, right?” Lake asked. Sapphire confirmed with an eager nod, and he let out a breath he'd been holding in. It at least meant there were multiple options for them to look over. He remembered her saying it would take weeks to get to wherever the other portal was, which wouldn't be ideal. A month as horses was already a long time. Another month or two wasn't what he wanted. Not that he thought they could rely on talking to the queen of these horses. More likely, they would—

Roxanne touched his back and gave him a look that said he needed to chill out. She was right. There were more than just three options. Maybe they could learn some magic or he could convince these ponies to get on top of it if he had to. They had friendship on their side, after all.

Besides, they needed to see how the humans club meeting would go before he started to let his anxiety get the best of him. There'd probably be stuff to do before then anyway, like more community service and try to fly again once his side stopped killing him.

Just gotta not freak out until then, he said as he rubbed a hoof against Roxanne's limb to feel the texture of her fur. Either we'll get back or we won't…

Another look from her came. This one seemed to be an apology, that she was sorry for dragging him into this. As if it was her fault. He probably would've followed after her anyway, even if Tory hadn't gone through. But maybe he could've kept the portal open on the other side if he stayed in his apartment.

Too late now. Whoever this mysterious pony, Record Keeper, was, he was their current best option. He did wonder what would happen next though.

Lake had absolutely no idea.

Rocket

Tory did not sleep in Sapphire's bed last night, despite how uncomfortable he was on the floor in the guest room. His sleeping conditions the last week hadn't been great, but he couldn't take the bed away from Lake. If he was stabbed recently, and uncomfortable and sore moving around, he was sure his friend would've accommodated him, too.

Sapphire did offer, and he did consider the proposal, he had to admit, but he decided against it in the end. He had a good idea of what her plans were, and while he was okay with flirting, he wasn't okay with ponies sexually. A month was not long enough to get to that point when looking at them. Even if she was cute as a human.

“Come on,” the mare said, a little seductively. “You sleep in the same room as Roxie, and that's not a problem. And there's so much space on my bed. You could really spread out like a big, strong earth pony should.” It got him to smile and look away for a moment, but his mind wouldn’t be changed. Even if she did grin back and wiggled her hips and swished her tail.

Okay, maybe she was kind of pretty as a pony, too, he reluctantly admitted to himself. This world and body was messing with his head. She had a sly, mischievous look that almost got him to say yes. Almost.

“Maybe another time,” he told her instead. “Cause I know you'll keep me up all night.” And that was that.

Another uncomfortable night on the ground was what his refusal earned him, followed by a boring day of community service and a library trip. Lake had to stop after only a couple of hours—it was remarkable he was even able to go that long despite having just been stabbed—so after a while at the library, they spent another day at Sapphire Glow’s house doing nothing once again.

This wasn't much of an adventure so far, even living in a strange new world like this. It was just so boring and familiar—for the most part anyway. Why couldn’t they have been mystical aliens in an unfamiliar world instead of dumb horses? Ones who had to do community service and deal with the kinds of things humans dealt with every day?

It was especially dreadful for himself. Roxanne worked on magic—not only could she shapeshift, but also levitate objects by making her horn glow. And Lake, for his lack of adventurous spirit, was able to float in the air for a good thirty seconds. What did Tory have? The gift of being slightly stronger and the ability to pick up trash with his mouth for the 5th day of community service. Great.

“Oh, turn that frown upside down,” Roxanne grinned, now a yellow pegasus stallion Tory had never seen. “Look on the bright side: you don't have to feel every little drop of anxiety Lake gives off every few minutes. Or how badly Sapphire really wants you and how much she hates you denying her.”

“She's not lying,” Sapphire said in a singsong voice from her usual spot at her desk.

“See? Is that really what you want?”

“Don't answer that,” Lake said as he lay on his back on the couch. Then he wiggled his wings beneath him and sighed. “Man, these things can get uncomfortable… I'm gonna have to preen them again already.”

Yes, this world was messing with his brain, and all of theirs. How the heck was even Lake past the point of caring that he was laying on his back, fully exposed? But then it’s not like Tory cared much after the first few days. There might have been some level of cognitive dissonance going on, on all of their parts.

“Yeah, well, super strength—if it's even that super—isn’t really that much to write home about.” Nor was being the only one who had to use his mouth for everything, or really being able to do anything cool like the rest of them. He really was just kind of lame.

“You're the leader, Tory,” Roxanne said in one final comment. “You're supposed to be boring.”

Yeah, sure. He would take it, he guessed. Not like he had a choice anyway. He wasn’t even sure if he was the leader, if there was one. Hopefully the guy they were supposed to meet would figure something out and get them back home.

He had a relatively good night’s sleep despite another night on the floor—he was really gonna eventually have to sleep in Sapphire Glow’s bed just to keep his back in good condition, wasn't he? How long did Lake say it took pegasi to heal? Hopefully not longer than a few more days. Tory was starting to feel stiff after a week of this.

The morning was spent doing more of the same nothing until finally, after lunch was had, Sapphire mercifully grabbed the things she would need and instructed the three to follow after her. For the first time, they walked in the opposite direction down the street, away from the main part of Manhattan. The magic was still unbelievably tense, but it got a little better once the houses cleared out some and the concrete turned into dirt. Wherever the club was at, it was rural.

And it was far, too—farther than the justice center and the place they did community service was. It must have been a good four hours of walking they did, watching the suburban part of the city turn into lone standing trees, and then to fields of grass and hills they passed by along the road. He let Lake lean into his side as he began to get tired, and then Roxanne, too, as she still had to recover from being in Norway. He guessed if there was one good thing about being an earth pony, it was that he was strong enough to let his friends lean on him without issue.

“Don't worry,” Roxanne whispered teasingly. “We'll make room for Sapphire to lean on you if you want, too. It'll just be lonely without you in the guest room. Right, Lake?” It got the stallion to smile and shake his head from the other side of him.

More boring walking came until they were finally stepping up to what looked like a large, red barn house. It was a lonely looking building, standing in a green field of grass with nothing around it, but empty, it was not. There were a good fifteen or twenty ponies here, of all kinds that he saw. Earth ponies and pegasi and unicorns littered the ground in front of the building, many of whom wobbled around on two legs, as though pretending to be humans.

It was incredibly strange to look at, but thankfully, Sapphire Glow didn’t copy them. She did have more energy compared to her usual personality, and turned to talk to them while walking backward. There was a giant smile plastered on her face.

“It's still unbelievable that you guys are actually here!” the mare whispered loudly, although there was too much chatter around them to make out what could be said. “I actually have three humans at my Humans in Equestria club meeting! We always talked about it, but this is actually happening!”

“Well I just hope they can actually do something to help us,” Lake said quietly. He took a deep breath after that, and sighed. “Man, though, it feels so much better out here. Less tense.”

“Mhm, that's why we hold it out here instead of in the city,” Sapphire explained. “Much less magical pollution, which means less interference from ambient magic in any of our spells. It's pretty nice.”

It sounded nice. Tory could feel the difference, and it seemed like Lake and Roxanne were perking up again slightly. Hopefully they'd find answers and a solution to get to America again from Equestria right here and now. Or at least get a step closer.

What are we gonna do about Roxie though? he suddenly wondered silently. She didn't look that great after several days back on Earth, but then none of them did. But more importantly, how was she able to keep her powers there when Tory changed back to normal? Would that happen to him? Not that he had any powers, but if he did?

“I don’t think these ponies are gonna be very helpful,” Roxanne commented casually. “I don’t get much of the same intensity from any of these guys—not the same kind of intensity you have anyway.”

“Eh, it’s just a hobby for most of them, that’s not a surprise,” Sapphire replied as she waved a dismissive hoof. “You just need to wait until you find Record Keeper. He’s as serious as I am! Or maybe we could even go to Ponyville to meet our club’s founder, Lyra Heartstrings! She’s way more into humans than I could ever be!”

“We’ll keep that noted,” Tory nodded. Hopefully neither of those ponies had the same fetish Sapphire Glow had. Double hopefully these ponies that tried to walk like humans didn’t crowd around them once Sapphire told them what was going on. Lake probably wouldn’t like that much.

Before too long, they were entering the building, moving towards the front despite Lake’s insistence on staying in the back. Not just toward the front, but it was the very front row they sat in. The building seemed a bit like a church, with seats that looked like pews, and a podium in the front for speaking. Tory was imagining this being more like a convention style gathering rather than a service. Was someone going to be giving a speech?

The ponies gathered in and sat down, not quite packing the place as much as he expected. There were plenty of open spaces around the four of them as the general chatter of a few dozen ponies filled the room. It seemed like there was an excited buzz in the air to him; Sapphire Glow certainly seemed excited as she sat close to him, more focused on whatever pony would be standing behind the podium to talk.

“How many people did you tell about us?” Tory asked quietly.

“No one but Twilight Sparkle and Record Keeper yet,” she whispered back. “I know better than to have loose lips. And speaking of loose lips—”

“Is that him?” Roxanne quickly interrupted before Sapphire could finish. It was probably for the best anyway.

They all looked in the direction of Roxanne’s pointed hoof. If Tory had to pick out of the crowd anypony he might guess was the stallion Sapphire Glow talked up, the one who stepped up to the podium would probably have been the first pick.

He was a brown unicorn with a long, deep red mane and thick black glasses in front of gray eyes. His build sort of reminded Tory of a stereotypical nerd, but not exactly. He walked with a sense of purpose, and seemed to have an air of confidence about him. Enough at least that even Tory could tell. He was definitely ‘the man’, just based on how he carried himself.

Lake stared silently at him and Roxanne laughed at something while Sapphire Glow nodded her head. “That's who I was telling you guys about,” she whispered to them. “He's been to Earth before, a few years ago. I didn't think he'd be the one opening today though. I wonder why!”

The stallion, Record Keeper, looked around the room with a sort of smug grin on his face, turning his head until he finally landed on the four of them. He lingered his gaze on them for a very long moment, long enough that Lake's face was turning slightly red and both Roxanne and Sapphire were waving back at him, the latter with more enthusiasm. Did he wink at them, too?

“Yeah, he knows it's us,” Roxanne said quietly. “Saph told him about us in her letter, remember? So who else could he think is here with her today?”

“Roxie’s right, I did,” Sapphire Glow confirmed in a whisper. “He's definitely gonna want to meet you after the meeting.”

“If… if he is who he says he is, we definitely wanna meet him, too,” Lake replied. Tory couldn't say he was wrong. He hoped Sapphire wasn't exaggerating when she said he was legitimately on Earth, and he knew a way back that was easier to get to than Norway.

The guy stood on his hind hooves, like he was trying to walk like a human, and leaned over the podium to look at the crowd. “You know, there are humans among us here today,” he started casually. A glance to Lake showed that the initial statement made him anxious again as he shifted around in his seat. Roxanne put a gentle hoof on his shoulder and whispered something to him that seemed to settle him back down.

“We're all humans here, really,” Record Keeper told the room. “Every single one of us. And I know when we're able to all show Equestria that humans do exist, they'll believe it too! Am I right?” He sounded a lot more confident than Tory expected, or maybe just less nerdy than he looked. It got the crowd to cheer and applaud as he looked around at all the ponies. He gave a particularly smug look to Sapphire Glow, who returned it back to him.

“And I think,” he finished, “that we should all take this session to reflect on that fact!” the stallion declared loudly. “That there are humans among us, both seen and unseen, all around us! May we be more like them! More confident and graceful, and able to see the things other creatures can’t!”

“This sounds like a religious service,” Tory whispered quietly to Sapphire Glow. “Are they gonna start praying next?”

Record Keeper didn’t. Instead, he stepped down away from the podium so someone else could trot up to speak. “I think those are great words, guys!” some new mare said. “Now I wanna take this opportunity to thank everypony who…”

Tory saw Record Keeper waste no time in plopping down in the seat on the other side of Sapphire Glow and grin widely at him. “Hey, human,” he said with a wave of his hoof, not exactly quiet, but it didn’t seem like any pony paid particular attention to him anymore. “Haven’t seen you around here.”

The club meeting was uninteresting, to say the least. Tory didn’t particularly care about committee meetings and budget reports—what kind of things did these ponies even need to budget for anyway? He really thought he was going to get something better than alleged human sightings in this world and ways to balance on hind hooves.

The ponies around them had mixed interest; some of them listened intently, while others turned to chat in small groups. Whoever stood in front of the podium speaking at each point didn’t seem to mind. This club really was just a club—a group of people who met up and just talked to each other.

Roxanne whispered to he and Lake about how this mysterious stallion Sapphire was over the moon about wanted to play coy until they were in a more private space. Even Sapphire, who chatted nonstop for almost a month about what everyone would think about the three of them being humans, had the sense to keep that information to herself for now. It must have been hard for her to do, from the way she was squirming around her seat, but she maintained her composure. When other ponies asked about the three, she highlighted that they were ‘friends who were interested in humans’. It seemed to satisfy them after a few questions and a hoof shake.

After about two hours of speeches and stories and reports being given, someone brought out sandwiches and cookies for everyone, signifying the end of the meeting. A lot of people hung around eating and talking to each other, but Sapphire and Record Keeper quickly found a quiet spot outside the building to finally talk. Tory expected an all business attitude from the stallion, just based on how he carried himself. But he couldn't say he was too surprised by the same excitable attitude Sapphire Glow gave them all the time. This was a level down from that at least.

“I can't believe there's actually humans here!” the stallion whispered loudly. Not so loud though that others would hear. He seemed to be restraining himself from completely crawling over them and gushing like Sapphire Glow did.

“Not only here, but actually at our Humans in Equestria club!” Record Keeper said. “I almost thought Sapphire was pulling my leg, but you're actually here, just like she said! How did you get here? Are you from Das Moneys, too?”

“Des Moines, but no,” Tory explained. “I assume she told you all about it, but the long and the short of it is that a portal appeared in his apartment.” He gestured to Lake as he said, “We all went through it, right before it decided to disappear, and were kind of stuck here now. And we were told that you know another way to get to Earth again?”

“Oh, absolutely!” he nodded with a grin. “It's in the mysterious south! I'll tell you though, it took me almost a solid three months to find it, and then I could only stay for less than a minute when I got there. Are there really hailstorms there every day?”

“I don’t think so,” Tory answered quickly, “but how do we get there? Is there any way it won't take 3 months?”

“Well, if you got here through a worldgate, you could always just go back through the one you came through. They're meant to be highly stable once they form, so that they can last for ages without issue, so long as they're not being crossed through several times a day for months.”

“The one to Lake's apartment disappeared though,” Sapphire explained. “Or, well, it disappeared on this side at least. The one I was telling you about did that too, and Lake was the only one that was able to make it stable and stay.”

“Huh, that's interesting…” Record Keeper trailed off, then turned to give a wide grin to Lake. His face went red as he looked away, and Roxanne laughed at something again.

“I guess that makes you special, huh, guy?” the stallion said. “I wonder why it turned you into a pegasus then. I would've thought you'd be a unicorn if that's the case.”

“I'm just… built different, I guess, what can I say?” Lake shrugged, flexing his wings a bit. If they were implying what Tory thought, then that officially made himself boring according to a random portal to an alien world. It was official.

“But uh, if you don't wanna go on a long adventure to the mysterious south—which I know Saph and I wouldn't mind—you could probably just talk to Princess Twilight Sparkle in Canterlot. Her court is open to everypony, after all. Oh, and I bet we could stop in Ponyville and show you three off to Lyra Heartstrings! We absolutely have to!”

“Oh, I was already planning on it, not even a question.”

“We don't want to be shown off if we can help it,” Roxanne said quickly, before Tory could. “And if you're certain that this princess will hear us out and can actually help, it's better than the options available. I'd rather get back before all my stuff gets sold, if it hasn't already.”

Except Roxanne looked bad back on Earth again, Tory thought. What was it that Sapphire was saying before? That if they stayed too long they'd potentially turn into ponies permanently? It seemed like that already happened to her, even if Sapphire changed into a human despite being a horse her whole life.

“We'll figure it out later,” his friend said in response to his thoughts. “If there's a way to just pass back and forth as we please, it probably won't even be an issue.”

Yeah, right. Because everything was easy for them thus far. It would have been nice though if they hadn't waited around forever and Sapphire Glow brought up heading to the pony queen's court directly earlier. He still couldn't imagine that it would be as easy as just walking up to her, since Sapphire never got a response from her.

“When can we leave though?” Tory looked between Sapphire and Record Keeper. “Is there any way we can set off now?”

“At the very least not until our community service is done,” Sapphire shook her head. “It might actually be kind of hard for me since I'm technically on probation, but I'm sure I'll—”

“You guys are talking kind of loud,” Lake suddenly interrupted, shifting his wings around. His voice was quiet and matched his discomfort as Tory suddenly noticed that the five were getting a few curious looks and cursory glances. Not that he knew why it would have been a problem if other ponies heard. The more there were, the more help they would get, he figured. But Lake looked like he didn't like it, and the others, too, were now a little more shifty eyed. Couldn't Roxanne read emotions and say for certain whether it mattered or not?

“Maybe we should continue this conversation at my place,” Sapphire Glow decided abruptly. After a second of pause though, she qualified it with, “After I get some more food. These things are only once a month.”

Tory couldn't see the harm in that.

Disarm

Roxanne still felt the exhaustion of their Norway expedition, even if it wasn't as bad now as it was out there. Somehow, interestingly enough, it seemed to make her more aware of the emotions around her.

Ponies were listening in on their conversation, but how could they not? Record Keeper wasn't exactly as subtle as he thought as he waved a big flag in announcing humans were among them. They might not have had the same intensity about it as he and Sapphire, but they also weren't stupid. It didn't take a very high IQ to realize that Record Keeper had been almost exclusively talking to them three for some time. Even if it was just a club for most of them, they were still going to be curious.

But Lake was as anxious as always, and she could tell his breathing was picking up a bit. As Tory and Record Keeper followed after Sapphire to get more sandwiches, she shapeshifted into a pegasus mare and used a wing to rub his back.

“It's fine,” she whispered quietly as she stood next to him, feeling his heart rate calm down a bit. “These ponies are all chill. They're curious, but not that interested.”

“Yeah. Yeah…” the stallion breathed, closing his eyes for a moment. She was helping him with anxiety a lot lately, wasn't she? Then again, she could feel his and everyone else's emotions at all times now, every little bit of it. Even now, he was running through insane possibilities like getting kidnapped or something.

“Not gonna happen,” she told him. “That stallion who stabbed you was a piece of shit, and it was kind of my fault. More likely this princess Twilight Sparkle denies us and we have to traverse who knows what to get home.” She moved her wing to carefully massage his still sore side, eliciting a grunt and then an almost silent sigh as he relaxed a little more.

“The best case is that someone on Earth is already working on this,” he told her under his breath, “but the NYT and University of Pennsylvania will probably just think I'm schizophrenic. Cause who the heck would listen to a random email from someone they don’t know?” Lake managed a small smile as he added, “Then again, still can't be sure I'm not.”

“And what, you take your meds and we all disappear?” she grinned. “Or maybe, if I really do keep these powers on Earth, I can sneak into your house and gaslight you and convince you that I'm a demon.”

“Oh god, I shouldn't have even brought it up,” he shook his head. “I bet Tory would encourage you, too. He'd get a kick out of it.”

That made her smile. If she could not only be the first one in an alternate universe, but also have cool shape shifting powers from it permanently, she would take it. So long as it didn't make heading back home a problem down the road.

She did eventually go with Lake to follow Tory, Sapphire, and now Record Keeper out of the club a little while later, back to their temporary home. As they moved, Sapphire talked to them about how as soon as the three of them got finished with their community service they'd be on their way to Canterlot. She also assured them that they wouldn't have to wait two years until her probation ended.

“I mean, if need be, maybe I can get better at my teleportation magic and teleport us all there,” she said. “Or Record could help me if he's good at it! You studied it, right?” she asked the stallion.

“Ha, I wish,” was his unhelpful reply. “I didn't go to Princess Twilight Sparkle’s school like you did.”

“Well, we could always walk as a last resort.”

Or they could just leave for the princess by themselves. There was nothing stopping them from that. Roxanne knew better than to mention it though. And it would be kind of a dick move because the girl had been helping them. Tory certainly wouldn't like it, even if Lake agreed with her.

“So the plan is to just finish community service and then take a train to her?” she asked. “How long does it take by train again? A week? And she can just send us back?”

“Absolutely!” Sapphire smiled widely, “although it'd be even better to head down to the Mysterious South so my mom and I can go to Earth with you. I have a feeling Princess Twilight won't entertain that request of me. And I can station hop along with you, since Canterlot is a long journey and I don't have that much magic.”

“Sounds good to me, so long as it works,” Tory shrugged. “Don't know where you'd live on Earth, but we could work it out.”

Roxanne didn't want to listen to the two flirt, and stood up to head back outside. “Sounds like as good a plan as any,” she decided. “I'm gonna take a walk around the block for a while.” Lake gave her a worried look, but she returned it with a confident grin. There was someone she wanted to see.

It was past eleven o'clock when she went outside again, with the moon hanging high overhead and cool wind blowing against her fur. This time, Roxanne transformed into a unicorn stallion, hoping it would keep away trouble. She didn't need others getting hurt because of a run in she had again. Besides, she was still tired.

But for a worn down neighborhood, it was kind of serene this late when all was quiet. No one was out and about, with only fireflies and crickets and cicadas to produce any noise. How did this world have the same species as Earth? Maybe some sort of intergalactic cross contamination.

What would they do if everything just failed the same way Norway had? Or if they were stuck here because of changing permanently from whatever magic rays were bombarding them? Would they just live with Sapphire and her mother forever? Would their brain chemistry slowly change too? Would they eventually find horses attractive? Tory might have been flirting with Sapphire but Lake seemed like he was closer to that already just by the way he was looking at Record Keeper. Then again, it had been weeks already, and horses were talking back to them. It was… extremely weird, but she wouldn't say it was outright creepy. She could tease Lake more at least.

And her. She was already changing, or maybe just flat out changed. Sapphire said it took decades but she was a changeling pony on Earth, too. What was going to happen with that? This could turn into a mess very easily.

A faint sliver of emotion trickled through the silence and cool wind to break her concentration. It was only for a second, but she instantly recognized it, just from the energy she got from it. Just like when she was last out here, she was suddenly a lot less tired. Roxanne couldn't imagine any other reason for that.

“My friend said you helped him a few days ago,” she called out quietly, taking a fearless few steps forward. “I could smell you on him. Why didn't you step in earlier?”

The answer came immediately. “You should know of our kind,” he said as he crept out from behind a bush and changed from a generic stallion to the black bug she remembered. “Ponies fear us who have remained unchanged.” He blinked as he took a second to pause. Then he continued, “Your friend is different from them though, just as you are. More fearless than the Equestrians around us. Where do you and your friend hail from?”

Lake? Fearless? That almost made her laugh. How timid were the rest of these ponies? Then again, didn't she feel anxiety coming from a stallion who turned out to be a violent criminal before? Maybe Sapphire and Record Keeper were the exceptions.

Roxanne didn't know if she should be honest with him though. Her lack of ability to feel his emotions was throwing him off. Her brain was definitely changing, too, even if not in the same way as Tory’s and Lake’s.

“Some place far from here,” she answered. “A place where there's a lot more people like us. Millions in fact.”

The changeling nodded thoughtfully. “All of us changelings are from far away places. We are scattered across Equus, you know,” he told her. “But you are new, unlike us. Yet you have our powers. It is curious. Other tribes would have interest in the story of your origin. Both those changed and unchanged.”

Finally some emotion showed itself, but not through her sixth sense. The look on his face changed from a neutral expression to one of curiosity. He tilted his head like a puppy and waited for her to speak.

He spoke again before she could. “But you are distrustful, another element you and your friend share. Yet another element that separates you from us.”

“And what are you like?” Roxanne asked back with confidence. “What are your tribe’s origins? Cause I'd say all of Equus is unlike me and my friend. Maybe they're the different ones.”

“Perhaps,” the bug nodded thoughtfully. “One can never know. Even being a changeling. Our senses only tell us of now; not what came before, or what will come after. I believe you've learned of this before we last spoke.”

Should she have been frustrated by the way he was talking to her? She wasn't though. What he said was kind of making sense, in a way. He seemed to infuse small slivers of emotion into his words, so that she could get a clearer picture. What would it have been like if she was born like this?

She hesitated, and he tilted his head further waiting for more from her. She debated in her head for a moment, then replied simply, “Yeah, you can never know, can you?” How could she fully trust him? She barely knew him, and couldn't even get a read like she'd come to expect from every creature else.

He tilted his head—did he look a little sympathetic? “Still mistrusting. I understand. If you do not trust me, I will go. Even changelings do not trust our own kind. But I would like to know of you, as well as your friend. Lend me your scent, so that I may find you again if you should wish to tell of your life.”

“It's a pretty boring story, up until a few weeks ago,” she said in response with a little smirk. Then she did… something. She didn't know exactly what, or how to describe it. Roxanne couldn't explain the feeling in words beyond ‘offering him a piece of her’ like he did before. She didn't even know exactly how it happened or where the feeling came from.

But the emotion flowed from her, a small stream of it, barely a trickle, making its way over to him. Like it was second nature, she lent him her scent. Whatever that meant.

He seemed pleased by it anyway, and his eyes lit up. “More friends you have. I see. Us changelings…friendship is new to us, but perhaps you can show us of it. Or not. Who will know in the end?” What the heck did that mean?

She didn't get an answer, because before she could ask, he was lighting up his crooked horn and disappearing. It was interesting at least, even if neither really said much. Still something to investigate, enough that if she and her friends actually got their own place to stay, she wanted to invite him over and have a sit down conversation with him.

More like when at this rate. Should they prioritize their escape from Equus, or getting jobs? It would be a conversation to have eventually.

She still didn't know exactly how to use magic, and resolved herself to trotting back to Sapphire Glow's house. They were in the middle of a card game, signifying another boring meeting with absolutely nothing to do. Yes, at some point they needed to move past being kind of lazy and work to improve their position, just in case.

“I've been talking to a changeling,” she blurted out, extremely casual. “I think he wants to meet you guys and wants me to visit his tribe. I don't know if I'm going to get into all of that though.” All of their eyes turned her way.

“Was it the changeling pony who took me to the hospital?” Lake asked as he pushed his chips in. “He seemed extremely weird, but I can't say I hate him since he helped me get to the hospital…” He shuddered a little, then shook his head.

“If he doesn't know anything about humans, I'm not really that interested,” Sapphire chimed in. “No offense to you, but changelings kind of creep me out.”

The mare was sitting really close to Tory, almost on top of him in fact. Their coats were definitely rubbing against each other a bit, and interestingly enough, Tory seemed to kind of be warming up to it, versus casual flirting. Roxanne didn't know how they couldn't see each other's cards from that position. Maybe they could. This time their emotions didn't say.

They did say that the tension between them was definitely increasing. It now tasted less like a one sided salty flavor and more like well cooked meat that was both sweet and savory. How did both his and Lake’s views on attraction start to change after only a month here?

“Well, anyway, deal me in,” she told them as she sat next to Lake. “We also need to get jobs so that we don't all have to sleep in the same dang room. Besides, I'm sure Shimmering Diamond is getting tired of us.” The mare wasn't yet, not really, but she would tire eventually.

“Maybe we can even apply for stuff tomorrow, and try to start once community service is finished.”

In a surprise, Tory didn't like that idea. “I'm not going to lie,” he said, “I really don't wanna start looking for employment.” He didn't say why, but he didn't have to. Even Lake was able to quickly piece it together she could tell by his rise in anxiety.

“Honestly,” he continued, “if we just work a couple of twelve hour days tomorrow and the day after, I don't see why we can't be on a train to the princess of Equestria by next week. Assuming we can scrape up some money.”

“I'm sure Princess Twilight will get back to me, and it won't be an issue,” Sapphire said cheerfully, leaning a bit more into Tory. He didn't push her away as she continued, “I bet she's just about to get to all of the messages I've sent her over the last month. Just you wait and see.”

Both Lake and Roxanne sighed for the same reason. Why was Tory humoring her? If they had somepony who could guide them to a direct portal, they shouldn't have been wasting time on what was certainly not gonna happen. But she was sure the pegasus would go along with it just to cover all the bases. She guessed that meant she had to, too.

Surprisingly enough though, Sapphire Glow eventually proved herself right. After a long, exhausting day about community service, she declared that the ruler of this nation finally sent her a message! If she wasn't a changeling, she wouldn't have believed the pony, but in a few minutes, she was passing it around for each of them to read.

I understand that there's been an incident in Manhattan related to what you were discussing with me before, about your interest in humans and finding them here in Equestria. I apologize for taking so long in returning your message, but if they are still with you, I would like to speak to them myself in Canterlot. I've attached train tickets dated for one week from today so you and they can meet me in my court. I should say that it is an official summons on your and their part rather than an invitation.

If what you say is true, I'll do what I can in sending them back to where they came from. It's not a guarantee, but I will put my best scientists to work on it, alongside myself. I understand you've heard tale of the mirrors Princess Celestia used to travel to other worlds, but those have since been sealed long ago, so a more creative solution is in order. I will explain more once you arrive here.

Sapphire Glow, I beg you not to pull the same tricks and stunts you've pulled before. I won't tolerate it any longer. This is your final warning.

Please arrive speedily and safely. I await your presence.

-Twilight Sparkle, Royal Princess of Equestria

“You actually did it!” Tory cheered loudly as Lake read through it with a grin on his face. “You actually fucking did it! This is perfect!”

“I told you she'd reply to me,” Sapphire smiled proudly. “Didn't I? There was never a doubt!”

Roxanne wasn't sure about that, since apparently the ‘Royal Guard of Equestria’ was at Lilac's house for days, but she didn't say anything. She could tell where things would go soon with them, even if the foundation wasn't the deepest. She didn't care to get in the way.

“I just wanna get back to my apartment and wear some clothes for the first time in ages,” Lake said. “How long will it have been? A week until the train ride, a week to get there?”

“Almost two whole months,” Roxanne told him. “We're gonna be all over the news for weeks. You still have video on your phone, right?”

“Oh yeah, I'm actually kind of excited!” Lake replied. “I bet we'll be more famous than Neil Armstrong!”

“You especially man, since you technically went through it first before you called us,” she laughed.

But she would get more than her fair share if she was still a changeling like before. Even if scientists didn't want to believe it, they couldn't deny her if she shapeshifted in front of them. Who could?

But going back home finally. What was Roxanne gonna do if there was no magic on Earth? She had no idea.

As long as there's a way to go back and forth, it'll be fine, she told herself. And even if the portal was somewhere like China, with as famous as they were gonna be, moving there would probably be easy peasy. She still had too many questions about Equus to just stay on Earth forever. It could probably be arranged.

Just as long as Sapphire Glow didn't act like the loose cannon she was in front of the ruler. She was the only real wildcard to Roxanne. But Tory would hopefully keep her in check, or Lake's persuasion would mitigate it. It was almost certainly smooth sailing ahead.

As the day started to wind down and tiredness began to set it, she almost wished she interjected before about Sapphire doing it on her own. She didn't know how she'd forgotten that sensing emotions meant she was going to be attuned to the result of Tory finally accepting Sapphire’s offer of staying in her room, but it was a stupid thing to forget. She lay on a pile of blankets on the floor next to the bed as she used a pillow to try and block out the details. It wasn't very successful, and she couldn't help but groan in frustration.

“What's wrong, Roxie?” Lake asked groggily, from the edge of sleep. He was almost out before she'd woken him back up. Oops.

“Nothing. Just frustrated and having trouble sleeping,” she told him. “Sorry.”

“Okay,” he said as he turned back over. But she sensed his emotion, too, and wasn't shocked when he turned back over again. “Was that letter weird to you?” he asked, a little more awake.

“Not really… but you think something's up with it,” she told him. “What is it?”

“That letter didn't feel friendly. I read about this princess being the princess of friendship or something like that, and this world is all about friendship. But thinking about it more, it kind of read like she thought Sapphire Glow was a nuisance.” He let an unfinished thought hang in the air. Roxanne didn’t jump on it.

“Probably because she is a nuisance,” Roxanne muttered instead, dodging where he was going. She continued, “She admitted to us she stole from Twilight Sparkle before. Of course she's not gonna trust her. I mean, you've seen for yourself that it's not always love and care and understanding. Probably it's mostly like that, even if it is a little better than home.”

She didn't see Lake nod, but felt the savory, slightly sweet flavor of hesitant agreement. “I guess you're right. I'm probably just overthinking it… man I can't wait to have some Zoloft again. And my own room to sleep in.”

“Yeah, you definitely need it,” she chuckled. “Both of those things. Night, Lake.”

“Night.”

She heard Lake turn over back to sleep, and that was that for conversation. But she knew she couldn't just take what her friend said with a grain of salt. As nervous as he was, he was more attuned to things here than she was in some ways. She knew without him, it would've been a complete mess for her and Tory.

Just gotta rest and wait to get back, she told herself as she shuffled around, doing her best to block out the emotions of intimacy around her and sleep. Gonna get to that princess, get back to Pennsylvania, and be a famous shape-shifting human when this is all over. Easy as pie.

Roxanne smiled to herself at that thought and did her best to drift off.

Soma

Tory was breathing hard and dripping sweat over Sapphire Glow when he finally rolled over and closed his eyes. It might not have been the best ever, but he had to admit, it did feel pretty damn good. Better than he expected given his current form.

Sapphire didn't roll over and try to cuddle him, but she was on her side, resting her head on a hoof and giving him a happy grin when he opened his eyes again. He gave her a small one in return as she said, “Now we just gotta do that on Earth so you can use your hands on me. That was great. Did you like it?”

“Yeah, that felt good,” Tory sighed and closed his eyes again. Equestria had officially melted his brain; she was very cute for a horse. Or maybe it was just her wearing him down after a month of persistence. Still…

“This is just platonic, right?” He turned his head to look into her yellow eyes. “Cause, no offense, I'm not looking for anything serious.” Not with a horse anyway, despite just having sex with one. He hid his cringe at the thought. Maybe his brain hadn't completely melted quite yet.

“Huh? Yeah, of course,” she said without missing a beat, like it wasn't even a question. She didn't say anything more, only let out a long, satisfied sigh and rolled out of bed to clean herself up. Good. They were on the same page. Maybe he should have asked that before being intimate though.

Did he really just do that? Both Lake and Roxanne would have a good laugh at his expense, but it was still… weird. He'd hooked up with other women knowing less about them, but this was still strange. The only thing keeping it from being creepy was that he was a horse right now, too, and he saw what she looked like as a human. If both those things hadn't happened, he probably wouldn't have been in her bed right now. No, more like definitely wouldn't have.

He smiled and felt his face go red as the unicorn wiggled her hips and swished her tail while she moved around the room. There was no point in trying to deny to himself how cute she was, even as a pony. Even without the extra stuff, this could very easily become awkward. She was really eccentric.

Sapphire Glow flopped back into bed a little while later with a yawn, and wasted no time in turning her back to him to fall asleep. It might have been a little disappointing that there wouldn't be any cuddling afterward, but it wasn't long before he was asleep and waking up again anyway. After a quick shower, he found himself as the last one awake. All three of Lake, Roxanne, and Sapphire Glow were sitting next to each other on the couch reading. Even Shimmering Diamond was in the room with them, albeit on the other side and with the addition of beer at nine thirty in the morning.

“You know, I didn't sleep at all last night, you two were making so much noise,” her mother said. “You have to keep it down next time. My bedroom is right above hers.” Both Lake and Sapphire Glow surprisingly laughed slightly at that. Roxanne didn't though.

“I didn't sleep at all either,” she said tiredly. “It was like I was right next to you two, I could sense everything that was going on. Just tell me to take a walk next time so I don't have to feel everything. Or at least not when I'm trying to sleep. Otherwise I'll get desensitized and wanna join in.”

That comment got Tory’s face fully flush red and Lake to practically guffaw. And then Roxanne started to laugh, too, probably at his embarrassment. He didn't bother saying he would keep it in mind as he took a seat next to the pegasus.

“Lake's reading stuff about his species,” Roxanne said before Tory could ask. “Sapphire's doing her usual and I'm reading about magic.”

“I think I'm starting to feel better enough to try flying again, higher this time,” Lake added in. Then he flexed his wings and said, “After I preen these things again.”

“Flying would be fun,” Roxanne agreed. “And yeah, it is weird that we've been horses for almost two months. Hopefully not much longer though since Tory’s getting upset. Sorry that you're a boring regular horse.”

Tory sighed, not even bothering to deny it. He didn't start talking about it either, instead asking, “Is there anything else we need to do, Sapphire?” He didn't want to get to the queen’s court only to have something missing.

“No, not really. Just looking over a map of the south of Equestria just in case. You guys can just relax though.”

Yeah. Relax. Like they had been doing anything at all for most of the last several weeks. Roxanne and Lake at least had something to occupy their time.

“If you're that obsessed with it,” Roxanne suddenly started, “You can go to the library and read about your species instead of complaining about it.”

Technically, he wasn't actually complaining. But he kept that thought to himself as he stood up to do exactly that. He reached out a hoof to Sapphire as he did and asked, “Wanna come with?”

“Nah,” Sapphire said nonchalant with a wave of her hoof. “I'm gonna stay here and read up on my spell casting. I need to make sure I'm in tip-top shape just in case I need it! Even if I did get an official summons, you never know how train conductors can act.”

“You can do that at the library though, right?” he pressed just a little bit further.

“I could, but not while keeping an eye on my desk for new messages,” she said quickly, without a hint of a pause. “Next time though, when I have the chance. It's way too important for me to leave now!”

The stallion settled his hoof back on the ground. Tory tried to keep any disappointment he felt to a minimum. He didn't have anything to be disappointed by anyway. It was actually something useful she was concentrating on, and he was just going to read that dumb pony tribes book again. It wasn’t like she needed to come, even if it seemed like she had nothing to do.

“I'll go with you, if you want, man,” Lake offered. “I'll just need to preen these feathers first,” he said, stretching them out. “It should only be a couple of hours max. I can practice flying on the way.”

It was more like four hours before Lake was ready to go, a very relaxed look on his face as he and Tory stepped out of the house and down the street. He looked a little sleepy too. Not tired or exhausted, just sleepy and relaxed.

“Are you sure preening was all you were doing?” Tory teased. “Roxie told me what else you were doing when we first got to Sapphire's house.”

Lake’s orange face blushed bright red, still relaxed but now masked by embarrassment. “Yeah,” he answered quickly, to Tory's growing grin. “Preening just—it feels nice. Like, birds in the wild preen when they're stressed sometimes, right? And I need my wings working right to practice flying!”

He demonstrated by doing a little hop and lifting into the air, maybe eight or ten feet before settling back down again. Lake actually had been practicing, surprisingly enough. His friend was usually too afraid to go on rollercoasters. Either he was getting braver or didn't think they'd be leaving Equestria any time soon.

“I'm not very good yet, so that's all I can do right now.”

Tory asked about neither. “That is pretty cool, I'll admit. But then most things are cooler than being a boring horse.”

“I'd take being a boring human over anything right now. Roxie, too. I think she has trouble sleeping or concentrating when there's too many emotions around.”

Yes, Tory knew that, and Lake got uncomfortable with his wings, which somehow was meant to make Tory feel better about being boring in an alien world as alien creatures. It didn't really.

The world though was no more alien today than going on over a month and a half ago. All that was truly different was the creatures and the magic system. Beyond that, the sidewalk they stepped down with suburban housing could've been any in Pennsylvania. The lakes were blue, the grass was green, the air was fresh—hardly alien at all. Just weird.

He wondered what everyone would think of this, when they were back home. Earth as a whole. How does an extremely similar planet with the same communication system as Earth arise? Or did Equus come first and humans were copying? Maybe parallel universes or alternate dimensions? Why not? Magic was already real. Except for him. Mostly.

“Did you… really have sex with that mare last night?” Lake finally asked Tory the obvious question, voice low so no one would hear. Thankfully Tory could control his feelings of embarrassment better as Lake continued. Not that he needed to reply when the answer was just as obvious.

“That's… weird. Really, really weird. I don't know if I'd say disgusting like I would have before, but…” He stopped and shivered, spreading his wings and shaking his feathers as he did. “I'm not there yet. Not at all.”

“Except we know they're all humans, too,” Tory said simply. “We saw that in the portal. They look like us, we look like them.” It did take a bit of concentration to keep blood from his cheeks.

I'm not her fling… am I? He wouldn't be angry or upset if he was, but he wouldn't necessarily be happy with that. Casual was fine for him. Maybe not too casual though.

Lake had a look on his face Tory couldn't quite read as he shuffled his wings and stopped. “Well…” He trailed off a long moment before looking back up. “She likes you, you know? She told me, so maybe you're made for each other.” He wanted to say more, but breathed deep and became less anxious instead. If Lake didn't wanna say whatever else he had on his mind, it probably wasn't important anyway.

Another boring day it was, same as most of the days had been for the last nearly two months. But Tory was slowly settling into a rhythm. He didn't know if he'd ever gone so long without the internet or video games, but it wasn't as bad as all that. There was always stuff to do, even if the things he did weren't very productive. It was almost better than Earth considering they could convince strangers to take them in for weeks.

He didn't dwell on that thought for very long. He still thought being back home would be better. Maybe Sapphire would be there and he'd show her about ‘hands’, assuming it truly wasn't just a fetish she had. Maybe even if it was. But still, seeing her talk about something other than magic and science would be great, too, though she'd likely be just as excitable and eccentric on Earth.

That might not be the worst thing in the world.

It was a bunch of junk he learned about, in the book about earth ponies. He already knew they were strong from what Sapphire told him. They apparently had better hearing than average, similar to bat ponies—bat ponies? Unicorns, bird ponies, bug ponies, regular ponies, and bat ponies. That's what existed here that he knew of so far. What next, dog ponies? Dinosaur ponies? There were ways Equus was still alien to them.

Slightly more interesting was how earth ponies did have magic like the others. Their magic was apparently in their hooves though. That meant they could build up a farm and fertilize plants just by touching them, or even stepping on them. Or potentially clear out danger by walking on a well worn path so monsters could be scared away by the magic.

And monsters. Of course there were monsters here. This place was like Earth in many ways, but maybe only after two months was Tory realizing just how alien it was. Hydras and minotaurs and dragons and a whole list of other things. It was like fairy tales shoved into the modern world, except with horses—ponies.

There wasn't much else beyond that that caught his attention, save for a quick aside about his body being built so that he resisted damage that would hurt other ponies. Hopefully he wouldn't have to put it to the test like Lake did, but then that would almost be better than his uselessness otherwise. He really shouldn't have been dwelling on his lack of exciting powers quite so much.

Besides, he was gonna be famous when he got home. The interviews alone were gonna make for some of the most interesting content on the planet. So long as the ‘getting home’ part didn't drag on endlessly like it had already.

Before getting home though—or at least into a train that hopefully had a way there—there was another week that went by. The four of he, Lake, Roxanne, and Sapphire finally finished all their community service, and they were given papers that told them their service was completed. Sapphire Glow packed up some of her things and stuffed clothes for the other three in the bag she would take to Canterlot while Tory handled Lake's phone to capture another video.

“Probably will be the last one for a while,” he said as he used his nose to click record, sitting on his haunches to hold the thing. “Your phone's at nine percent battery.”

“That means if you choke, everyone in the world is gonna laugh at you, Lake, cause we won’t be able to reshoot,” Roxanne teased. “No pressure though!”

Tory got a shot of Lake sticking his tongue out at her before doing a little hop and rising slowly into the air with a steady flap of his wings. As he did, Tory followed his movements while providing commentary.

“We've been here for about seven or eight weeks now,” he told the camera, doing a quick spin to show off Sapphire Glow’s neighborhood for a few seconds. “The ponies here have been nice enough to let us stay with them. Apparently friendship is magic in this world, somehow, but it has helped us get out of some tough spots. Right, Lake?”

Lake nodded to the camera, starting to get to be out of breath at about twenty feet up and slowly sinking back down again. “Stopped those two from getting arrested. Not me from getting stabbed though. I still have the scar, even if it doesn't hurt anymore.”

Tory did his best to pan the camera over his side to get the wound as Lake carefully settled his hooves back on the ground. “It's not all friendship, it's true,” he said, now turning the camera to his own red muzzle. “I think it's fair to say it's like Earth, America specifically. The biggest difference here is that some of the creatures here can do magic. Some of us can, too, actually.”

He turned the phone back around and panned over to Roxanne. With a large grin, she lit up her horn and picked up a couple of rocks to juggle carefully. “Telekinesis,” she smirked. “And changeling powers, like this.” Then she changed into Tory, down to the smallest detail, even mimicking his voice. “I'm Tory and I'm so sad that I'm just the leader of the group and have to be a strong durable stallion instead of constantly reading everyone's disgusting emotions.”

“Yeah, that about sums it up pretty fairly, Roxie,” he shot back. Then he turned the camera back over to himself, saying, “We've got train tickets to the capital of this country, called Canterlot, to try and get back to Pennsylvania faster. I don't know if we'll be able to get footage of the ruler, but we'll try our best anyway. It shouldn't be too hard.

“The other main option we discussed with Sapphire Glow is potentially traveling a distance to find another portal. She and one of her friends say there are other portals in this country, and we have no reason not to believe them so far. We'll see how it goes with the princess, Twilight Sparkle, first though. Hopefully well, so we can upload this footage and let everyone know about this. We'll try to capture more film if we can.”

With that, he clicked the button to stop recording and gave it to Lake to turn off. Yeah, hooves weren't that great for doing much outside of walking.

“Hope that didn't bug you too much though, man,” Roxanne said, jumping on his thoughts. “It was just a little joke,” she told him as she shapeshifted to look like the white unicorn they'd come to expect from her.

“Besides,” she continued with a wide, playful grin, “how can you be the most boring when it only took you two months to fuck an alien?”

Even Lake got in on the teasing in a rare moment. “You're the reason why NASA has to put out articles telling people not to do that,” he laughed.

“I don't think NASA accounted for the fact that she looks like—I mean, that she is a human while she’s on Earth,” Tory said without missing a beat. “Besides, it was only the one time.” Although he knew that didn't make a difference from the perspective of their teasing.

“It's gonna be real awkward when you come back to Earth with alien horse babies,” Roxanne said with a smirk as she shrugged her shoulders. “That's all I'm saying. And yeah, I'll take a walk tonight, so I don't care. I kind of wanna talk to that changeling again before we leave tomorrow, just in case I can't find him again.”

“I wanna gonna go with you,” Lake jumped in, too. “I need to tell him thank you anyway.”

“Sorry if it doesn't really help with jealousy,” Roxie finished, sheepish now.

No, it didn't, but then, he wasn't really that jealous. It was more annoyance than anything he felt about being more boring than his friends. How many millions woke up every day and dreamed of this? Minus the weird relationship with an eccentric horse girl.

He didn't waste his alone time with Sapphire Glow though. After his two other friends headed out, he went upstairs with Sapphire, moving a little more slowly and quietly with her than last time. This time, after all was said and done, she had ended up on top of him, wearing another giant wide grin on her face. Tory tried to push away the fact that by virtue of their being a second time with her, it moved from a hook-up to being something like friends with benefits. Wasn’t he thinking before about how it shouldn’t be too casual?

He couldn’t not think about it though, of course. He was feeling a thousand times more self conscious about it now that it was on his mind. That, along with other things. He couldn’t hide his expression as Sapphire’s own shifted to confusion.

“Something wrong?” she asked with a raise of her eyebrow. She didn’t move from on top of him as she spoke.

“This isn’t, like… weird for you, is it?” he asked carefully. It was the best he could come up with to say while avoiding thinking too deeply about it. “Us… doing this?”

Her confused look only became more intense. “No? Why would it be?”

“Uh, because I’m supposed to be a human?”

“Yeah, so?” she asked quizzically. “What does that have to do with anything?” He could feel his self consciousness growing into uncomfortableness, and shifted from his position under her to stand near the bed. He was pacing slowly back and forth before he even realized it.

“Humans are super cool,” she started, “but you’re a pony right now, just like me. And I was a human, just like you. I bet it’d be a lot better if we were humans, sure, but it’s not like—”

“That’s only part of it,” he interrupted, stopping in his tracks to stare at the floor. “Like, this isn’t weird at all to you?” he asked, looking up into bright yellow eyes. “A bunch of strangers staying in your home for weeks for free and being… aliens, I guess?”

“No… why would it be?” she asked again, more slowly this time. “Do humans not let other humans stay in their homes? Because that’d be a deviation in human culture I’d wanna write down. Actually, while we’re on the subject, do humans—”

“No, that’s not it either!” he spoke up, starting to get frustrated. “Like… this! People from other worlds? In your home? That you barely know anything about but you’re having se—that you’re spending time with? That’s not weird to you? At all?”

“No.” She said it with a flat, confused tone, like he wasn’t making any sense to her at all. “I mean, I guess it’s a little weird, but not more than having a dragon in my house. Actually, probably less so than that! Ponies and humans are way cooler than dragons, and cause less of a mess! But don’t tell the princess I said that. She wouldn’t like it.”

He really shouldn’t have been letting Lake and Roxanne’s stupid jokes get to him. Lake even said it wasn’t as bad as he would’ve thought before, even if he thought it was weird. And it made sense. He was a horse—a pony—and so was Sapphire. On Earth, they were both humans. She could talk to him, he could talk back. It wasn’t any weirder hooking up with her than it would’ve been someone from, like, Australia.

Except now his face was going red as she got out of bed, too, and intentionally lifted her tail for him as she walked past him to the hallway bathroom. He shouldn’t have felt any particular way about that. Where were all these insecurities when she was flirting with him and getting him into her bed a week ago?

His brain was getting completely rewired the longer they stayed on Equus.

But then, she didn’t really look like a horse—to a certain extent, sure. But she looked about as much like a horse as a human did a chimpanzee. Similar in a lot of ways, but different as well in many ways.

Why not rationalize, if that was even what it was? He was already sleeping in her bed.

“Besides, I already know a lot about you,” she called as she left the bathroom, closing the bedroom door behind her when she returned and settling into the bed. “I’ve kept a lot of notes about you and humans in general. Plus, you’ve been living here for weeks, Tory. You’re not a stranger.”

He decided he would accept that explanation, and closed his eyes as he climbed into her bed and settled beside her. Overthinking it was ruining what was a good night anyway.

He let out a long breath, doing his best to fully move past it. “Well… that felt good, anyway,” he told her as he looked over her shoulder to see a book in her hooves and her horn glowing to make a light. “Did you, uh, wanna cuddle for a while?”

“Huh? Oh, no thanks, sorry,” Sapphire told him without even thinking. He tried not to feel any particular way about it. She was obviously preoccupied, clearly enough that giving an explanation for why would’ve been silly. It still kind of stung a little bit though, even though he clarified this was only casual.

It certainly didn’t help with any feelings about him being boring. Didn’t Lake say she told him she liked him? It certainly didn’t feel like she disliked him, but… maybe he was still overthinking it. He asked her if it was casual, after all.

“That’s okay,” he said quickly as he turned over. “Good night then.”

I Am One

Lake Cleaver stepped out of the closet to allow Roxanne and Tory good views of what was inside. He couldn’t see their faces as they leaned in to get a look around, but he heard their gasps, and could imagine their eyes blinking in surprise. He knew what that meant.

“I’m not going completely crazy, am I?” he asked anyway. “Like, I know I’m not, but please tell me I’m not having a schizophrenic episode or something.”

“Uh, I doubt it,” Roxanne replied, more bluntly than usual as she pulled herself back out of the small, cramped room. “Unless we’re all having the same episode.”

Tory didn’t answer immediately. He continued leaning his head through the closet to get a look at what was on the other side. He bent his body over slightly, placing his hands on the coat rack to hold himself steady as he peered through. The infinite black that now took the place of Lake’s wall seemed to absorb him as he gazed to the other side. Lake watched him nervously, shifting his weight from one foot to the other.

Finally, Tory, too, pulled himself back, and turned to stare at Lake with wild eyes. The look was no different than one he’d expect his friend to give to an alien. Lake was sure that he, too, still had the same look on his face.

“What in the world is going on?” Tory asked, his voice much lower and much more collected than the situation demanded. He might have used a similar tone if he asked Lake how he’d been doing.

Lake didn’t match the tone at all. “I don’t know!” he yelled, having to take a long breath to not completely lose it. “I opened the closet, and it just—it was there all of a sudden! I’ve never seen anything like that in my life!”

Both Tory and Roxanne blinked at him, watching as he wiggled around nervously where he stood. They didn’t look like they were taking this well, but who would? Certainly not Lake. They at least seemed more collected about this than he was. He wouldn’t have been surprised if he died of a heart attack right there. He used a shaky hand to brush a strand of dark brown hair from in front of his face.

“Should we tell someone?” Roxanne asked before he could. “Like the police or something? Cause I’m not really sure what you’re supposed to do about something like that.”

“I don’t know!” Lake yelled again. “Like, what are the police gonna be able to do about this? Other than give us drug tests to make sure we’re not crazy? But what the heck else are we supposed to do?”

“Uhh, tell someone, I think,” Tory said, still portraying the same calmness. Or maybe it was just plain shock. “Something like this is just… I have no idea,” he said. Then he peered through the door again, his neck flexing like he was turning his head and looking around. Then he pulled his head back out.

“Did it change you, too, when you looked through it?” his friend asked. “Cause that thing is changing me, it seems like. Like, not even into a human.” He stuck his head through again, and continued, “Something red, with animal ears and green hair, it looks like. Some kind of snout.” How Tory’s voice reached him from the infinite blackness, he wasn’t sure.

Lake didn’t know if he changed. He didn’t remember. He was paying more attention to the portal to… somewhere… that now existed in his closet to notice if his body changed. He didn’t really feel like checking either.

Roxanne seemed like she did, because she moved up right beside Tory to look through the black expanse again. “I wanna see,” she almost demanded as she pushed hanging clothes aside to lean her head through. Before she could comment, before Lake could ask what she saw, she moved again, this time pushing the rest of her body through to the other side of his closet. The portal seemed only to give a little bit of resistance, her progress forward slowing down just a tad, like she was moving through something thicker than air. A moment later, she couldn’t be seen anymore.

“Roxie!” Lake complained. “Get back here!”

No answer came from her, and neither did one come from Tory. Lake only stood there in silence, watching as Tory leaned through to presumably watch Roxanne do something. Or maybe she was dead and he was standing there in shock. The other side didn’t seem strange, sure, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t dangerous. Maybe–

“She’s a horse,” Tory finally announced to him. It was enough of a response for Lake to shake his head clear and unclench his jaw. He was not one for exciting adventures like his friends might have been, no way. He didn’t even like going to theme parks. This was all already too much for him.

He waited for clarification from his friend, but none came. “You said she’s a horse?” he asked, taking a breath beforehand to keep his voice steady. Tory sounded calm. That meant he should probably be calm, too.

“Yeah,” was the simple answer. “Four hooves, a snout, a tail and a mane—she looks like she’s supposed to be a horse. I think I’m supposed to be one, too.”

“Okay, well, can you two come back on this side?” Lake asked impatiently, still doing his best to hide any anxiety. “We don’t know what could happen or what’s out there or if it’s dangerous or anything.” He wasn’t an expert, but it didn’t take one to assume that they should call someone smart before poking around with impossible magic. Or get their heads examined.

Tory seemed mostly to ignore him. “It looks like a house to me,” he said, Lake only watching his neck flex as he presumably scanned the scene. “Like one an old lady would have or something.” He pulled himself back, and turned to look at Lake. “Roxie’s checking it out already. I’m gonna follow her.”

“Is that a good idea?” Lake asked. It was a question that fell on deaf ears, because a second later, Tory turned back around and passed fully through the infinite blackness that replaced what used to be a wall.

“Tory?” he called out, to no response. “Roxie!” Silence. “Get back here please? Both of you?” he asked.

No answer came. Lake shifted around on his feet and clenched his fists, taking a deep inhale to try and control his breathing. He was going to have to follow after them, wasn’t he? Never mind whatever danger he might have been getting himself in.

He let out his breath and carefully stepped up to the closet. Minus the infinite black expanse along the back wall, it was just the same as always. Coats and button up shirts hung from the hanger rail, and a dresser sat against what used to be the far wall. Books were still perfectly lined up on the top shelf, and board games and important documents sat along the counters to the side. Whatever universe bending physics caused such a thing to appear in his closet, it left everything in its right place, nice and neat as ever.

As well, for a mysterious black portal-thing, nothing about it seemed inherently dangerous. Sticking his head through, he gazed at whatever world was on the other side. Nothing seemed to hurt as he peered through, and he wasn’t ripped into tiny pieces. So unless this thing was secretly assaulting him with radiation, it wasn’t anything to fear.

Although now he noticed what Tory talked about before when he took a full step through the black hole. His body shifted to a bright orange color, unlike his usual pasty white skin. He could see without much trouble that his face now ended in a muzzle, and noticed his dark brown hair didn’t look entirely human. He could guess that, as Tory said, he was a horse. Limbs that ended in hooves pointed this fact out easily.

He didn’t immediately see Tory or Roxie, and quickly turned to step back out of the closet a few seconds later. Thankfully, the portal didn’t take him hostage and disappear to leave him stranded as a horse in someplace he didn’t belong. It also fixed his body so that he was human once more. It didn’t feel like his body physically shifted in any way when we went through and back again—it was almost as though the transition was instantaneous, like something out of a cartoon.

Lake’s heart still pounded though. It felt like it was beating out of his chest, so hard that he almost thought he could hear it out loud. That portal might so far have been non-threatening, but that fact only eased his nerves a little. It still shouldn’t have been there.

“Gonna have to follow them,” he said aloud, trying to psyche himself up. “You’re gonna have to follow them. You can do this.” He knew both of his friends. Tory and Roxanne both went through that thing without a second thought, as though it didn’t really matter. Someone was gonna have to watch over them, lest they do something idiotic. Like walk through a mysterious black portal he found in his closet less than an hour ago.

He really didn’t want to follow them. Maybe they’d come back on their own. Maybe they’d find gold or the cure to cancer or the secrets of the universe. Or maybe they’d get hurt, or arrested, or kidnapped, or whatever other horrible thing could possibly happen. At least theme parks had to have safety standards before you were allowed to enter them.

“It’ll be fine,” he insisted to himself, closing his eyes and taking another breath. “It’s not even dangerous. It’s just a house. Tory and Roxie are already looking around. You can do it, too.” It was enough to boost Lake’s confidence about following them.

But he wasn’t going to be an idiot about it, oh no. Someone had to know about this, just in case there were kidnappers or piles of gold on the other side. He didn’t exactly know who should know, but someone. An email to the New York Times wouldn’t hurt.

Neither would one to the University of Pennsylvania’s physics department, along with a couple of texts to some of his friends, and maybe one to his mother. If he wasn’t hallucinating and this wasn’t a dream, he could imagine how important something like this would be. And if he was hallucinating, then who cared? Outside of his psychiatrist, anyway. He would need to call her when he woke up if he was.

It only took a minute or two to send those emails and texts. After he was done, he shook his head and his limbs, trying to work the anxiety and nervousness out of his system. What could go wrong? Except for everything? Probably nothing, right? If it was dangerous, he could head right back to the closet, easy peasy. The fact that Tory and Roxie hadn’t returned was probably a good sign. How likely was it that they stumbled into danger within the last two minutes?

He didn’t think about the odds. Instead, he turned on the camera of his phone, and headed back through. No sense in dragging out the anticipation. Besides, he was a little bit curious, too. In a morbid sort of way.

Just like before, it was an instantaneous shift he experienced during the changing of his body. In a blink, no more was Lake a human, but a horse. Still bright orange, still with a brown mane and hooves. He didn’t even fall over as his body shifted from biped to quadruped. Apparently, wormholes that took you to apartments on the other side of the universe understood that horses were meant to be walking using what were once his hands.

They apparently also knew that his phone would be better off if it didn’t clatter to the… what was that? Laminate? A house through a wormhole to someplace no human had ever been before had laminate flooring? Whatever. It was good that he now held his phone in a wing on the side of his body rather than the thing dropping to the floor. Apparently horses in this part of the universe came with wings.

And stubby, almost perfectly cylindrical legs. As well as something closer to fur topping their skin instead of fine horse hair. Not to mention, they were kind of short, about four feet high if he had to guess. He might have been more of a pony than an actual horse. It was extremely weird.

But not entirely unfamiliar. He wasn’t a squid monster or a dinosaur or something completely alien. Lake’s heart rate slowed, as did his breathing as he took in his surroundings.

Just as Tory described, it was a house. Definitely one that belonged to an old lady, or else they were in an alternate version of a rich person’s home in the early nineteen hundreds. It looked high class, and had electric lights hooked into a fancy chandelier hanging over the center of the space, illuminating it. The particular room he now inhabited looked to be a living room, with the space directly behind him being a closet just like his own on the other side. He wasn’t still on Earth, was he? Was he in an alternate dimension, or just in a different world?

“Roxie?” Lake called quietly as he stepped into the main part of the room in front of him. “Tory?” He carefully used his body to close the door to the space the portal inhabited as he asked aloud, “Where are you two?”

He got no response from either of them. He didn’t imagine that they could’ve gotten far, but then again, he didn’t know whether time was relative when you transported yourself across the universe through magical, pitch black wormholes.

Nothing about this house seemed dangerous so far, nor did anything about his body. It moved naturally, without issue, as though his brain had already rewritten itself to be a horse and to move in that way. Walking was easy, and he could move his ears now without issue. It almost started to make him feel completely at ease—until he wondered whether or not that meant he was himself anymore. Could he still be himself if he had a quadruped brain now? How was he able to control unfamiliar muscles without issue? Did that mean he–

“Lake!”

“Oh my god!” Lake shouted, jumping at Roxanne’s voice. He turned to her and sent a glare of an expression her way. “Don’t fucking do that right now!”

Roxanne flashed him a wide, toothy grin, showing off flat horse teeth. Yes, she was a horse, too, not that Lake suspected Tory had lied. Her appearance was largely an assortment of pastel colors, unlike his practically glow-in-the-dark neon orange fur coat. She had a pink body, one that shifted into purple in spots, and a green mane with red stripes in it. Her eyes were purple, and large, taking up almost half of her face he estimated. They almost looked less like eyeballs and more like eye plates, they were so large. He imagined he looked largely the same way, minus the pink horn sticking out of her forehead and adding his new wings. She must have been a different breed of horse.

“You’re too easy to scare,” she teased as she walked around him, taking him in. “I could almost tell where you were just by that.” She stopped walking and her smile dropped into a frown as her eyes settled on something about him. “You’re naked, too.”

Lake’s wings ruffled subconsciously and he crossed his legs. If he hadn’t noticed that before, he sure did now. If the fur on his face could change color, he was sure it would’ve been bright red right about then.

"Stop looking at me then," he told her as he glanced away, his voice full of embarrassment. "Where the heck is Tory?" he asked. "We shouldn't be here without talking to someone and making sense of all of this first."

"I'm over here," the familiar voice called from behind him. He'd gone farther than Roxanne then. Not a surprise. How was Lake the only one concerned about all of this? He imagined this would’ve caused a fuss between the two of them rather than deep interest and curiosity.

“It’s just a hallway,” he announced as he poked his head out of the doorway he was standing in. No surprise, a horse was what he was, too, looking just the same as both he and Roxanne. He, instead of pink or blue though, had a red coat with a leaf green mane. It looked a bit like something out of a christmas movie, a look that was completed with blue eyes. He didn’t have either wings or a unicorn horn though. Maybe another different breed?

Perhaps though Lake wasn’t the only one worried about what was going on. Where he saw largely no fear in Roxanne’s eyes, Tory’s were still wild, even if his body language and voice didn’t show any emotion in it. If he paid close enough attention, he could see his friend taking slow, deep, deliberate breaths.

“See anything dangerous?” the woman-turned-horse-unicorn next to Lake asked. “You’re almost as scared as Lake.”

“Not really,” Tory told her flatly, “and no. It’s just a hallway. There’s stairs leading down and a bunch of windows. “I think it’s the front door, but I wanna take a look.”

“That’s cool with me,” Roxanne shrugged—how the heck could a horse shrug?—before stepping off after him. However, Lake interrupted her movements with a comment before she could get too far.

“Can you two please stop and think about this for one second?” he asked exasperatedly. Or maybe his voice was more desperate and anxious. He couldn’t be sure.

Both of them turned to him. He had their attention. Good.

“We need to talk to someone about all of this before we go marching out into the great unknown,” he said. “Seriously. You two can’t just ‘do whatever’. Like– you can’t–” Lake opened and closed his mouth a few times, but when no words came out, he let out a long huff of a breath. It almost sounded like a whinny, and made Roxanne grin at him.

“Don’t you care about any of this?” he asked exasperatedly. “What if it’s dangerous? How the heck can you act so casual?”

“Because it’s not dangerous,” Roxanne was quick to answer. “It doesn’t feel dangerous. It feels like a house.”

She was leaving a whole lot of details out of that assertion. Lake sent another little glare her way, and then turned expectantly toward Tory. The now red horse still didn’t show fear outside of the look in his eyes, but his ears did lower. It must have been subconscious. Lake took it as a good sign.

Just as quickly as they went down, they poked back up. “You can go back if you want to, Lake,” he told him. The winged horse’s expression changed to an uncomfortable grimace as his friend continued, “I doubt if there’s anything dangerous it’ll be stopped by some impossible magic portal, so there’s not much difference if we look around than if we sit around and wait for someone else.” He paused, rubbed a hoof against the ground, then finished, “Besides, I have lucid dreams all the time. This doesn’t really feel like a dream, but it could be one.”

Lake hadn’t ever had lucid dreams. Not one time in his life. This was definitely real. Either that, or someone accidently slipped LSD into his coffee. He didn’t have high expectations about either being true. But then again, the odds of whatever was going on happening in real life were so low as to be effectively zero.

He could tell from the sympathetic expression Tory threw his way that he knew Lake wanted to argue. “I’m gonna check it out either way. I wanna see what’s going on with this place. It’s okay if you go back and wait for us.”

“That is, unless you wanna stick with us and have a look around wherever we are,” Roxanne broke in temptingly. She wore a sly grin as she walked around him, like before. She wasn’t acting like her usual self, but then again, her current state was only off from that a little bit.

“You have your camera on, don’t you?” she told him, lifting one of her new hooves to point at the phone in his wing. “You can prove that we were the first explorers of this… wherever this house is, so they have to name it after us once we get famous. And you’d probably feel pretty left out if we looked around on our own without you.”

Yeah, that would suck. Lake was curious. He also didn’t like adventure like this, especially not when the adventure that seemed imminent shouldn’t have been possible at all. He glanced between her, Tory, and the door now shut closed behind him, unsure of what to do. He knew what direction he was leaning in.

“I can tell you’re scared, but I promise it’s not even gonna be dangerous,” Roxanne pressed, trying to sound more encouraging now. “And if it is, three of us would stand a better chance than two against whatever’s out there.”

“You can’t know something like that though!” he pushed back. “If a river of lava were suddenly sweeping through–”

“Do you see a river of lava?” she asked. “Trust me. I just know it’s not dangerous. And if it is, it won’t be any more dangerous looking around for five minutes than it would be leaving right now.”

“I’m going back,” he finally decided, turning back the way he came. “And if you two aren’t back in five minutes, I’m gonna–”

“Freeze where you are! All three of you!”

A loud voice boomed up the stairs that Tory stood near. All three turned their heads in its direction and stayed motionless as commanded. Tory actually showed his fear in his body language, and even Roxanne was starting to look nervous. No surprise.

It's almost as if they should have listened to me, Lake thought silently, a thought he didn't dwell on for now. Instead, he shot a quick glance to the door behind him, and debated whether or not to run. This was turning out about as well as it possibly could have.

He stayed still as he heard what seemed to be multiple sets of limbs ascending the stairs, until they were face to face with Tory and glancing back at he and Roxanne. More horses, as he imagined, three of them to be precise. They didn't look happy to see any of them either.

If Tory was psychic, he had yet to admit it. One of them was an older female horse, probably the owner of this house. She had a tan coat and an orange mane with white streaks in it, as well as wrinkles under her eyes. In human years, Lake might have guessed she was sixty.

Like the three of them, she didn't wear clothes, although she did have some fancy jewelry worn around her neck. The same couldn't be said for the other two horses. They were bigger than her—bigger than any of them—and wore blue shirts with vests on top that signified they were the MPD. No pants though. He guessed horses weren't much for modesty here, just like on Earth.

All three were both unicorns like Roxanne, and didn’t look like they wanted to hear whatever explanation they had for being here. The old woman in particular had a furious look in her eye, like she was absolutely pissed at the three of them. He couldn't blame her. If this was her home, was this technically breaking and entering?

The look on the faces of the other two showed angry looks, but not as intense as the female's. Instead, they were deadly serious, their eyes focusing on all three of them like they were trying to stare into their souls. It didn't take a rocket scientist to deduce what their occupation might be, given their golden badges and dark shades and officer caps and batons sitting in a belt wrapped around their waist. This was suddenly becoming very, very bad. Should Lake have expected anything else?

"I say we run for it," he whispered quietly to Roxanne, voice barely audible. It was a bad idea though, and he knew it. There would be no running from these ponies.

"Tory's too close to them," the unicorn whispered back just as quietly. "He'd get caught and get hurt probably."

"I thought you said you were sure there was nothing dangerous here," Lake quipped sarcastically. "And Tory said if there was, we could just leave. Now look."

“Be quiet!” one of the uniformed horses demanded. This didn’t feel like a dream, but it was pretty suspicious how these animals conveniently spoke English. What were the odds of that? Lower than the chances of a random portal appearing in Lake’s closet, certainly. Everything he’d seen thus far indicated that this place was like Earth, except with horses. It was almost logic breaking.

He met Tory’s eyes in front of him, and then glanced back to Roxanne. The former looked skeptical, whereas the latter seemed actually worried for the first time. He tried to ask both a silent question, but unsurprisingly got no response from either.

Then their new company spoke again. One of the male horses stayed close to Tory while the other one approached he and Roxanne. He felt something invisibly tighten around his ankles as the one near them said, “You’re being charged with criminal trespassing, and breaking and entering. You’re being placed under arrest, and are required to accompany us to the station. Don’t resist.”

It was probably the least surprising piece of news Lake had ever heard in his life.

Author's Note

I've got words for weeks.

Window Paine

Roxanne stepped outside again, back into the cold mountain top air that Lake stood in on Earth, and shapeshifted into a horse again. Her changeling powers still remained, even here on Earth.

No, she wasn’t exactly a horse now. She still had a horn, but this one was a bit shorter, with an almost spiked end. She had the same colors she did as a unicorn—the one she showed up as when they first left Earth—but her body wasn’t exactly the same. She had a purple shell sticking to her back; wings, she could tell, ones that were not dissimilar to a moth or a dragonfly. They were a lot like the ones she’d seen on the black creature in Sapphire’s neighborhood. Another changeling, she now knew.

Her body was complete with another shell protecting her underside, and a couple of crimson red moose like horns sticking out from the top of her head. She hadn’t seen anything like this in Equestria so far. But then there was also no slight itch to change into something else like there was with every new form she took. This was meant to be her body.

Strange that it didn’t have any terribly defining sex features, except maybe the stereotypical girly pastel pink color. The bits below her now looked largely unfamiliar, but maybe it was a stallion? Unless that was an ovipositor, then it would be a female. Maybe. It was difficult to tell, but not necessarily uncomfortable.

And emotions. Much like her shapeshifting power, her sixth sense remained, as available as ever to her. She couldn't sense anything from the Equus side while she stood on Earth, but Lake was there, writhing in discomfort as he shivered and stood naked looking at his phone. He wasn't happy, but he wasn't freaking out. He actually seemed a little hopeful. She immediately understood that these mountains might not have been in a location that was completely inaccessible.

Roxanne almost wanted to stay in her current form, but changed again a few seconds later, before anyone came through again or Lake turned around. A detail like this had… unknown implications for the future, ones she still needed time to process and think through. She became herself again—her real self—and stepped up to Lake to put a hand on his shoulder.

“Get out of the cold, dummy,” she said firmly, but lightheartedly, gently pulling him back to the portal. “You’re gonna get frostbitten standing around out here with no clothes.”

“Norway,” he told her, mostly ignoring her as his body shivered, his face and other parts of him already starting to turn read. “Th-this is Norway.” His teeth chattered as he looked into her eyes. “It’s not great, but it’s not terrible. But we don’t have passports or credit cards or anything, or any way to get to civilization. And Google doesn’t pull up directions from here to a town like Oslo,” he explained. “Th-th-this is some sort of island, at least f-f-five hundred miles north of m-mainland Europe.”

Norway, Roxanne considered. It was… better than the very worst place they could’ve been. Antarctica or Alaska or Greenland would’ve sucked badly. Norway wasn’t that much better though, especially not on an island. Why couldn't the universe have spit them out on a tropical resort? Like Thailand or Cambodia or Bali, a place with some nice beaches? They were naked enough already.

“We'll talk about it inside, Lake,” she said before too long as she started to shiver again, too. “Let's get out of the cold, please.” She eyed him once up and down before turning and heading back to warmth.

Tory was still upset, but had calmed down a little bit. He paced back and forth anxiously while Sapphire Glow gushed about the marvel of science this was and how she couldn't wait to show the Human In Equestria club what she discovered and how Twilight Sparkle would be so proud of her. Lilac Beauty meanwhile sat at a desk on the other side of the room, quickly scribbling something onto a sheet of paper. There was extremely tense and exciting energy pervading the space that Roxanne felt.

Tory raised an eyebrow and wore a hopeful expression as he stopped where he was, waiting for an answer to the obvious question. Roxanne looked to Lake to let him answer, and watched him trot up to show Tory his phone.

“It's Norway,” he explained, wiggling his body and ruffling his wings, trying to warm up, she could tell. His mane and feathers were already bristly from just a few minutes of standing out there. Sapphire Glow moved up to look over Lake's shoulder and stare at the device, too. Roxanne herself kept her distance and sat on her haunches on the ground. Interesting that the portal turned her back into a unicorn pony and not a changeling pony when she stepped through. She wondered why.

“And nowhere good in Norway either,” Lake continued. “Some island in the Atlantic, way farther north than anywhere in mainland Europe.” He used his fingers to zoom in and out on the map, saying, “There's no road or towns that I can see, but obviously that doesn't mean there aren't any towns. But it's harder to figure out stuff without any internet or data. Basically, only Alaska and Mars would be worse.”

“Norway is a western country though,” Roxanne chimed in, “so it's better than being in, like, Nepal. Hawaii would be nicer though.”

“Well, I don't know what any of those places are, but I can't wait to see them!” Sapphire Glow said excitedly. “It'll be an adventure, exploring Earth until we get to your home!”

“Except it's not an adventure because either way, we don't have some way to get anywhere from right there!” Tory said. “We don't have any supplies or money for supplies or anything! Why did it disappear from Lake's apartment but reappear in Norway when it's the same door as before? It doesn't make any sense!”

“I'm sure it'll be fine, though,” Sapphire Glow smiled and said before Roxanne could tell him to calm down. “That's Earth right there! Halfway home, right? It'll be fun, especially if I get to be a human the whole time! There's gonna be so much to study!”

Roxanne was glad for Sapphire Glow’s naivety, because it helped to work down Tory's frustration. His anxiety was making its way back to Lake, who's breathing was starting to pick up again. It was extremely unlike the stallion.

He closed his eyes, took a breath, and lowered his emotions. “Sorry,” he apologized, then shook his head. “I should've realized that trekking through snow to find some sort of civilization was supposed to be the most fun ever. It's an adventure!” He was a little bit sarcastic, but mostly joking. It went over Sapphire Glow’s head once again, who moved to lean into Tory as she talked excitedly about how it would definitely be loads of fun. It made Lake give a small smile and settle back down.

“We're gonna need to make a plan about this though,” he said. “We're gonna need warm clothes and camping supplies and food and a whole lot of other shit, too, to be able to get anywhere. If we can get anywhere.”

“I have old clothes you guys could probably wear, if you're okay with mare's stuff,” Sapphire said. “And I can ask my mom if she can loan us some money for camping supplies, too, and write to Twilight Sparkle if need be.”

She's gonna say no, Roxanne already knew. She doesn't like your obsessive personality and your reckless behavior. And Roxanne didn't know who Princess Twilight Sparkle was yet beyond brief mentions, but if the dictator of this world was going to reply to a message, she would've already done so.

“We're also gonna want to check out the area, too,” Roxanne said, knowing what Tory was thinking and speaking before he did. “Do a little scouting to see if it's worth it to try and get somewhere. It probably doesn't have to be all of us, but it should be.”

“After we find out why the portal disappeared before, though,” Lake finished. “I don't want us going through that thing only for it to disappear again on us. Being in the mountains if that happened would suck.”

“Any theories as to why it disappeared before, Sapphire?” Tory asked, with a raised eyebrow.

“No, but I'll definitely be trying to see why!” she assured him. “I've been trying to figure that out since you three said it disappeared the first time. Worldgates are meant to be relatively stable once they show up, existing for thousands of years at a time. If it's disappearing and reappearing, that could explain why it brought you to a different location. Or it could also be that the magical buildup in your apartment that caused it to appear in the first place dissipated quickly, so there's no more connection to that place. If the magic is still here on this side—which it is, since the portal is here—the connection would probably want to be created someplace with a lot of undisturbed magical buildup… um, is Norway someplace like that?”

“Undisturbed? Sure, part of it, probably,” Roxanne said. “Magical? I doubt it… well, I would've doubted it. I don't know anymore, obviously.”

“As far as we know, Earth has no magic,” Tory said. “Risking it disappearing on us and leaving us stranded in Norway in what's almost November is way too dangerous though. I think Roxanne and Lake will agree.” Roxanne nodded and Lake gave a quick “yeah” before Tory let out an annoyed sigh.

“I'll work on studying that, yeah, if it's dangerous,” Sapphire Glow decided. Then she grinned slyly, and put a hoof on Tory’s chest. “Besides,” she started to continue, “I still gotta find how how humans use hands to wash themselves, like you–”

“Not right now with the flirting, please?” he interrupted, grabbing her forehoof with one of his own and gently lowering it back to the floor. “Right now isn't the time, Sapphire, seriously.”

Huh, so he actually does have a little bit of a thing for her, Roxanne thought silently. That was interesting. She didn't need to be a mind reader to know that Lake could see it, too, with the way he shifted uncomfortably.

“Well, anyway,” Sapphire Glow continued a second later, “I need to talk to Lilac Beauty about staying here for a while and studying this. And I’m gonna need to get my notebook and some supplies from my house, too, to take and record proper measurements.”

“I’ll go with you to talk to her,” Lake suggested. “I don’t think she likes you very much, so I should probably do the talking.” Sapphire Glow smiled sheepishly at that, and then went with Lake to the other side of the room to speak with the older mare. It gave Roxanne a chance to ask the obvious question of Tory.

“Are you okay? Because right now, you seem like you’re doing worse than Lake.” She didn’t need to ask. She knew the answer, and knew he was going to refute it.

“I’m fine,” he told her, letting out a breath. “I just expected that getting into this house would be the hardest part. Not that we would have to travel the world to get back to Pennsylvania.” Tory let out another breath, then asked, “Are you okay though, Roxie?”

Roxanne hesitated, just a second, and Tory saw it. She knew he did. He raised an eyebrow and looked at her expectantly. No point in beating around the bush now. He and Lake were both gonna find out eventually after all.

“I’m still a changeling pony on that side,” she said as casually as she could. It didn’t matter how she spoke though; just like she expected, Tory’s look changed from curious to concern. Why wouldn’t it?

“You were a human though. We all were. I saw. What do you mean you’re still a changeling pony?”

“I mean exactly that,” she shrugged, then turned to step back through the portal. It was just as cold as it was a minute ago, the wind still biting her skin. Tory followed her through and took her in as he crossed his arms over his chest and hopped from foot to foot. He did not want to be out here, and waited impatiently for her to do something.

She didn’t hesitate, and shapeshifted again. She was practically able to hear him blinking in shock while the wind howled around them as his jaw fell to the floor. He was more shocked right then than he had been by anything during this whole adventure so far. His eyes were wide as he took in the sight of her, practically bulging out of his skull.

“I– you– why would you still be like that?” he asked. “None of the rest of us are still horses. It doesn’t make any sense!”

“I’ve no idea,” Roxanne shook her head as she twitched her new wings. Her voice wasn’t feminine, but it wasn’t masculine exactly. Androgynous? Definitely nasally, at least. It was kind of like her body now was, interestingly enough. What did that mean?

“Yes, we’re back on Earth, Tory,” she said as her friend started to think it. “If we weren’t, Lake’s GPS on his phone wouldn’t work. And obviously I can still feel your emotions and sort of read your mind. And no, I have no idea why I’d be able to. I just know I can.”

“That makes no sense at all,” Tory said as he shook his head, letting out a cold breath before turning to head back through to the Equus side of the portal. Roxanne quickly followed after him, and watched him pace back and forth again as she stepped through. Interesting that whenever she went through the portal, it seemed to change her into either a regular Equestrian looking unicorn or a regular human. Not the body that felt most natural so far. The changeling.

“But maybe that’s a good thing,” Tory continued as he paced. “Maybe we can use that somehow. If you have wings now, you could learn to fly and find somewhere for us to get to and contact the police. Or learn a teleportation spell, like those cops did to us. This could actually work.”

“I don’t know about flying for hundreds of miles, but maybe,” she agreed. “Teleportation could work, if there was a way to do it on Earth. We’d have to learn how to do that here though.” Or they could always get some tents and camping gear if need be, she thought, but she wasn’t sure how good of a plan that was. Roxanne didn’t have a terrible amount of faith in any of camping or flying or teleporting. She had a feeling none would get them particularly far.

Thankfully, Tory couldn’t read her mind. He settled some as she put on a confident smile, and more so when Sapphire Glow and Lake explained that Lilac Beauty would be okay with them studying their house and would let them forego their restraining order. The four of them were getting somewhere.

Sapphire Glow explained to Lilac Beauty that they would be back soon after she gathered what she needed from her home, and she, Roxanne, and Tory left quickly after that, leaving Lake to keep watch over the portal. As they walked down the street to get back—more like cantered since Sapphire didn’t want to waste time outside—Roxanne explained to her what she did to Tory, about her still having magical abilities while on Earth.

“Huh, that's interesting!” Sapphire said as they moved along. “Are you sure you haven't secretly been a changeling this whole time, Roxie?” she asked.

“Uh, yeah, pretty sure.”

“Hmmm. I wonder why it would make you swap back and forth between human and pony in that case. As far as I understood, worldgates don't permanently change you—not over short timescales anyway. But it seems like you–”

“Hold on,” Tory quickly interrupted. “Bring it back. What do you mean ‘over short timescales’? Are you saying there's a chance we go back to Earth and get stuck as ponies instead of people?”

“Not in the short term,” the mare smiled. “Don't worry. We're talking on the order of many decades, otherwise I wouldn't have changed into a human when I stepped through the portal. I've heard of it happening to Gaia the Great after she spent three thousand years on Earth, saving creatures from enslavement far and wide. She looked like a human for years afterwards they say. But she was changed back into a pony after–”

“She's basically telling you we'll be fine,” Roxanne cut in. Well, they'll be fine anyway. She already had new powers for her to keep on Earth, it seemed.

“Don't you worry, you'll still get a chance to use those human hands on me, Tory,” she smirked. Interesting how the more and more she continued flirting with him, the way he became slowly, ever so slightly more embarrassed. No way the two wouldn't hook up within a month, whether in Equestria or on Earth. Sapphire Glow was working him, even if she held nothing beyond physical attraction to him as far as Roxanne could tell.

“That just makes me wanna get the hell out of here as quickly as we possibly can all the more,” Tory replied. “God, why did I follow you through to here?” he asked as he sent an exasperated look Roxanne's way. Then he looked back to Sapphire Glow and quickly finished, “And you know what I meant when I said that.”

“Oh, I absolutely do,” the mare grinned.

“Only Lake gets to use the excuse that we dragged him along,” Roxanne retorted. “You followed after me all on your own.”

“Yeah, yeah,” he replied sarcastically, but with a smile. Good. He was quickly getting out of his dumb funk. Calming down one anxious mess of a horse was stressful enough already, but Lake had an excuse about that, too.

Tory sighed, still more frustrated than he was anxious, but even that was waning. “I was just expecting us to get home and find a million people waiting to interview us, not to end up in Norway… why don't you teleport us to your house, Sapphire?” he asked. “We've seen you teleport yourself before.”

“You think I have enough energy to teleport myself and two other ponies back and forth across the city like I'm Princess Twilight Sparkle?” she replied. “No way. Even if I did, I want to save my magic to study that portal. If it takes a few extra minutes, it takes a few extra minutes.” It was the first time either of them saw Sapphire being conservative with her judgment. Tory smiled and made the obvious comment.

“Oh, of course, you would never be wasteful and reckless, would you?” She turned and sent a grin his way before facing forward again. He sent a knowing look and a shake of his head Roxanne's way at that.

And Tory’s pretending he's not working her back, she considered silently. Interesting.

It wasn't too long before they finally got back to their temporary home. Shimmering Diamond was on the couch as they went in, and grunted a greeting to Sapphire that she ignored. The mare instead headed quickly into her bedroom to grab her things, and then to the desk in the dining room to scribble a few notes down and burn them in the candle. Both Roxanne and Tory stood patiently waiting for her to finish up so they could head back.

“What's gotten into her?” Shimmering Diamond asked casually. “No wait, don't tell me: more human stuff?”

“We found the portal back to our home,” Tory replied. “Sapphire’s gonna take some measurements and figure out what's going on.”

“We might still need to stay here though, if it's not trouble,” Roxanne continued before Shimmering Diamond could ask the obvious. “The portal doesn't lead exactly to the right place, unfortunately. But like we said, once we find a way back home, you can follow us if you want.”

“I might take you up on your offer sometime,” Shimmering replied humorously as she took a sip of her beer. It didn't take a mind reader to realize she didn't believe them, but who would? Lilac Beauty barely did.

“Make sure she stays out of trouble though,” she continued. “I don't want one more message about how Sapphire's been arrested again. You won't be staying here if I get a call like that.”

Hopefully we won't be staying here very much longer anyway, Roxanne thought. She had doubts about moving along in the short term though. Nothing was really going their way.

Sapphire Glow, of course, was a different story, and radiated excitement before she even said anything. She carried a notepad and several weird looking instruments in her magic as she approached.

“Let's get going! I wanna explore Earth!” she chanted excitedly as she stepped back out the door.

Roxanne had a strong feeling this was gonna be a long afternoon, and an even stronger one about how it would probably turn out. She tried not to think of that as she shapeshifted into a changeling again, the one she knew was meant to be her. She took a moment to close her eyes and gather up some of the protective feeling she'd saved from the other one she saw weeks before. She might need it for the long haul.

She was one hundred percent certain that they weren't getting back home to Pennsylvania anytime soon.