What Could Be, Should Not Be.by Tangerine BlastChaptersThe SpellNew DimensionThis is WeirdEarth Pony Academy The SpellTwilight Sparkle was in the basement of the library that she lived at, sorting out old books. So far she had two piles, books to keep and books that were too worn out to read. She didn't even know why there so many books down here, all books should have been upstairs for ponies to read or in the garbage. She shuddered at that thought, but she had to say, some books down here where so battered that she couldn't make out anything they said. The purple unicorn sighed, some of these books might have been interesting to read, Oh well. She thought as she threw another book into the discard pile. "You doing OK Spike?" she asked a pile of books off to her left. There was a muffled sound and then her baby dragon assistant popped his out of the mound. "Ya, Twilight I'm fine." suddenly his belly let out a grumble. Spike looked at it then sighed, "But I am really hungry." Twilight let out a little giggle, they had been working at this for some time and Twilight could always count on the little dragon to know when it was time to eat. "OK, you go make some dinner, I'll keep working until it's ready." Spike happily stepped out of the mound of books and hurried off to the kitchen. It was a good thing too, he felt a big sneeze coming and he didn't want to burn any books by accident. Twilight sighed and went back to sorting books. She hadn't even sorted a dozen when one cover caught her eye. She picked up the book with her magic and read the title: "Dimension Viewing" she read out loud. The book looked delicate so she carefully opened it, the writing was smudged here and there but she could make out most of what the book said. It sounded very promising, it was about a spell were you could, well, view different dimensions without the ponies in the dimension noticing anything. The spell didn't look complicated and Twilight was enchanted, I could see what my life would be like if something different happened that completely changed it. the purple unicorn mused. She snapped the book shut and walked up the stairs out of the basement, she promised herself that she would finish cleaning it later. "Twilight?" Spike asked, when he saw his caretaker. "What are you doing up here? Dinner isn't ready yet." The librarian looked at him sheepishly, "Well, you see I found this book about this spell and....." Spike held up a hand to stop her, "So you stopped what you where doing to learn it." he said bluntly. Twilight nodded. Spike rolled his eyes, "Whatever, I'll finish dinner." He was used to Twilight doing this, stopping everything for a spell or research. The unicorn's eyes brightened, "Thanks Spike, this probably won't take that long." She then started heading up to her room, leaving her assistant to continue cooking. When she got there she opened the book back up and started examining how to work the spell. It really was simple, all she had to do was get into a dark area and chant the words while releasing her magic, there was something else after the instructions but she couldn't make it out. Concluding it wasn't that important, she closed all the blinds in the room, it didn't have to be pitch black, just dark. The spell didn't take long. Twilight chanted the words a couple times and then she saw a small light, really she wouldn't have noticed it except that it was growing. The light got bigger and brighter every time Twilight chanted, until it was the size of the unicorn and almost blinding her. Then suddenly it dimmed and Twilight could clearly see something in it. Not clearly, the picture was fuzzy but it kept getting sharper. After a few seconds, the picture got so clear that it felt like Twilight was looking out her window. She clearly saw Ponyville, it looked almost the same and the unicorn wondered if she had made a mistake, but then a pony stepped into view. The pony was Rainbow Dash, well almost. She certainly looked like the tom boy Pegasus, same light blue coat, rainbow mane, but....., but she also didn't look like the dare devil, her body was less fit, her wings at her side and not splayed out. Most of all though was the way this Pegasus was moving, instead of looking at the world with an essence of confidence, this Rainbow was slinking through town, not looking at anypony and looking like she just wanted to get home at fast as possible. The sight of this shy Rainbow Dash took Twilight by surprise and for a moment she just stood there staring. But when the blue Pegasus whimpered when another pony started talking to her, Twilight just couldn't take it, she burst out into a fit of laughter and lost concentration on the spell, having the 'window' she was looking at vanish in a flash. When she had stopped laughing at the thought of a bashful Dash, Twilight realized that she felt sort of drained. The spell probably used up a lot of magic and now Twilight felt tired, not to mention she still hadn't eaten anything. She went back down stairs to see if Spike had finished cooking dinner. Twilight was strolling through Ponyville the next day, heading off to Sugar Cube Corner. Yesterday she had told Spike about what she had seen, Spike had also thought it hysterical and had suggested that the rest of the gang come and see it too. Twilight had thought this was a wonderful idea and didn't know why she hadn't thought of it before. The purple unicorn had decided to start with Pinkie Pie, after all the hyper, pink, earth pony always enjoyed a laugh and Twilight only hopped that she could pull her friend away from her job long enough to see the hysterical sights the spell provided. That is why Twilight now found herself walking towards the bakery that housed her party loving friend. She walked through the doors and was greeted by the cheery voice of the very same pony she came to see. "Twilight!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed. "Are you here to buy yummy treats? Cause ours are the best in Ponyville, but of course Sugar Cube Corner is the only bakery in Ponyville, so of course it would have the best goodies, but still! I mean there super duper yummy and they'er probably the best in all of Eqestria. " The earth pony giggled, "But why would you come to a bakery if you didn't want to buy anything, that would be silly, well you could just stand there and smell the treats but that would be dumb because you couldn't eat them and...." "Hi, Pinkie Pie." Twilight interrupted her friend's rambling. "I'm not here to buy anything I'm here for you." "Really?" Pinkie asked. "Why do you need me?" "Because I have some thing really funny to show you and the rest of the gang, if you can make it." "Of course I can make it!" Pinkie exclaimed, "I wouldn't miss anything that's super funny with my friends." Then she took in a deep breath and yelled. "MRS. CAKE! I'M GOING TO TWILIGHT'S I'LL BE BACK SOON!" "Alright dear, just be back before your shift." A voice answered. "Okay dokay lokay." Pinkie said bouncing out of the bakery. Twilight just followed, a grin on her face. Getting everyone else was easy, Rarity didn't have work, Applejack had finished all her chores, Fluttershy didn't have any animals to tend to at that moment, (Though they had to assure her that what they were doing was funny, not scary in any way) and Rainbow, like always, was just lounging around. (Twilight couldn't help but giggle when she say her.) When they were all gathered at the library AJ asked "Alright, Twilight what is this funny thing ya' like ta show all us." Twilight took out the book and showed it to her friends, "This is a dimension viewing spell." the unicorn explained, "It lets us see into other dimensions without upsetting them. And," She grinned at Rainbow who just looked at her, confused. "There's some pretty funny stuff in there." Pinkie Pie was bouncing around "Wow, this is going to super ultra terrific!" She exclaimed. Twilight smiled and closed all the blinds, Fluttershy yipped in fear. "It's OK, Fluttershy." Twilight soothed. "It will only be dark for a little bit." "Does it have to be dark at all?" the timid Pegasus asked. Twilight nodded, and then started the spell, chanting and letting her magic flow. The spell worked great at first, the light was there and then it got bigger and brighter like before, but then it wouldn't stop growing like it did the first time. Twilight could make out some shapes when it got to pony size, but they didn't clear up. They just got more blurred as the light kept growing and growing. Then like somepony opened a window on a stormy day, a great wind started to rise. "Is t'is spos' 'ta happen?" the orange earth pony asked, clinging to her hat. Twilight shook her head hard, she had stopped chanting a long time ago and was now trying to shut off the spell. No matter what she tried though, the light just got bigger and bigger until it engulfed the six ponies in its light. Then suddenly, blackness. Authors note: This is the first chapter of many, it gets more exiting I assure you. So just bare with me. Please tell me how I can improve so I can make the next chapter better, thanks. New DimensionThe feeling was so strange, Rarity felt like she was falling, but not. It sort of felt like the time that she had those wings and was coming in for a landing. The fall was gentle but very firm and when she landed it sent a jolt through her. Her first thought when she landed was, simply. Ow. Her second thought was, is everyone alright? Next thought, that was NOT funny. It was only a until these and many other thoughts went through her head before she started thinking things like Is my mane OK? but she chose that one to start saying. So she screeched frantically "Is my mane alright?" This gave her a groan from somepony (Probably Rainbow Dash). But Rarity still couldn't see anything, her eye were wide open and yet they took nothing in. Wait! There was something. Rarity blinked a few times and her surroundings came into focus. She blinked again, she could see her friends, all strewn about on the floor. She could also see that none of them had moved, they were all still in the library, in the exact same places that they were before Twilight cast that spell. They were in the library, but it looked......different. The books and shelves were still there, but they were all covered in dust and strung about everywhere. The lighting was also different, it had been dark before but know it was simply drafty. Rarity noticed more things, like how nothing seemed organized and everything looked abandoned. The white unicorn's eyes settled on the dust again, she looked at it a moment before jumping up and screaming "Dust, Dust everywhere! It's all over me!" Rainbow groaned again and Applejack stood up to help the frantic unicorn dust herself of. Rarity let her help, muttering under her breath about filth and such. Pinkie Pie bounced up from the floor, complaining "That wasn't fun or funny, Twilight." Twilight, in answer, grunted then sat up and shook her head saying, "It wasn't supposed to do that." she said frustrated. "We were supposed to just view a dimension, not....not....." She stuttered. "Darling?" Rarity asked calmly, but with a slight quaver in her voice "What exactly did the spell do?" Twilight looked around and sighed, "I think..." she gulped. "I think we went into another dimension." She looked around more, "but I don't think it's the same one that I saw before." "Why....why does the library look so, scary?" Fluttershy asked quietly. "It looks deserted." Rainbow commented. "Like no one's been here for years." "That would explain the 'For Sale' sign in the window." Pinkie said, standing next to the door. "What?" Everyone said at once rushing over towards Pinkie. Sure enough there was a sign in the window that stated that the library was for sale. Twilight took in a deep breath. "We should see what kind of universe we landed in." she muttered. "But we need to try to blend in with whatever we find out there." she slowly opened the doors and stepped out into the sunlight. The world outside wasn't that strange really. It looked just like Ponyville, besides that the library looked worse on the outside, everything seemed normal. Nothing else was really neglected, everything looked in tip top shape. Rarity noticed some minor details amiss here and there, but that was to be expected wasn't it? The ponies weren't very odd either, no one recognized any of the ponies that passed them by but they all seemed to just be going about there lives like normal ponies. Rarity noticed something amiss though. She doubted any of her friends noticed it, but she did. She noticed that while she saw many unicorns walking by themselves, she did not see a Pegasus or Earth Pony without the company of a Unicorn. She also saw with further inspection, that.....the.....Earth Ponies.....were......all wearing......collars? And leashes too for that matter, each leash was held by a unicorn, with magic or other means. Rarity's friends seemed oblivious to this fact. The six newcomers exited the library and started walking around to take in there surroundings. They hadn't gone ten yards when a pure black unicorn colt with a grey mane stopped them and asked. "Did you just come out of the library?" He was looking at them confused. Right behind him was another colt, this one a Pegasus, he was deep red with a yellow mane. "Um...." Twilight said "Yes." The colt still looked baffled so she continued. "We, um, bought it. We're new you see." "Well, that place hasn't been used in so long I'm surprised someone's bought it." The Colt said. "Well, Twilight is sort of an egghead." Rainbow added. The unicorn looked at her in shock, like he was surprised she could speak. When no one else reacted, (except for his Pegasus friend who let out a gasp) the dark colt shrugged it off and polity said "My name is Galaxy and this is Candle Light," he gestured to the Pegasus who bowed his head and let out a soft hello. "And I welcome you to Ponyville." Twilight began the introductions automatically, "I'm Twilight Sparkle, this is Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Applejack and, Pinkie Pie." The pink pony in question went strait up to Galaxy and started rambling. "Hi there, I'm so exited to meet you, I love meeting new ponies, and this town is just full of new ponies for me to meet. So I'm really exited." thankfully she stopped there. Galaxy was looking shocked again and also a little bit disgusted. But a smile soon returned to his lips as he pushed Pinkie away with his magic saying to Twilight. "You need to train her I see, and all earth ponies must be on leashes when there out on the streets here." Five ponies just stared at him. Rarity quickly took the lead. "Of course, but you see we lost our collars and leashes in the luggage and we need some new ones. Do you know where we could get some?" She explained, batting her eyes. Galaxy nodded, "Of course, right this way." he lead them down the street to a shop, "Just tell Tinker that you need new ones, he'll get you some." Rarity nodded and led her companions in. Before they entered Rainbow Dash hissed. "Leashes?" The store was very nice, considering that it was lined with dog collars fit for ponies. There were also other things like hats and scarves. It was lit well and seemed pleasant. There was a yellow unicorn sitting behind a desk, he smiled as the six mares walked in. "Ah, do you need some accessories for your earth ponies?" he called. He blinked, "You're not from around here. Well, my name is Tinker and I make earth pony accessories. Welcome." "We'll be with you in one moment." Twilight said, leading the others into a privite corner. "What's going on?" she whispered. "How much do you know, Rarity?" Rainbow accused. Rarity shrugged, "Not much, I just noticed that all the earth ponies had collars on, and you did say to blend in." she nodded towards Twilight. Twilight nodded back looking a little confused. "But other then that I don't know much." "Oh! Oh!" Pinkie squealed. "I know! I know! Pick me!" "Pinkie?" Twilight said facing the bouncing pony. "There's a pecking order here." Pinkie stated, when she got blank faces she explained, "The unicorns are in charge, they make the rules and stuff, the Pegasuses are next, they're like servants or helpers, and the earth ponies are last, there like slaves or animals or something." "That makes sense." Applejack said after a moment of silence. "Pinkie, how do you know all this?" Twilight demanded. Pinkie rolled her eyes. "Didn't you all see how Galaxy was looking at me? He was all like 'why on earth is she talking to me like this?' and when Rainbow said Twilight was an egghead he was all like 'aren't you going to punish her?' but Pegasus don't have to have leashes." "Oh." "Now we have to figure out who owns who." Pinkie said. More blank stares. Pinkie rolled her eyes again, "Twilight and Rarity have to 'own' us." she did the little air marks, "and it would make a lot of scenes if you each 'owned' one Pegasus and one Earth pony." "Right," Twilight said, seeing the logic, "I guess I'll take you than, Pinkie." "Okay dokay lokay." "I....I would like to be with Rarity." Fluttershy said "If that's OK." "Of course it is, darling" Rarity said. "You are one of my best friends after all." "I still don't wanna wear a collar." Applejack grumbled. "I know," Twilight said, "but we need to blend in or else ponies will start to get suspicious." Applejack grumbled, but nodded. The six ponies then turned to face a smiling Tinker. This is WeirdApplejack was standing in the back of Tinker's shop. He was measuring her neck witch felt weird on so many levels. Twilight and Rarity had told him that they needed new collars and which pony 'belonged' to who. He had asked to see there cutie marks and when they looked at him confused he explained. "I have to see your cutie marks so I can put it on there collars, so they will be identified as yours. Rarity and Twilight had then let him examine there cutie marks and he quickly sketched them out. Tinker was now trying to measure Pinkie Pie's neck, but she would not stay still. She was bouncing around and doing things that, well, Pinkie did. Eventually Tinker forced her to sit still using his magic, muttering to himself about better training or something. When he had finished taking the earth ponies' measurements he asked the two unicorns what colors they wanted the collars to be. They both looked at him in confusion before saying something. "Um...blue?" Twilight answered. "Red." Rarity replied. Tinker nodded again and went to the wall and retrieved one of each color. He then went to a desk and started making something, though Applejack couldn't see what it was. Tinker worked for awhile before Rainbow Dash complained, "How long is this going to take?" Tinker shot her a look, then looked at Twilight who glared at Rainbow. Dash huffed at sat back down, but thankfully Tinker answered her question. "It should be done soon, I just have to get the cutie marks on the collars." He sounded irritated. Rainbow didn't say anything more and Tinker went back to working. When he was done he levitated the collars and snapped them on the two earth ponies. Applejack was surprised, the collars fit snugly but there was still enough give for it to be comfortable. "Wow!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed, "It's so neat! Twilight's cutie mark looks cool on it." Applejack looked at her own, the red did go well with her orange fur, and the diamond hanging own from it was a nice touch.Then the leashes came on. Tinker snapped on the leashes to the collars and AJ instantly felt restrained. She almost felt like she couldn't breath, it was the strangest feeling. She began to tug at it, but Tinker just tugged back and handed the end of the leash to Rarity. He gave Pinkie's leash to Twilight. Tinker looked back at Applejack and said to Rarity, "Do you want me to put your cutie mark on that hat too?" AJ almost lost it, she frantically clutched her hat, "An't nopony's go'in to touch my hat." she said defensively. "No, that's alright. That hat is very special to her and nothing shall be done with it." Rarity said hastily. Tinker shrugged, "That's fine, I was just wondering. Would you like to buy anything else? Maybe a hair pin for your Pegasus to identify them as your servants?" "Is that normal in this town?" Twilight asked hesitantly. Tinker shrugged, "Some folk have them, but it isn't required." "No, then." Twilight said. "I think we're good." "Alright then, that will be 20 bits." Rarity instantly pulled out the money, much to the surprise of everyone, and handed it to Tinker. He took it, counted it, and then handed Rarity back her change before waving the six ponies out, calling "Have a nice day." Those ponies in question looked at each other and then headed back to the library. The unicorns holding the ends of the leashes with there magic, feeling very awkward. "Were on earth did you get that money?" Dash asked Rarity when they returned to the library. "Oh deary, I always have extra bits on me. You never know when the'll come in handy." Rarity replied as if it was obvious. Dash just rolled her eyes, "Of course you do." Twilight meanwhile was looking through the books in the old library. She would look at one, toss it on the floor and then pick up another one. "Sugercube, what're you do'in?" Applejack asked. She had taken of her collar as soon as they had gotten into the library. "I'm trying to figure out why earth ponies are treated as pets." Twilight answered, frustrated. "Even though we're in a new dimension it doesn't make any scenes. And figuring out why will also help us blend in." "Why do we need to blend in?" Dash asked, irritated. "I mean can't you just do the spell again and send us back?" Twilight shook her head. "We can't do that for a couple of reasons. Number one: dimension traveling is more magically draining then just dimension viewing and I need time to recover. And number two: The spell wasn't supposed to do that so I need to figure out what I did wrong before I can do it again and get us home. That's also what I'm looking for, a book on how to get us back." "Um...do...do you think,you know sense this it a parallel universe, do you think there are a type of us?" Fluttershy asked quietly. Twilight shook her head again, "I have no idea, but for some reason I doubt it. We haven't met a single pony that is in any scenes like any pony back home." Twilight gasped "Yes! Here's a book about the history." The unicorn set the book on an old desk and flipped it open. A cloud of dust immediately engulfed her. "Ack!" she coughed, waving her hoof around to clear the dust. She then started flipping through the book until she found the page she was looking for and shouted, "Aha." before skimming over it. He face showing great interest. Her five friends waited a moment before Dash asked, "Um...Twilight, are you gonna tell us what it says?" "Hmm?" Twilight said looking up, "Oh! Yes of course! Sorry, I got a little into it." "That's alright sugercube." Applejack said, "Just read it for us." "Alright." Twilight said, clearing her throat, "It says here," she then started reading aloud. "Long ago everypony was treated the same. The Pegasus and the Earth ponies were considered the equivalent to the unicorns and even the Alicorns. Then Queen Iris came to the thrown, she saw the error in the plan that had been used for so many years. The unicorns could use magic, so they should be held to the highest for this ability. The Pegasus could fly, not as spectacular as magic but still useful, they should be the middle class. The Earth ponies couldn't do anything, they couldn't fly or use magic or any thing special, like animals, so they should be treated as such." "Now hold your horseapples sugercube." Applejack interrupted Twilight. "Us Earth ponies may not have fancy things, but we're tied ta the land. Ain't no other type of pony grows crop better then us." "I know Applejack." Twilight reassured her friend."I'm just reading what the book says. It's wrong, but that's what it says." Applejack nodded, but she still looked upset, and motioned for Twilight to continue. "The Alicorns of course, would be held to the highest of all. They would be treated god like, for it is only appropriate for such magnificent beings to be above us all. Other things changed too, Pegasus no longer went to regular school, instead they went to a special school to learn how to help unicorns. Earth ponies couldn't go to any school and became uneducated. Some ponies then rebelled, they could not see the grand genius of our beloved Queen Iris. Thankfully, they were soon stopped and peace returned. Grander peace then before, for everypony new there place. Queen Iris still rules today and watches over us, making sure that nopony is treated how they shouldn't be. As long as this code is upheld, war will never fall." "That books crazy!" Rainbow declared after Twilight had finished reading, "It makes it sound as if being equal is a bad thing." "Well this is probably written by a unicorn." Twilight reasoned "To them it would be better." "Ya," Dash huffed. "They own everything. Of course it's better for them." "It just don't make no sense." Applejack added. "Earth ponies have a high value in the economy, we grow all the food for crying out loud!" "Probably why they didn't get rid of them all together." Rarity joined in. Applejack looked at her for a moment then shook her head, "That's just messed up." "Don't Earth ponies have any rights?" came the quite voice of Fluttershy. Twilight sighed, "I don't know Futtershy, the book didn't say anything about that." Twilight looked each of her friend in the eye, " Look, it may be crazy, but that's how it works here. We'll just have to fit in until we can get back home." All the ponies nodded, then they heard a sudden rumbling. "Woopsie." Pinkie Pie giggled, looking down at her belly. "Hey Twilight, does blending in involve getting food?" Earth Pony Academy Earth Pony Academy The six ponies had gone shopping. Thankfully the market place hadn't change and they could find everything easily. Applejack and Pinkie Pie were on there leashes again and Applejack was looking uncomfortable. Pinkie, on the other hoof, didn't seem like it was bothering her at all. She was bouncing around like nothing on earth was wrong. The bouncing pink pony earned them a lot of stares, but they tried not to take notice. When they were done, the six ponies started heading back to the library. They reached the door, but before Twilight could push it open, Pinkie Pie let out a friendly cry. "Hi Galaxy, Candle Light, and Tinker." she called. Sure enough those three ponies were walking directly towards the group, along with two other earth ponies. The first one was a chocolate stallion with bright yellow hair and an ice cream sundae cutie mark. His collar had Galaxy's swirl of the galaxy cutie mark on it. The other pony was a light tan mare with strawberry red hair and a strawberry shortcake cutie mark. Her collar had the hammer and pliers cross of Tinker's cutie mark. They all came towards the group at a rapid pace, too fast for Twilight to consider why they were walking towards the group of mares. "Hello," Galaxy said, bowing slightly. "I would like you to meet my earth pony, his name is Chocolate Sundae. Say hello Chocolate." Chocolate bowed deeply and greeted, "Hello there." "And this," Tinker spoke up, gesturing towards the mare. "is Strawberry Shortcake. I'm sorry she couldn't help when I was getting you collars, she was asleep you see." The earth pony bowed like Chocolate. "Hi!" Pinkie Pie said grabbing the Earth ponies' hooves and shaking. "I'm Pinkie Pie and I'm super exited to meet you!" "Pinkie." Twilight groaned, pulling on the leash just enough to make the pink mare sit down. "I'm sorry, uh...did you want to talk to us about something?" "Actually yes." Galaxy replied. "Your Earth pony is what we wanted to talk to you about actually." "Oh, OK." Twilight said, wondering if Pinkie had gotten them into any trouble. "You see," Galaxy continued, "me and Tinker have both noticed that your earth pony is a little bit, ah, untrained." He gave Twilight a reassuring smile when she looked a little worried. "This has nothing to do with you of course but because you are new to Ponyville, me and Tinker have decided to treat you to something." He pointed in the direction of what, in the mares reality, was Rarity's boutique. What was there instead was a large, almost tent like structure. It had red and white stripes and a banner hanging over it that nopony could read at this distance. Rarity let out a gasp. "Yes, it is quite a sight isn't it." Galaxy misinterpreted her gasp. "Anyway, that is the 'Academy for Earth Ponies.' It's taught by Lady Smart, the best unicorn in teaching and training Earth Ponies. We have decided to treat you to her because your new in Ponyville and your Earth pony isn't trained. We'll pay and everything so there is no need to worry." Twilight hesitated for a moment, she would prefer not to go anywhere that wasn't absolutely necessary. She also realized it would be strange for her to deny the offer. "I don't want to be any trouble..." she started. "No trouble at all." Tinker replied happily, "We like helping new ponies." "Well....I guess we could." Twilight said. "May I tag along?" Rarity asked. "Of course, your earth pony can get some training too." Galaxy said, he turned around and led the way towards the 'Earth Pony Academy.' It was an amazing place inside, It wasn't necessarily crowded but there were a lot of ponies about. Many unicorns were training earth ponies. It was all together very pleasant despite the ponies getting treated like animals. "We register over there." Tinker said pointing towards a desk. They all walked over and saw a ginger Pegasus typing something. "Yes?" she asked as they approached. "Hello!" Galaxy said cheerfully. "My friends would like to get there earth ponies trained." he gestured towards Twilight and Rarity. The pony behind the desk nodded and then stood up saying, "Fallow me please." She led them around a little before stopping at a yellow unicorn. "This is Butter." The desk pony said, "She will train your earth ponies for today." Then she bowed towards the yellow unicorn. When Butter nodded the Pegasus walked away. "I thought Lady Smart taught." Rarity asked Galaxy. "Oh she does." He said. "But she can't do everyone, these unicorns here are just as good though, don't worry." "Hi, I'm Butter." Butter greeted. "Which Earth ponies am I training?" "The orange and pink ones." Galaxy said pointing. "What is the mane thing you would like me to focus on?" "The pink one has an incredible talking problem." Tinker told her. "Alright I'll take them for a while then, you can all go to the 'waiting room' if you like, it's very cozy." Butter said happily. The 4 ponies looked reluctant to leave their friends, but with engorgement form Galaxy, Tinker and Butter, they finally left, promising to be back soon. "Shall we get started?" Butter said tuning to the earth ponies. "Let's see what you already know, Sit Down." Applejack and Pinkie sat down, if for nothing other then being perplexed at being ordered something so trivial. "Good." Butter approved nodding. "Now stand back up." Applejack stood up and Pinkie jumped into a standing position. "No." The unicorn scolded, "Stand, not jump. Sit down again." They both sat down again, thinking how weird this was. "Now STAND up." Pinkie tried not to hop but it didn't really work and she bounced up like always. "NO." Butter said approaching Pinkie. "STAND." Pinkie nodded, sat down, and bounced back up. "No, no, no." Butter scolded getting really close to Pinkie "STAND! Only hop when told to." Pinkie nodded again. She tried really, really, really hard to just stand but it just wasn't in her and she bounced up. "I can't stand up without hopping." She tried to explain. Butter glared at her. "Don't speak unless I tell you to either." Pinkie cocked her head. Don't speak? That wasn't going to be easy. Pinkie Pie always spoke. Butter backed away from the pink earth pony. "Lets try this then, speak." "Um....what do ya want us to say?" Applejack asked. "So we can talk now? Right? I love to talk, there are so many things to talk about, like new ponies and how funny things are, soooo many things are funny and if we couldn't talk about them then how could we show others the funny stuff? How can anyone not talk, Fluttershy doesn't talk a lot and I don't know how she lives with out talking. I......" 'WACK!' Something hit Pinkie, hard. She looked around but couldn't see anything that could have hit her. "What was tha...." Pinkie started to ask before she got hit again. 'WACK!' Pinkie then noticed that Butter's horn was glowing. "Did you hit me?" 'WACK!' "Owww. I'll take that as a yes." "Only talk when I tell you to talk and don't talk so much. Or there will be consequences. Understand?" Pinkie stared at her with round eyes before nodding. "Good, I was starting to think you didn't understand anything." "That wasn't very nice." Pinkie pointed out. 'WACK!' "OK. I get it. No more talking. Stop hitting me, it hurts!" "It's supposed to." Butter told her. "Let's try something else, follow me." She started walking, but then stopped and turned back. "And NO bouncing." She glared at Pinkie before continuing. It was easy for Pinkie not to bounce now. She was aching. Applejack was a little worried about her but didn't say anything. "Now." Butter said stopping. "Let's try being introduced to new ponies." she approached a group of ponies and nodded to them. Pinkie couldn't contain herself, "Hi!" She said, "I'm Pinkie Pie and...." 'WACK' Pinkie stopped talking and whimpered slightly when she felt the sharp pain. "No." Butter scolded. "Don't speak until spoken to." "Ya, don't have ta keep hittin' her." Applejack said automatically. 'Wack' AJ felt a light smack. "Now, you don't start talking too." Butter scolded.
The SpellTwilight Sparkle was in the basement of the library that she lived at, sorting out old books. So far she had two piles, books to keep and books that were too worn out to read. She didn't even know why there so many books down here, all books should have been upstairs for ponies to read or in the garbage. She shuddered at that thought, but she had to say, some books down here where so battered that she couldn't make out anything they said. The purple unicorn sighed, some of these books might have been interesting to read, Oh well. She thought as she threw another book into the discard pile. "You doing OK Spike?" she asked a pile of books off to her left. There was a muffled sound and then her baby dragon assistant popped his out of the mound. "Ya, Twilight I'm fine." suddenly his belly let out a grumble. Spike looked at it then sighed, "But I am really hungry." Twilight let out a little giggle, they had been working at this for some time and Twilight could always count on the little dragon to know when it was time to eat. "OK, you go make some dinner, I'll keep working until it's ready." Spike happily stepped out of the mound of books and hurried off to the kitchen. It was a good thing too, he felt a big sneeze coming and he didn't want to burn any books by accident. Twilight sighed and went back to sorting books. She hadn't even sorted a dozen when one cover caught her eye. She picked up the book with her magic and read the title: "Dimension Viewing" she read out loud. The book looked delicate so she carefully opened it, the writing was smudged here and there but she could make out most of what the book said. It sounded very promising, it was about a spell were you could, well, view different dimensions without the ponies in the dimension noticing anything. The spell didn't look complicated and Twilight was enchanted, I could see what my life would be like if something different happened that completely changed it. the purple unicorn mused. She snapped the book shut and walked up the stairs out of the basement, she promised herself that she would finish cleaning it later. "Twilight?" Spike asked, when he saw his caretaker. "What are you doing up here? Dinner isn't ready yet." The librarian looked at him sheepishly, "Well, you see I found this book about this spell and....." Spike held up a hand to stop her, "So you stopped what you where doing to learn it." he said bluntly. Twilight nodded. Spike rolled his eyes, "Whatever, I'll finish dinner." He was used to Twilight doing this, stopping everything for a spell or research. The unicorn's eyes brightened, "Thanks Spike, this probably won't take that long." She then started heading up to her room, leaving her assistant to continue cooking. When she got there she opened the book back up and started examining how to work the spell. It really was simple, all she had to do was get into a dark area and chant the words while releasing her magic, there was something else after the instructions but she couldn't make it out. Concluding it wasn't that important, she closed all the blinds in the room, it didn't have to be pitch black, just dark. The spell didn't take long. Twilight chanted the words a couple times and then she saw a small light, really she wouldn't have noticed it except that it was growing. The light got bigger and brighter every time Twilight chanted, until it was the size of the unicorn and almost blinding her. Then suddenly it dimmed and Twilight could clearly see something in it. Not clearly, the picture was fuzzy but it kept getting sharper. After a few seconds, the picture got so clear that it felt like Twilight was looking out her window. She clearly saw Ponyville, it looked almost the same and the unicorn wondered if she had made a mistake, but then a pony stepped into view. The pony was Rainbow Dash, well almost. She certainly looked like the tom boy Pegasus, same light blue coat, rainbow mane, but....., but she also didn't look like the dare devil, her body was less fit, her wings at her side and not splayed out. Most of all though was the way this Pegasus was moving, instead of looking at the world with an essence of confidence, this Rainbow was slinking through town, not looking at anypony and looking like she just wanted to get home at fast as possible. The sight of this shy Rainbow Dash took Twilight by surprise and for a moment she just stood there staring. But when the blue Pegasus whimpered when another pony started talking to her, Twilight just couldn't take it, she burst out into a fit of laughter and lost concentration on the spell, having the 'window' she was looking at vanish in a flash. When she had stopped laughing at the thought of a bashful Dash, Twilight realized that she felt sort of drained. The spell probably used up a lot of magic and now Twilight felt tired, not to mention she still hadn't eaten anything. She went back down stairs to see if Spike had finished cooking dinner. Twilight was strolling through Ponyville the next day, heading off to Sugar Cube Corner. Yesterday she had told Spike about what she had seen, Spike had also thought it hysterical and had suggested that the rest of the gang come and see it too. Twilight had thought this was a wonderful idea and didn't know why she hadn't thought of it before. The purple unicorn had decided to start with Pinkie Pie, after all the hyper, pink, earth pony always enjoyed a laugh and Twilight only hopped that she could pull her friend away from her job long enough to see the hysterical sights the spell provided. That is why Twilight now found herself walking towards the bakery that housed her party loving friend. She walked through the doors and was greeted by the cheery voice of the very same pony she came to see. "Twilight!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed. "Are you here to buy yummy treats? Cause ours are the best in Ponyville, but of course Sugar Cube Corner is the only bakery in Ponyville, so of course it would have the best goodies, but still! I mean there super duper yummy and they'er probably the best in all of Eqestria. " The earth pony giggled, "But why would you come to a bakery if you didn't want to buy anything, that would be silly, well you could just stand there and smell the treats but that would be dumb because you couldn't eat them and...." "Hi, Pinkie Pie." Twilight interrupted her friend's rambling. "I'm not here to buy anything I'm here for you." "Really?" Pinkie asked. "Why do you need me?" "Because I have some thing really funny to show you and the rest of the gang, if you can make it." "Of course I can make it!" Pinkie exclaimed, "I wouldn't miss anything that's super funny with my friends." Then she took in a deep breath and yelled. "MRS. CAKE! I'M GOING TO TWILIGHT'S I'LL BE BACK SOON!" "Alright dear, just be back before your shift." A voice answered. "Okay dokay lokay." Pinkie said bouncing out of the bakery. Twilight just followed, a grin on her face. Getting everyone else was easy, Rarity didn't have work, Applejack had finished all her chores, Fluttershy didn't have any animals to tend to at that moment, (Though they had to assure her that what they were doing was funny, not scary in any way) and Rainbow, like always, was just lounging around. (Twilight couldn't help but giggle when she say her.) When they were all gathered at the library AJ asked "Alright, Twilight what is this funny thing ya' like ta show all us." Twilight took out the book and showed it to her friends, "This is a dimension viewing spell." the unicorn explained, "It lets us see into other dimensions without upsetting them. And," She grinned at Rainbow who just looked at her, confused. "There's some pretty funny stuff in there." Pinkie Pie was bouncing around "Wow, this is going to super ultra terrific!" She exclaimed. Twilight smiled and closed all the blinds, Fluttershy yipped in fear. "It's OK, Fluttershy." Twilight soothed. "It will only be dark for a little bit." "Does it have to be dark at all?" the timid Pegasus asked. Twilight nodded, and then started the spell, chanting and letting her magic flow. The spell worked great at first, the light was there and then it got bigger and brighter like before, but then it wouldn't stop growing like it did the first time. Twilight could make out some shapes when it got to pony size, but they didn't clear up. They just got more blurred as the light kept growing and growing. Then like somepony opened a window on a stormy day, a great wind started to rise. "Is t'is spos' 'ta happen?" the orange earth pony asked, clinging to her hat. Twilight shook her head hard, she had stopped chanting a long time ago and was now trying to shut off the spell. No matter what she tried though, the light just got bigger and bigger until it engulfed the six ponies in its light. Then suddenly, blackness. Authors note: This is the first chapter of many, it gets more exiting I assure you. So just bare with me. Please tell me how I can improve so I can make the next chapter better, thanks.
New DimensionThe feeling was so strange, Rarity felt like she was falling, but not. It sort of felt like the time that she had those wings and was coming in for a landing. The fall was gentle but very firm and when she landed it sent a jolt through her. Her first thought when she landed was, simply. Ow. Her second thought was, is everyone alright? Next thought, that was NOT funny. It was only a until these and many other thoughts went through her head before she started thinking things like Is my mane OK? but she chose that one to start saying. So she screeched frantically "Is my mane alright?" This gave her a groan from somepony (Probably Rainbow Dash). But Rarity still couldn't see anything, her eye were wide open and yet they took nothing in. Wait! There was something. Rarity blinked a few times and her surroundings came into focus. She blinked again, she could see her friends, all strewn about on the floor. She could also see that none of them had moved, they were all still in the library, in the exact same places that they were before Twilight cast that spell. They were in the library, but it looked......different. The books and shelves were still there, but they were all covered in dust and strung about everywhere. The lighting was also different, it had been dark before but know it was simply drafty. Rarity noticed more things, like how nothing seemed organized and everything looked abandoned. The white unicorn's eyes settled on the dust again, she looked at it a moment before jumping up and screaming "Dust, Dust everywhere! It's all over me!" Rainbow groaned again and Applejack stood up to help the frantic unicorn dust herself of. Rarity let her help, muttering under her breath about filth and such. Pinkie Pie bounced up from the floor, complaining "That wasn't fun or funny, Twilight." Twilight, in answer, grunted then sat up and shook her head saying, "It wasn't supposed to do that." she said frustrated. "We were supposed to just view a dimension, not....not....." She stuttered. "Darling?" Rarity asked calmly, but with a slight quaver in her voice "What exactly did the spell do?" Twilight looked around and sighed, "I think..." she gulped. "I think we went into another dimension." She looked around more, "but I don't think it's the same one that I saw before." "Why....why does the library look so, scary?" Fluttershy asked quietly. "It looks deserted." Rainbow commented. "Like no one's been here for years." "That would explain the 'For Sale' sign in the window." Pinkie said, standing next to the door. "What?" Everyone said at once rushing over towards Pinkie. Sure enough there was a sign in the window that stated that the library was for sale. Twilight took in a deep breath. "We should see what kind of universe we landed in." she muttered. "But we need to try to blend in with whatever we find out there." she slowly opened the doors and stepped out into the sunlight. The world outside wasn't that strange really. It looked just like Ponyville, besides that the library looked worse on the outside, everything seemed normal. Nothing else was really neglected, everything looked in tip top shape. Rarity noticed some minor details amiss here and there, but that was to be expected wasn't it? The ponies weren't very odd either, no one recognized any of the ponies that passed them by but they all seemed to just be going about there lives like normal ponies. Rarity noticed something amiss though. She doubted any of her friends noticed it, but she did. She noticed that while she saw many unicorns walking by themselves, she did not see a Pegasus or Earth Pony without the company of a Unicorn. She also saw with further inspection, that.....the.....Earth Ponies.....were......all wearing......collars? And leashes too for that matter, each leash was held by a unicorn, with magic or other means. Rarity's friends seemed oblivious to this fact. The six newcomers exited the library and started walking around to take in there surroundings. They hadn't gone ten yards when a pure black unicorn colt with a grey mane stopped them and asked. "Did you just come out of the library?" He was looking at them confused. Right behind him was another colt, this one a Pegasus, he was deep red with a yellow mane. "Um...." Twilight said "Yes." The colt still looked baffled so she continued. "We, um, bought it. We're new you see." "Well, that place hasn't been used in so long I'm surprised someone's bought it." The Colt said. "Well, Twilight is sort of an egghead." Rainbow added. The unicorn looked at her in shock, like he was surprised she could speak. When no one else reacted, (except for his Pegasus friend who let out a gasp) the dark colt shrugged it off and polity said "My name is Galaxy and this is Candle Light," he gestured to the Pegasus who bowed his head and let out a soft hello. "And I welcome you to Ponyville." Twilight began the introductions automatically, "I'm Twilight Sparkle, this is Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Applejack and, Pinkie Pie." The pink pony in question went strait up to Galaxy and started rambling. "Hi there, I'm so exited to meet you, I love meeting new ponies, and this town is just full of new ponies for me to meet. So I'm really exited." thankfully she stopped there. Galaxy was looking shocked again and also a little bit disgusted. But a smile soon returned to his lips as he pushed Pinkie away with his magic saying to Twilight. "You need to train her I see, and all earth ponies must be on leashes when there out on the streets here." Five ponies just stared at him. Rarity quickly took the lead. "Of course, but you see we lost our collars and leashes in the luggage and we need some new ones. Do you know where we could get some?" She explained, batting her eyes. Galaxy nodded, "Of course, right this way." he lead them down the street to a shop, "Just tell Tinker that you need new ones, he'll get you some." Rarity nodded and led her companions in. Before they entered Rainbow Dash hissed. "Leashes?" The store was very nice, considering that it was lined with dog collars fit for ponies. There were also other things like hats and scarves. It was lit well and seemed pleasant. There was a yellow unicorn sitting behind a desk, he smiled as the six mares walked in. "Ah, do you need some accessories for your earth ponies?" he called. He blinked, "You're not from around here. Well, my name is Tinker and I make earth pony accessories. Welcome." "We'll be with you in one moment." Twilight said, leading the others into a privite corner. "What's going on?" she whispered. "How much do you know, Rarity?" Rainbow accused. Rarity shrugged, "Not much, I just noticed that all the earth ponies had collars on, and you did say to blend in." she nodded towards Twilight. Twilight nodded back looking a little confused. "But other then that I don't know much." "Oh! Oh!" Pinkie squealed. "I know! I know! Pick me!" "Pinkie?" Twilight said facing the bouncing pony. "There's a pecking order here." Pinkie stated, when she got blank faces she explained, "The unicorns are in charge, they make the rules and stuff, the Pegasuses are next, they're like servants or helpers, and the earth ponies are last, there like slaves or animals or something." "That makes sense." Applejack said after a moment of silence. "Pinkie, how do you know all this?" Twilight demanded. Pinkie rolled her eyes. "Didn't you all see how Galaxy was looking at me? He was all like 'why on earth is she talking to me like this?' and when Rainbow said Twilight was an egghead he was all like 'aren't you going to punish her?' but Pegasus don't have to have leashes." "Oh." "Now we have to figure out who owns who." Pinkie said. More blank stares. Pinkie rolled her eyes again, "Twilight and Rarity have to 'own' us." she did the little air marks, "and it would make a lot of scenes if you each 'owned' one Pegasus and one Earth pony." "Right," Twilight said, seeing the logic, "I guess I'll take you than, Pinkie." "Okay dokay lokay." "I....I would like to be with Rarity." Fluttershy said "If that's OK." "Of course it is, darling" Rarity said. "You are one of my best friends after all." "I still don't wanna wear a collar." Applejack grumbled. "I know," Twilight said, "but we need to blend in or else ponies will start to get suspicious." Applejack grumbled, but nodded. The six ponies then turned to face a smiling Tinker.
This is WeirdApplejack was standing in the back of Tinker's shop. He was measuring her neck witch felt weird on so many levels. Twilight and Rarity had told him that they needed new collars and which pony 'belonged' to who. He had asked to see there cutie marks and when they looked at him confused he explained. "I have to see your cutie marks so I can put it on there collars, so they will be identified as yours. Rarity and Twilight had then let him examine there cutie marks and he quickly sketched them out. Tinker was now trying to measure Pinkie Pie's neck, but she would not stay still. She was bouncing around and doing things that, well, Pinkie did. Eventually Tinker forced her to sit still using his magic, muttering to himself about better training or something. When he had finished taking the earth ponies' measurements he asked the two unicorns what colors they wanted the collars to be. They both looked at him in confusion before saying something. "Um...blue?" Twilight answered. "Red." Rarity replied. Tinker nodded again and went to the wall and retrieved one of each color. He then went to a desk and started making something, though Applejack couldn't see what it was. Tinker worked for awhile before Rainbow Dash complained, "How long is this going to take?" Tinker shot her a look, then looked at Twilight who glared at Rainbow. Dash huffed at sat back down, but thankfully Tinker answered her question. "It should be done soon, I just have to get the cutie marks on the collars." He sounded irritated. Rainbow didn't say anything more and Tinker went back to working. When he was done he levitated the collars and snapped them on the two earth ponies. Applejack was surprised, the collars fit snugly but there was still enough give for it to be comfortable. "Wow!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed, "It's so neat! Twilight's cutie mark looks cool on it." Applejack looked at her own, the red did go well with her orange fur, and the diamond hanging own from it was a nice touch.Then the leashes came on. Tinker snapped on the leashes to the collars and AJ instantly felt restrained. She almost felt like she couldn't breath, it was the strangest feeling. She began to tug at it, but Tinker just tugged back and handed the end of the leash to Rarity. He gave Pinkie's leash to Twilight. Tinker looked back at Applejack and said to Rarity, "Do you want me to put your cutie mark on that hat too?" AJ almost lost it, she frantically clutched her hat, "An't nopony's go'in to touch my hat." she said defensively. "No, that's alright. That hat is very special to her and nothing shall be done with it." Rarity said hastily. Tinker shrugged, "That's fine, I was just wondering. Would you like to buy anything else? Maybe a hair pin for your Pegasus to identify them as your servants?" "Is that normal in this town?" Twilight asked hesitantly. Tinker shrugged, "Some folk have them, but it isn't required." "No, then." Twilight said. "I think we're good." "Alright then, that will be 20 bits." Rarity instantly pulled out the money, much to the surprise of everyone, and handed it to Tinker. He took it, counted it, and then handed Rarity back her change before waving the six ponies out, calling "Have a nice day." Those ponies in question looked at each other and then headed back to the library. The unicorns holding the ends of the leashes with there magic, feeling very awkward. "Were on earth did you get that money?" Dash asked Rarity when they returned to the library. "Oh deary, I always have extra bits on me. You never know when the'll come in handy." Rarity replied as if it was obvious. Dash just rolled her eyes, "Of course you do." Twilight meanwhile was looking through the books in the old library. She would look at one, toss it on the floor and then pick up another one. "Sugercube, what're you do'in?" Applejack asked. She had taken of her collar as soon as they had gotten into the library. "I'm trying to figure out why earth ponies are treated as pets." Twilight answered, frustrated. "Even though we're in a new dimension it doesn't make any scenes. And figuring out why will also help us blend in." "Why do we need to blend in?" Dash asked, irritated. "I mean can't you just do the spell again and send us back?" Twilight shook her head. "We can't do that for a couple of reasons. Number one: dimension traveling is more magically draining then just dimension viewing and I need time to recover. And number two: The spell wasn't supposed to do that so I need to figure out what I did wrong before I can do it again and get us home. That's also what I'm looking for, a book on how to get us back." "Um...do...do you think,you know sense this it a parallel universe, do you think there are a type of us?" Fluttershy asked quietly. Twilight shook her head again, "I have no idea, but for some reason I doubt it. We haven't met a single pony that is in any scenes like any pony back home." Twilight gasped "Yes! Here's a book about the history." The unicorn set the book on an old desk and flipped it open. A cloud of dust immediately engulfed her. "Ack!" she coughed, waving her hoof around to clear the dust. She then started flipping through the book until she found the page she was looking for and shouted, "Aha." before skimming over it. He face showing great interest. Her five friends waited a moment before Dash asked, "Um...Twilight, are you gonna tell us what it says?" "Hmm?" Twilight said looking up, "Oh! Yes of course! Sorry, I got a little into it." "That's alright sugercube." Applejack said, "Just read it for us." "Alright." Twilight said, clearing her throat, "It says here," she then started reading aloud. "Long ago everypony was treated the same. The Pegasus and the Earth ponies were considered the equivalent to the unicorns and even the Alicorns. Then Queen Iris came to the thrown, she saw the error in the plan that had been used for so many years. The unicorns could use magic, so they should be held to the highest for this ability. The Pegasus could fly, not as spectacular as magic but still useful, they should be the middle class. The Earth ponies couldn't do anything, they couldn't fly or use magic or any thing special, like animals, so they should be treated as such." "Now hold your horseapples sugercube." Applejack interrupted Twilight. "Us Earth ponies may not have fancy things, but we're tied ta the land. Ain't no other type of pony grows crop better then us." "I know Applejack." Twilight reassured her friend."I'm just reading what the book says. It's wrong, but that's what it says." Applejack nodded, but she still looked upset, and motioned for Twilight to continue. "The Alicorns of course, would be held to the highest of all. They would be treated god like, for it is only appropriate for such magnificent beings to be above us all. Other things changed too, Pegasus no longer went to regular school, instead they went to a special school to learn how to help unicorns. Earth ponies couldn't go to any school and became uneducated. Some ponies then rebelled, they could not see the grand genius of our beloved Queen Iris. Thankfully, they were soon stopped and peace returned. Grander peace then before, for everypony new there place. Queen Iris still rules today and watches over us, making sure that nopony is treated how they shouldn't be. As long as this code is upheld, war will never fall." "That books crazy!" Rainbow declared after Twilight had finished reading, "It makes it sound as if being equal is a bad thing." "Well this is probably written by a unicorn." Twilight reasoned "To them it would be better." "Ya," Dash huffed. "They own everything. Of course it's better for them." "It just don't make no sense." Applejack added. "Earth ponies have a high value in the economy, we grow all the food for crying out loud!" "Probably why they didn't get rid of them all together." Rarity joined in. Applejack looked at her for a moment then shook her head, "That's just messed up." "Don't Earth ponies have any rights?" came the quite voice of Fluttershy. Twilight sighed, "I don't know Futtershy, the book didn't say anything about that." Twilight looked each of her friend in the eye, " Look, it may be crazy, but that's how it works here. We'll just have to fit in until we can get back home." All the ponies nodded, then they heard a sudden rumbling. "Woopsie." Pinkie Pie giggled, looking down at her belly. "Hey Twilight, does blending in involve getting food?"
Earth Pony Academy Earth Pony Academy The six ponies had gone shopping. Thankfully the market place hadn't change and they could find everything easily. Applejack and Pinkie Pie were on there leashes again and Applejack was looking uncomfortable. Pinkie, on the other hoof, didn't seem like it was bothering her at all. She was bouncing around like nothing on earth was wrong. The bouncing pink pony earned them a lot of stares, but they tried not to take notice. When they were done, the six ponies started heading back to the library. They reached the door, but before Twilight could push it open, Pinkie Pie let out a friendly cry. "Hi Galaxy, Candle Light, and Tinker." she called. Sure enough those three ponies were walking directly towards the group, along with two other earth ponies. The first one was a chocolate stallion with bright yellow hair and an ice cream sundae cutie mark. His collar had Galaxy's swirl of the galaxy cutie mark on it. The other pony was a light tan mare with strawberry red hair and a strawberry shortcake cutie mark. Her collar had the hammer and pliers cross of Tinker's cutie mark. They all came towards the group at a rapid pace, too fast for Twilight to consider why they were walking towards the group of mares. "Hello," Galaxy said, bowing slightly. "I would like you to meet my earth pony, his name is Chocolate Sundae. Say hello Chocolate." Chocolate bowed deeply and greeted, "Hello there." "And this," Tinker spoke up, gesturing towards the mare. "is Strawberry Shortcake. I'm sorry she couldn't help when I was getting you collars, she was asleep you see." The earth pony bowed like Chocolate. "Hi!" Pinkie Pie said grabbing the Earth ponies' hooves and shaking. "I'm Pinkie Pie and I'm super exited to meet you!" "Pinkie." Twilight groaned, pulling on the leash just enough to make the pink mare sit down. "I'm sorry, uh...did you want to talk to us about something?" "Actually yes." Galaxy replied. "Your Earth pony is what we wanted to talk to you about actually." "Oh, OK." Twilight said, wondering if Pinkie had gotten them into any trouble. "You see," Galaxy continued, "me and Tinker have both noticed that your earth pony is a little bit, ah, untrained." He gave Twilight a reassuring smile when she looked a little worried. "This has nothing to do with you of course but because you are new to Ponyville, me and Tinker have decided to treat you to something." He pointed in the direction of what, in the mares reality, was Rarity's boutique. What was there instead was a large, almost tent like structure. It had red and white stripes and a banner hanging over it that nopony could read at this distance. Rarity let out a gasp. "Yes, it is quite a sight isn't it." Galaxy misinterpreted her gasp. "Anyway, that is the 'Academy for Earth Ponies.' It's taught by Lady Smart, the best unicorn in teaching and training Earth Ponies. We have decided to treat you to her because your new in Ponyville and your Earth pony isn't trained. We'll pay and everything so there is no need to worry." Twilight hesitated for a moment, she would prefer not to go anywhere that wasn't absolutely necessary. She also realized it would be strange for her to deny the offer. "I don't want to be any trouble..." she started. "No trouble at all." Tinker replied happily, "We like helping new ponies." "Well....I guess we could." Twilight said. "May I tag along?" Rarity asked. "Of course, your earth pony can get some training too." Galaxy said, he turned around and led the way towards the 'Earth Pony Academy.' It was an amazing place inside, It wasn't necessarily crowded but there were a lot of ponies about. Many unicorns were training earth ponies. It was all together very pleasant despite the ponies getting treated like animals. "We register over there." Tinker said pointing towards a desk. They all walked over and saw a ginger Pegasus typing something. "Yes?" she asked as they approached. "Hello!" Galaxy said cheerfully. "My friends would like to get there earth ponies trained." he gestured towards Twilight and Rarity. The pony behind the desk nodded and then stood up saying, "Fallow me please." She led them around a little before stopping at a yellow unicorn. "This is Butter." The desk pony said, "She will train your earth ponies for today." Then she bowed towards the yellow unicorn. When Butter nodded the Pegasus walked away. "I thought Lady Smart taught." Rarity asked Galaxy. "Oh she does." He said. "But she can't do everyone, these unicorns here are just as good though, don't worry." "Hi, I'm Butter." Butter greeted. "Which Earth ponies am I training?" "The orange and pink ones." Galaxy said pointing. "What is the mane thing you would like me to focus on?" "The pink one has an incredible talking problem." Tinker told her. "Alright I'll take them for a while then, you can all go to the 'waiting room' if you like, it's very cozy." Butter said happily. The 4 ponies looked reluctant to leave their friends, but with engorgement form Galaxy, Tinker and Butter, they finally left, promising to be back soon. "Shall we get started?" Butter said tuning to the earth ponies. "Let's see what you already know, Sit Down." Applejack and Pinkie sat down, if for nothing other then being perplexed at being ordered something so trivial. "Good." Butter approved nodding. "Now stand back up." Applejack stood up and Pinkie jumped into a standing position. "No." The unicorn scolded, "Stand, not jump. Sit down again." They both sat down again, thinking how weird this was. "Now STAND up." Pinkie tried not to hop but it didn't really work and she bounced up like always. "NO." Butter said approaching Pinkie. "STAND." Pinkie nodded, sat down, and bounced back up. "No, no, no." Butter scolded getting really close to Pinkie "STAND! Only hop when told to." Pinkie nodded again. She tried really, really, really hard to just stand but it just wasn't in her and she bounced up. "I can't stand up without hopping." She tried to explain. Butter glared at her. "Don't speak unless I tell you to either." Pinkie cocked her head. Don't speak? That wasn't going to be easy. Pinkie Pie always spoke. Butter backed away from the pink earth pony. "Lets try this then, speak." "Um....what do ya want us to say?" Applejack asked. "So we can talk now? Right? I love to talk, there are so many things to talk about, like new ponies and how funny things are, soooo many things are funny and if we couldn't talk about them then how could we show others the funny stuff? How can anyone not talk, Fluttershy doesn't talk a lot and I don't know how she lives with out talking. I......" 'WACK!' Something hit Pinkie, hard. She looked around but couldn't see anything that could have hit her. "What was tha...." Pinkie started to ask before she got hit again. 'WACK!' Pinkie then noticed that Butter's horn was glowing. "Did you hit me?" 'WACK!' "Owww. I'll take that as a yes." "Only talk when I tell you to talk and don't talk so much. Or there will be consequences. Understand?" Pinkie stared at her with round eyes before nodding. "Good, I was starting to think you didn't understand anything." "That wasn't very nice." Pinkie pointed out. 'WACK!' "OK. I get it. No more talking. Stop hitting me, it hurts!" "It's supposed to." Butter told her. "Let's try something else, follow me." She started walking, but then stopped and turned back. "And NO bouncing." She glared at Pinkie before continuing. It was easy for Pinkie not to bounce now. She was aching. Applejack was a little worried about her but didn't say anything. "Now." Butter said stopping. "Let's try being introduced to new ponies." she approached a group of ponies and nodded to them. Pinkie couldn't contain herself, "Hi!" She said, "I'm Pinkie Pie and...." 'WACK' Pinkie stopped talking and whimpered slightly when she felt the sharp pain. "No." Butter scolded. "Don't speak until spoken to." "Ya, don't have ta keep hittin' her." Applejack said automatically. 'Wack' AJ felt a light smack. "Now, you don't start talking too." Butter scolded.
