//------------------------------//
// Ch.2 Lost and Searching 
// Story: The Gaps in F r i e n d s h i p 
// by Arcanum -Phantasy 
//------------------------------//

There were few things that Discord hated. It wasn't that nothing got under his hide, he merely felt that such things were a waste of time for beings like himself. However, he did occasionally find things that made his blood boil from time to time. This was one such occasion as he stood beside Celestia's bed. Early morning light shinned on the dejected Solar Alicorn laying with blank amethyst eyes locked on the ceiling. He hated seeing her like this, even after what she put him through a few days ago. At least then she didn't seem so dead to the world. As it stood, he would've much rather had Celestia trying to kill him over the state she was in now.
"Tell me Discord," Celestia said, voice fragile. "Am I a good pony?"
The Chaos Lord raised a brow, not sure were this conversation was headed.
"Better than most," he shrugged.
Celestia nodded, still staring at the ceiling.
"I was going to kill them. I was going to kill every single one of them. I had always tried to find the most peaceful way to resolve problems of state and citizen only resorting to violence when it was absolutely necessary. Three foolish children almost made me destroy an entire world. They almost made me a murderer. And I wouldn't've batted an eye. Tell me Discord. Am I really a good pony?"
He had no answer for her. The Lord of Chaos was helpless before the Princess' self-loathing. Yet another thing he hated. Frowning he snapped his fingers, disappeared, and reappeared in bed next to the numb Princess. Before she could protest, he pulled her into a tight embrace. She hesitated, then melted into her former enemy's hug, her head resting on his shoulder as tears started to flow. 
"Their's no easy answer for that," he sighed. "You thought your daughter died. Again. Honestly, I'd be worried if you didn't loose it."
He waited for her to respond. To laugh. To snap at him. Heck, he'd even take one of her infamous hour long lectures. All he got was silence that was only disturbed by sniffling.
He sighed, then asked, "How many?"
"Huh?"
"How many foals have you had in your life?" he asked.
Silence, then with a shaky sigh she said, "Three. Sunset was the third."
"I see," he sighed, holding her tighter.  "Not the most open mare in the world are we?"
She chuckled a little at that.
"When you have power over the sun, most stallions feel somewhat inadequate. But after Orion was born, I felt that getting too close to mortals was a foolish venture."
"One that you repeated," Discord chuckled.
Celestia chuckled wetly as a sheepish smile played across her muzzle.
"Even I have needs Discord."
"Don't we all," he smiled. "So was Orion as much a pain in the flank as his mother?"
"More so," Celestia smiled, eyes becoming distant as she gazed into the past. "He was the first Earth Pony to become Captain of the Celestial Guard. His skill with a spear was unrivaled by his peers."
"Sounds like a real Mama's colt to me."
"He was. And quite the mare magnet as well."
"What about his sibling?"
"Firefly wasn't born in his time," she frowned. "She was born a thousand years later. She was the fastest Pegasus of her time."
"Now were have I heard that before," Discord mused aloud, earning a light giggle from the mare in his arms. 
"Rainbow Dash came from a good line."
"We better not tell her," he smirked. "If her head got any bigger, she'd never be able to get off of the ground."
"My thoughts exactly," she smiled. 
For a moment they just laid there, enjoying each other's company as Discord did something he hadn't done in several centuries; choose his words carefully. What he said next could make things worse or better depending on how he said it. So, with a caution that he seldom let others see, he broke the silence.
"And how did you handle their...deaths?"
Celestia frowned and held him closer.
"Not very well. When Orion passed, I left management of the sun and court to Luna for three months. I didn't eat or really sleep the whole time. Food tasted like ash and my dreams would be filled with nothing but memories of him. Luna had to force me to resume my duties and forced me to confront my dreams until I regained enough of myself to function. With Firefly I wasn't much better, but Luna was able to spot the signs of my relapse before they could consume me. I grieved over them like any mother would, but I also tried to prevent the pain of loss from coming back."
"But then...Sunset happened," Discord sighed.
"Yes," she sighed. "And it was the greatest, and most terrifying moment in my life. I loved her with everything I had, but I was afraid of the pain that would come further down the line."
"So you kept a distance," he guessed, stroking her mane idly.
With shame in her heart, she nodded.
"And in a way, that made it worse when I thought she died the first time. The second I found out she had her journal, I tried to contact her. I spent days trying to get in touch with her, sending message after message. But she never replied, and I didn't have my sister to help me pull myself out my despair. But I did have one of her descendants to keep me distracted."
"A certain Twilight Sparkle I presume?"
She nodded.
"I wasn't the only one to have children, though my sister was a lot less reserved than me. That was probably why she was able to save me. She was used to the pain that came with a mother's joy while I was still new to it."
He nodded as he stroked her back.
"You aren't a bad pony," he smiled sadly. "You're a mother that controls the sun. And that's something that shouldn't be a thing."
"What are you-"
"As such, I think it's time for you to have a vacation."
With that, his tail let out a snap and Celestia felt her link to the sun shift away from her.
"What did you-"
"I can handle moving the sun for a week while all of the nobles can send their complaints to Lulu's court. The way I see it, you and Sunset have way too much time to make up for as it is."
"Discord I can't just-"
"Ah, ah, ah! I insist," he smirked as he pulled back enough to lock eyes with her. "Think of it as a Hearths Warming present from me."
She tried to find a reason to argue, but nothing came. No, that wasn't right. No arguments came that didn't amount to excuses. So instead, she gave him a small smile and a peck on the cheek.
"Thank you Discord," she smiled, then with a flash she was gone.
Discord laid there, stunned as he brought a hand to his cheek. He rolled onto his back and stared at the ceiling. For thousands of years, The Lord of Chaos took pride in always holding all the cards. Nothing surprised him. He was never caught off guard. He also never had a friend before he met Fluttershy. Firsts were becoming a common thing for him it would seem. As he stared at the ceiling, a single thought ran through his head.
I wonder how Sunset will react to all this? 	



***



Okay Pinkie, stay calm, she thought as she sat in the bathroom corner. No point in freaking out! Just take a moment and breathe.
Slowly, she took her own advice. At the same time she felt a small trace of joy over being able to breathe considering her former circumstances. That was the most terrifying moment in her entire life. She could feel it all. The cold sucking the life out of her. Her lungs filling with water as she begged for air. And the dark. That was the worst part. Seeing everything turn dark as she felt herself sink towards the bottom of Canter Creek.
"Okay. No more of that," she muttered, a shiver shooting down her spine. "Let's try to make sense of things."
She gave herself a quick once-over and was able to make a few simple observations. First, that she was indeed a small pink horse. Second, she was soaking wet. Third, with the exception of her jacket, she was completely naked. The last bit of info was concerning to her, but while examining her new body she discovered an interesting feature, a tattoo of an open zipper with confetti flying out on her flanks.
"What's all that about?" she mumbled, staring at her rear.
Suddenly, the door burst open revealing a teal Pegasus with a blond mane and tail. Though her face looked more green then teal at the moment. With frantic eyes and a hoof pressed against her muzzle she scanned the room, barely taking note of Pinkie just before she locked onto the toilet. In a flash she was at the porcelain throne, muzzle just short of drinking the water as the sound of retching  filled the room. Pinkie watched with morbid fascination as the Pegasus proceeded to empty her stomach into the toilet, not entirely sure if it was normal or healthy for a Pegasus to puke for five minutes straight. What she was able to glean was that butt markings were normal for whatever type of horse she and the poor creature were. The one in front of her was sporting a pair of tornados with lightning bolts crossing through them on her flanks.
"Ugh, god that was hell," the Pegasus groaned as she staggered away from the toilet. "I think I lost ten pounds." 
After flushing the toilet, she made her way over to the sink and turned it on. She quickly sucked in a mouthful of water and swished it around a bit before spiting it into the drain. As she turned off the sink, she glared at her own reflection.
"Never again Lightning. You are never going to drink again!"
She instantly cringed at the sound of her own voice.
"Ugh! Fucking hell. Why do people put themselves through this? Why?"
With that, she staggered out of the open bathroom door, a small stream of swears trailing behind her.
"Lightning Dust?" Pinkie gasped, staring out the still open door. "But...how? Why was she a horse?"
She glanced down at herself.
"Why am I a horse?" 
Knowing that she wasn't going to get any answers here, she stood up and tried to walk towards the door. The only problem was that she tried to walk like a human. With a startled yelp, she fell backwards into the still filled tub taking the curtains with her on the way down.
This is going to take some getting used to, she thought bitterly.



***



Celestia walked with a bit more pep in her step as she strolled through the castle. While she was more than willing to let Discord and Luna handle the many dramas of the Solar Court, there were a few things she wanted to handle herself before enjoying Discord's present. Three things to be exact. As she closed in on one particular room, her elation dampened. Within, she heard one female voice and faint traces of three other voices along with a few thuds. Assuming a neutral mask, she opened the door and stepped in. She was in an empty twenty-by-twenty square room normally reserved for storage. The white walls and marble floors reflected the lights from the various fixtures built into the walls as she acknowledged the four ponies in the room. One was a gray Unicorn mare with a black mane and tail and a black quill for a Cutie Mark, while the others were a set of fillies that left a less than stellar impression on the Solar Princess.
"Good morning Raven," Celestia said, stepping towards the group. "How are you today?"
"Well your highness, thank you for asking," the mare said with a bow. "To what do I owe this meeting?"
"I'm sure you can guess," she said, glancing at the three fillies struggling to walk ten feet away. "How goes their progress?"
Raven turned towards the three fillies, a faint narrowing in her eyes slipping past her mask of professionalism. Naturally, as Celestia's personal aid Raven Quill was briefed on the situation surrounding the three fillies. It was because of her dedication to professionalism and efficiency that she was chosen to be their watcher and physical therapy coach. Though even a mare as grounded as her couldn't help but feel anger towards the three. Not enough to do anything rash, but more than enough to keep her from sympathizing with them. As such, she didn't offer them any real kindness when they fell or otherwise struggled with their new bodies. She gave them advice on how to reduce the chances of hurting themselves, but that was as far as her compassion went. 
"Slow. It seems they are having some difficulty adapting to their bodies. Even with the advice your daughter gave her allies. From the way they are moving, balance appears to be a defining issue, but I feel that their may be more to it."
"How so?"
"Simple," she frowned. "They seem to be unwilling to improve."
Celestia stared at her aid, brow raised.
"Come again?"
Raven turned towards her ruler and frowned.
"Normally, when somepony tries to perfect a skill there will be a deviation from previous attempts. Whether it be an advancement or backslide in progress, the iteration will always change. They have been at the exact same point of progress for the past three hours."
"I see," she frowned. "Any reason for that?"
"I have my theories," Raven sighed. "But I feel that the most probable is self-flagellation."
Celestia's eyes widened slightly at that.
"And you haven't tried to stop them?" she asked, a hint of incredulity coloring her tone.
"Of course I have, your highness," Raven said, an irritated huff slipping past her muzzle. "I may not think favorably of them, but I don't desire the harming of foals. But there is only so much I can do."
She locked her ruby eyes with her Princess's amethyst ones and with an executioner's finality said, "If they are unwilling to learn, I can't teach."
"I see," Princess Celestia sighed as she turned towards the staggering fillies. "Perhaps it is time for you to take a break."
Raven tilted her head in confusion at the sudden turn in their conversation.
"Your highness?"
"Go on. I can keep an eye on them while you're gone."
Understanding slowly crept into Raven's features. A faint smile graced her muzzle as she gave her ruler a nod.
"As you wish, your majesty."
With that, she saw herself out leaving the three fillies at the mercy of the Princess of the Sun. With cold indifference she approached them, her stomach twisting the closer she got. Not helping were all of the visible bruises covering them. It was clear Raven wasn't exaggerating and from what she could see, her theory held some water. Once she was about five feet away from them, she cleared her throat to get their attention. They turned and froze when they saw the shin of her forelegs, only moving their heads as they struggled to make eye contact with her.
"Y-Yes your majesty?" Sweetie asked, trembling.
Celestia fought her more maternal urges as she saw the fear in Sweetie's eyes. Instead, she decided to cut strait to the point.
"Why are you sabotaging yourselves?"
"Wh-what do yah mean?" Applebloom asked.
"My aid is not stupid," she answered flatly, making the fillies flinch. "Nor am I. So don't lie to me. Tell me why you are making things harder for yourself. Now."
The three fillies trembled before the mammoth pony, each struggling to find the nerve to answer her question. Eventually, Scootaloo found it though she secretly wished she hadn't
"W-We wanted to make it even," she stammered.
"By harming yourselves?" Celestia frowned.
They nodded.
A pregnant silence filled the room as the Princess let the words settle. Her jaw clenched to the point of almost breaking teeth as she shattered the peace with a hard stomp of her hoof. Not hard enough to break the marble tiles, but enough to startle the fillies all the same.
"Stand straight!" she demanded.
The fillies quickly jumped to attention, doing the closest thing a pony could to a militaristic stand.
"Take ten steps forward!"
Though it was stiff, they once again complied.
"Again!"
Ten more steps.
"Again!
Another ten.
"Again!"
By this iteration of ten, they stood with their muzzles just an inch away from the wall.
"Now turn to the left!"
It was clumsy, but they managed to obey. 
"Again!" 
Again they complied, now facing away from the wall.
"Ten more steps!"
They obeyed, their stride more leveled this time.
"Again!"
Again, they marched forward.
"You seem to understand the basics," she frowned down at the stationary humans-turned-ponies standing before her. "You will repeat this until you make it to the next wall. At which point, you will turn from the right and repeat your progress. When you have mastered walking, Raven will teach you how to use your hooves. You will need to learn how to use them to finish your punishment. Next you will learn how to run. A castle maid needs to be quick and efficient and I will not have you slow any of my staff down."
A bead of sweat trailed down Scootaloo's forehead as Celestia's eyes drilled into hers. She could see the challenge in them, begging her to try and defy the Alicorn that towered over her. With an audible gulp, Scootaloo nodded an acton her friends mirrored as the Princess' gaze passed over them.
"I will be asking Raven for progress reports once a week, and if she tells me that you are not putting an effort into your practice, I will be the one to train you. If I hear about you hurting yourselves, I will get involved. Do you understand?"
Again they nodded.
"Good," she said evenly. " And keep this in mind. Atonement is not paved in pain, but acceptance of responsibility."
"W-What does that mean?" Scootaloo asked.
Still wearing a mask of calm, Celestia said, "Figure it out for yourselves. Now, walk!"
They quickly snapped to attention and obeyed, stopping every ten paces before resuming. Celestia watched them, all the while her own words echoed her own mind.
Acceptance of responsibility. Just how long overdue am I truly, my Little Sun?




***



The whole world felt like a spinning blur as Sunset laid. What was left of her senses told her that she was laying on the floor. That, or Twilight needed to buy softer mattresses. She was also warm. Very warm. It was as if she was wrapped in the greatest electric blanket in the world. A blanket that smelled like fresh vanilla and was as soft as silk. When she opened her eyes a blurry mass of gray and gold greeted her, the early morning sun reminding her of how much she drank the night before. Groaning in pain she berried her face into the gray mass, eager to hide from her mother's twice damned servant of evil. She was rewarded not only with shadows, but more of the soothing scent of vanilla. She let out a happy purr as she reveled in the moment of peace only for it to be ruined by a small giggle from the gray mass.
"Stop that Dinky. You know I'm ticklish."
Sunset's eyes popped open as she registered what was unmistakably Derpy's voice and just how close it was. Slowly, she raised her head and took stock of her surroundings. Like she thought, she was laying on the ground in the  throne room only now it looked like a yuletide war zone. Countless plastic cups and food wrappers covered the floor with fourteen ponies, counting herself, knocked out on the floor. The only exception being Twilight, who was passed out on the Cutie Map in a less than dignified manner with a half-empty mug of cider standing next to her. That was another constant, as each pony in question had at least one silver mug within foreleg's reach. That was also true for her and the sleeping Pegasus she was cuddling just a few seconds ago. 
As she stared at the adorable creature before her, a deep blush colored her muzzle. This wasn't the first time she saw her sleeping, but it was the first time she saw her this close. If it was even possible her new pony form was even cuter than her human one, curled like a cat with her wing blanketing Sunset's lower body. A peaceful smile graced her lips as she dreamed sweet dreams. Her mane was twisted into a messy bed-head that only added to the Pegasus' charms. A small smile joined her blush as she watched the mare sleep, all the while wondering how they ended up like this. A sharp pain shot through her head as a reminder.
Oh, right, she thought bitterly as she held a hoof to her head. Just how much did I drink last night?
A light groan slipped past her lips as Derpy started to stir.
"Ugh, someone kill the sun," she whined covering her eyes with her hooves.
"Good morning sunshine," Sunset smirked as Derpy pulled herself into a sitting position.
"Whatever, " she grumbled as she massaged her temples. "If I ever see another beer again I think I'll puke."
"I warned you," Sunset sighed. "C'mon, let's see if any food survived the party."
"I don't think I want to," Derpy groaned, staggering to her hooves. "I feel like I swallowed a gallon of printer ink."
"Trust me. Some food will make you feel better."
"If you say so," she sighed.
With that, the two mares traversed the battlefield of a throne room searching for anything edible. Much to their relief, a lone cookie survived last night's festivities which they split. The second the treat hit her stomach, Derpy was shocked to find that most of her nausea had faded away. Sunset took note of her friend's reaction and giggled.
"A pony's metabolism is different from a human's. If we get something like a hang over, we can recover quickly if we have something sweet."
"Cool," Derpy smiled. "But I don't think I'm going to make a habit of this."
"Good call," she smiled. "Do it too often and the amount of sugar you'll need to eat will get bigger too."
A groan from her left caught her attention. Staggering into the room with the grace a zompony, Lightning glared at the two mares.
"Do me a favor and shut up."
"Hey," Sunset frowned. "You're the one who challenged a heavyweight to a drinking contest. Don't give us any crap."
"Bite me," she growled.
"How about a cookie?" Derpy smirked.
"No," Lightning whined, falling to her haunches and clutching her stomach. "Don't mention food."
"You'll feel better," Derpy smiled.
"I just spent the past five minutes puking my lower intestine out in the bathroom. The last thing I need to see right now is food."
"Point taken," Sunset grimaced. "I doubt their would be anything sugary enough for you right now anyway."
Lightning raised a brow at that, only for a bit of movement in a corner of the room to get her attention. What she saw made her jaw hit the floor.
"Yo, take a look at this," she whisper-yelled as she pointed to the corner in question.
Curious, they investigated the corner. They were greeted by the sight of two sleeping Fluttershys. They laid intertwined with each other in perfect symmetry, forehead to forehead, with forelegs and wings wrapped around each other. They both had peaceful smiles with one showing a hint of fang as they held each other close. As the trio stared, Sunset couldn't help but question what led up to this. Not that she had any objections to it, as odd as it was in a cosmic sort of way. Though the pile of empty cider mugs a foot away from the pair gave her a pretty good idea how it got to this point.
"Hey, Sunset," Lightning whispered. "I think I just got diabetes."
"Ha ha," she said, rolling her eyes. " Still, I wish I had my phone for this."
"No kidding," Lightning smirked.
"Eh," Derpy shrugged. "I ship it."
Suddenly, the mirrored ponies started to stir, eyes groggily fluttering open. For a moment they laid still, eyes not fully processing what they were seeing. That changed when the Thestral of the duo's eyes widened. Her face quickly turned a bright shade of red and with a terrified eep, jumped to her hooves and ran out of the room. Never before had the phrase 'running like a bat out of hell' been more accurately personified then in that moment as the throne room doors slammed shut. Still groggy, Fluttershy pulled herself to her haunches and stared at the door before turning her attention to the three nearby mares.
"W-What happened?" she asked, bringing a hoof to her throbbing head.
Sunset smiled awkwardly then said, "Let's just say, you'll need to sort things out with my world's Fluttershy a little later."
"Oh?" she asked, only for something to seemingly click into place in her head and her face broke out into a massive blush a second later. "Oh. Right."
A chorus of groans started to fill the room as the rest of the ponies in the room started to come to.
"What the bloody hell was that?" Octavia groaned as she staggered to her hooves.
"I'll Tell you later," Sunset sighed. "But first, who wants breakfast?"
Twilight and her friends all raised a hoof while the remaining foreigners gave her the evil eye. Well, most of them at least.
"I'm game," Vinyl beamed, sauntering over towards Sunset's group.
Sunset stared at her in shock. She knew that the DJ had a few drinks last night. Not anywhere near as many as Lightning, but more than enough to feel it in the morning. Yet the mare was acting as if nothing happened.
"Vinyl? How come you're not-"
"Hungover?" Vinyl smirked. "Sunset, I work at a club and live with a bunch socialites. Do you really think I've never had a drink or two?"
"It's true," Octavia frowned as she stood next to Vinyl. "Though she does pace herself while in proper company."
"Hey! C'mon sis," she smirked, giving the grey mare a playful hip-check. "Like I said, a couple drinks here and there. Don't go making them think I'm some lush or something."
"You drank twenty mugs of cider last night," Sunset deadpanned.
"And Lightning drank fifty," Vinyl shrugged. "You're point?"
Lightning let out an agonized groan as memories of what her actions led to just a few minutes ago flashed through her mind.
"Don't remind me," Lightning groaned. "I'm never going to look at cookies the same way ever again."
Vinyl laughed and walked over to her nauseous friend.
"Hey, don't worry," she smirked, throwing a foreleg over her shoulders. "You just need to build a tolerance. A few more parties like last night and you'll put Rainbow under the table in no time."
"Ha! Fat chance of that!" Rainbow cheered, pulling herself out of a nearby three foot tall pile of mugs. "Nopony can take my cider crown."
"Except Pinkie," Applejack smirked as she joined the group, not a trace of last night's wear-and-tear present in her features.
Rainbow scratched the back of her head sheepishly then said, "Yeah, okay. She could probably take it."
"What's her limit?" Vinyl asked.
"I don't think she has one," Twilight frowned as she staggered towards the growing group.
"Really?" she asked. "What makes you say that?"
"Long answer; she consumes so much sugar on a daily basis that her body naturally metabolizes alcohol at a hypersonic scale. Thus, preventing her from getting drunk in the first place. In short, she's Pinkie Pie. Nature doesn't apply."
Vinyl wanted to press for a better explanation, but Twilight's flat stare told her that such an inquiry would be futile. Instead, she decided to change topics to something a little less confusing.
"So what's for breakfast," she smiled.
"I think Spike said he was going to be making pancakes with honey today," Twilight said, putting a hoof to her chin in thought as she stared at a nearby window. "In fact, he should be ready in a few minutes if I'm reading the sun right."
"Awesome!" she cheered. "Lead the way Princess!"
With a smile, she guided the herd of mares out of the throne room towards the dinning room. It was as they all filed out of the room that Octavia noticed something was missing.
"Where's Pinkie Pie?" she asked.
"Probably in the bathroom," Lightning sighed as she moved towards the door. "That's the last place I saw her."
"Okay?" Octavia said, brow raised as she fallowed her friend out of the room. "Why were the two of you in the bathroom together."
"We decided to try pony-style while you were all knocked out," she deadpanned before exclaiming, "What the hell do you think was happening?!"
Octavia cringed both at the volume of her voice and rancid breath she sent her way with her declaration.
"I see," she grimaced, trying to ignore the smell of vomit in the air. "That's good to know. Maybe later I could have a talk with her."
"About what?" Lightning asked.
"Nothing in particular," she shrugged. "She interests me. She's so similar to our Pinkie yet I noticed a few key differences between them last night."
"Like?"
"This one seems a bit more empathetic than ours," she replied, brows scrunched in thought. "She also seems to be more grounded in comparison. But above all else, she seems a lot more loyal to her ideals."
"What do you mean?" Lightning frowned in confusion.
"Both Pinkie's claim to want to make people happy, but were our's seems to do it for herself, this one does it for others. That is, if what I saw last night and what Vinyl's told me are accurate anyway. I won't know for sure until I have a one-on-one conversation with her."
A moment of silence passed between the two mares as Lightning mulled over what Octavia told her, then with a weary sigh said, "Whatever. If you want to talk to her, go ahead. I won't stop ya'. Just know I've got an ice pack and whatever counts as Aspirin here waiting for ya'."
"Thanks," she laughed, than took on a more serious expression. "And good luck with this Rainbow Dash. I know you are feeling conflicted about her and the others. We all are in our own ways."
"Yeah," she said softly, thinking about how far south things went the day before. "I still want to be friends with her, ya' know?"
"I know, love," she frowned. "You two were friends since Junior High. it would be odd if some part of you didn't. I still feel an urge to patch things up with Rarity from time-to-time, but there is no way I would betray Sunset like that."
"No kidding," Lightning growled. "She doesn't deserve that."
They walked in silence the rest of the way to the dinning room, which was shattered by an excited cry from Lyra when she saw a purple and green lizard setting a table. Poor Spike had only enough time to blink before a mint Unicorn had him in her hooves, a manic grin plastered across her muzzle as she held him over her head.
"A Dragon! Oh my god! An honest to god Dragon!" 
She turned towards the stunned group of ponies, terrified Dragon still held in the air.
"Bonbon! Look! A Dragon!"
"Yes Lyra," she groaned. "It's a Dragon. Now could you please put him down before we see if Unicorns are fireproof or not."
Realization seemed to hit both of them as Lyra slowly turned her head towards Spike, who leveled a flat glare at her. Slowly, she lowered him to the ground and sheepishly dusted off some dirt on his shoulders before scrambling towards her friends. With an annoyed huff, he waked back towards the kitchen to get another plate of pancakes. An awkward silence dominated the room as all ponies present took a seat at the table, Sunset set between Lightning and Derpy while Twilight sat across from her with a nervous Rarity and a fidgety Fluttershy flanking her. Between the embarrassment felt from the former humans courtesy of Lyra's antics and the lack of real common ground from the Equestrians, nopony knew what to do to break the ice. It wasn't until Bonbon took a bite of her pancakes that the silence was finally broken.
"Oh my god," she gasped as she took another bite. "These are amazing!"
"Really?" Lightning asked, cautiously giving her breakfast a nibble. 
Her eyes widened before turning her nibble into a savage chomp. Tears started to flow down her face as she wolfed down her food.
"I take back everything I said about Dragons," she sniffled as she wiped away her joyous tears. "You rock Dragon dude!"
"Uh, thanks?" he said, not sure how he was supposed to take that comment.
The Equestrians gave Sunset a questioning look.
"Don't ask," she sighed as she cut up her food with a knife and fork held in her magic.
"It's an inside joke," Lyra chuckled sheepishly. "Unless you guys have video games here, you wouldn't get it."
Looking a little confused, the Equestrians decided to drop it and resume their eating.
"This really is good," Derpy whispered as she bit into her food. "Remind me to ask the little guy for the recipe later."
"No problem," Sunset giggled, then added in a tone just loud enough for her friends to hear, "His name is Spike by the way."
With the ice officially broken the group started to exchange stories about their exploits, the only interruptions being Sunset explaining things to Twilight's friends that were foreign concepts to them such as televisions and cars. It was right around the time Bonbon was talking about how she accidentally added salt instead of sugar to a batch of her namesake when Sunset felt a surge of magic closing in on them. She had just enough time to cover  Derpy's good eye and Lightning's face with a hoof before a massive flare of light filled the room, blinding all who weren't prepared. A second later, Princess Celestia stood by the table just a foot away from Sunset. 
"Good morning my little ponies!" she cried, the biggest, brightest smile she could manage spread across her muzzle.
All the Equestrians in the room bowed while the humans-turned-ponies not protected by Sunset let out groans of pain as they tried to blink the stars out of their eyes. Not even Vinyl's glasses could protect her from the Solar Princess' grand entrence.
"Is that normal?" Lightning asked as she pushed Sunset's hoof out of her face.
"Nope," she laughed. "But that's Equestria for you."



***



Pinkie watched through a gap in the door to the dinning room, barely able to understand what she was seeing. Thirteen candy colored ponies sat at a table talking and eating pancakes like nothing strange was happening. After she figured out how to work her new body, she decided to try to figure out where she was. She had to part with her soaked trench coat due to it literally dragging her down, but that was small sacrifice if it meant gathering information. Hopefully by the time she made it back to it, it would be dry enough to wear again. She stared at the ponies in the room and shock was slowly replaced by confusion. The way the ponies acted and talked reminded her of her friends back home, only something about them seemed different. She just couldn't place her finger (or hoof) on what it was. But out of all of them, the light orange Unicorn with the red and gold mane held her attention the most. Her voice. Her mannerisms. Everything about her brought Pinkie back to how things use to be before Annon-a-Miss tore everything apart.
Sunset! she thought, a strong yearning growing inside her to be at the Unicorn's side. 
She reached a hoof out to open the door, only for a bright flash of light to make her pause. Once the stars left her vision, she saw that a new creature had joined the group. This was a white horse with a horn sticking out of her head and a pair of massive wings coming out of her back with a quad-colored mane and tail that flowed as if in an unfelt breeze. Though the creature was smiling, Pinkie could feel in her bones that this was something she should avoid at all costs. Trembling, she turned to walk away from the room only to be met by a set of half-lidded blue eyes.
"Hello me," Equestrian Pinkie said, an uncharacteristic frown decorating her muzzle. "What do you say we have a little chat."
Pinkie gulped as the fear she felt earlier doubled.