Not Used To This

by IronTypeAlpha

Trip To Canterlot

The trip to Canterlot was like any other. The wind rushed against the train, while the extravagant city grew closer into view. Twilight wasn't sure what Celestia was calling her for. Perhaps the changelings were attacking again. Maybe she was going to reward her or crown her princess.

All these things circled around Twilight's head for a while. Well, except for being crowned a princess. Twilight knew there'd never be any chance of her suddenly gaining wings and becoming a princess. It just went against everything that Twilight would do. Finally, the train arrived at Canterlot's train station. The streets were packed with ponies, but they all seemed to clear out of her way.

Finally, she was at the palace walls. The guard count was normal, but Shining Armor wasn't there to greet her. "He's probably just off with Cadence," she kept reassuring herself silently.

When the ponies reached Celestia's throne room, the same benevelont alicorn was there to greet them. She smiled richly at them and told them to make themselves at home.

"But you haven't explained why you've called us here," Twilight quickly noted.

Celestia dismissed it early on and told them she'd tell them in dear time. Twilight was confused by this cryptic explanation, but who was she to question the ruler over all of Equestria? Probably not much, considering Celestia would just send her to the moon and say you got eaten by a dragon. At least, that's what she thought.

The guest rooms where magnificent, but only offered so much. Twilight was feeling somewhat sick, so she marched down the hall to find a sink or something. The castle seemed desolate, despite the activity that would normally go on in Canterlot.

After a few minutes of exploring the hallways, she saw something from the corner of her eye dash through the corridors. She forgot about what was happening before and started thinking about the dashing figure. Why is he in a hurry? the wondered.

Deciding to find out, she started chasing him, snaking from hall to hall in a strange fashion. Finally, the stallion was once again in view before taking a jagged left. Twilight's hooves screeched against the carpet as she came to a stop. The only thing occuping the left turn was a strange painting of the sunrise. That's when Twilight realized she was lost in a part of the castle that was unfamiliar to her.

When she placed her hoof up to the painting, it rippled somehow. Although she was initially shocked, she found the painting was completely intangible.

"What's going on?" she asked herself. She couldn't find any anwsers, though.

When the initial surprise faded, she treacherously stuck her head into the passage. The first thing she noticed was that the room had space behind the doorway, something physically impossible to create without magic. The second thing she noticed was that it wasn't a room.

---

Instead, Twilight was poking her head out of some sort of portal into the Everfree Forest. She cautiously climbed out of the portal, only for it to shut completely the second her entire body was in the forest.

"Great. Now I'm stuck here alone. Somehow." It still made zero sense to Twilight. What happened next made even less sense.

"Hiya, Twi!" greeted a familiar, energetic voice.

"Pinkie!? What in Celestia are you doing here!?"

"I saw you climbing into that sun thing and knew I just HAD to join you!" Pinkie was bouncing up and down, her frizzy tail flopping around like always.

"But, how do you get through the portal!? It closed the second I stepped out of it! Even if it didn't cut you in half, how would I not notice you coming through!?"

"I don't know," Pinkie replied with a huge grin across her face. Twilight wasn't willing to rant any further. She silently punished herself for trying to get logic out of Pinkie Pie.

"Well, how are we going to get back now?" Silence swept both ponies, leaving only the melancholies of the forest to bounce back and forth.

"Wait, I've got it!" Twilight yipped enthusiastically. "We'll just go back to Ponyville and write Celestia. She'll probably know what's going on with these painting portals!" With that, Pinkie simply nodded and started trotting down the path to Ponyville.

The next few minutes were rather silent. Nothing broke through from the rugged ferns or towering oaks in the forest. Just the buzzing and chirps of many strange creatures escaped through the thick weeds.

"Ponyville should be another five minutes ahead, so we just need to keep--" Twilight's face suddenly pounded against an invisible wall, completely cutting off what she was about to say.

"Ooh! I didn't know you could pantomime, Twilight!" Pinkie laughed, not realizing the damage was real.

"Ow! What was that? That hurt!" Twilight groaned, clearly sore over the most unexpected thing that had ever happened to her.

Making sure to keep her hoof in front of her, Twilight poked around to find what was sitting in their way. Finally, her hoof came to rest on a solid wall that was perfectly invisible. It felt like metal upon touch.

"Metal!?" she exclaimed. Who would put an invisible metal wall in the middle of a forest!? And more importantly, how!?"

As Twilight spoke, Pinkie noticed something in the bushes and said, "Hey, what's that shiny purple thing?"

Sure enough, a swirling, purple vortex was randomly floating along the edge of the path. Without warning, Pinkie leaped in carrying a pack of party balloons. Twilight approached it, sighed, and followed her friend in. Afterall, today had already been so strange for her. What else could possibly happen?

Author's Note:

I promise this one will be better than the last one I made. None of that whiny teenager stuff. Now I finally feel accomplished.