Why Did This Happen?

by Cipher800

First published

Twilight Sparkle awakes as an alicorn and finds herself in a giant castle run by metal-based humanoids along with several other people. She still has Spike, but is he now some sort of lizard? What can go wrong?

Twilight Sparkle wasn't the type of girl who's into magical fantasy. She was a woman of science, and wasn't the type for making friends, and always spent her time with her dog, Spike. But all that was going to change sooner or later, whether she went to that paranormal school or not.

She woke up as a mythical creature called an alicorn and found herself to be in some sort of weird castle run by a strange race of metal-based humanoids that looked like a knight's suit of armor. Thankfully, Spike is here along with her, but he changed as well, and can talk now. Fortunately, they were not alone.

Several others were taken hostage by those things, transformed into multi-colored horses, but the majority of them were surprisingly from that strange school that she was analyzing. What will she do? Find out in this story.


In my headcanon, the two worlds are not a perfect match, and one can be manipulated out of whack without the other being affected whatsoever. This story takes place around mid-season 5, and in this AU, the portal was shut down just after Rainbow Rocks, never to be able to be used again.

Why Did This Happen

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BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

"Just five more minutes, okay?" Twilight groaned as she tightened her eyes and felt for the alarm clock. She felt around until she felt something scaly. Twilight opened her eyes and searched for her glasses. She found them, but she saw a stumpy pony leg on what appeared to be a strange lizard with purple scales, green spines, and a lime green underbelly.

"Spike? Is that you?" Twilight said as she saw the spiked collar on the lizard.

"Where- where am I?" the lizard said in the voice of a young boy. Twilight's wings fluttered subconsciously from under her, wait a minute.

"Since when do I have wings!?" Twilight said in shock as she jumped up from the bed. She attempted to walk upright but wound up flailing her arms until she dropped on all fours. The pain alone made her realize that this may not be a dream. Twilight screamed as she searched for something that would tell her this was a dream, only finding the opposite.

Twilight searched for a mirror to find a winged unicorn-type creature with her hair color on its mane and fur that was a darker tone of her skin color. The pony's breathing matched hers perfectly, and her hair, mane, whatever was in a mess, with the bangs of hair still falling down without a bun holding them up, yet it obviously had her glasses on it.

"Twilight... you in there?" a voice asked her. Twilight let out a loud eep to see the lizard-Spike right behind her. Twilight screamed in horror and breathed more and more rapidly.

"Twilight! Breathe deeply!" the lizard-Spike said he walked closer to Twilight, who was still hyperventilating.

"What's wrong, Twilight? And where are we, for that matter?" Spike asked. Twilight pushed the bangs apart to take a greater look at the room. It was reminiscent of the medieval castles from her fairy-tale books from when she was a kid, but looked much more realistic.

The walls were of some grey stone brick made of some type of rock, with the occasional light here and there. The floors and ceilings were made of oak wood, joined to the walls by rimming. It was luxurious for a castle room, as the furniture was more modern in spirit but medieval only in looks.

"I guess we're in some sort of castle, if I were to guess properly." she said as she tried to move with her four legs, only to be knocked face first to the ground. Spike helped Twilight up to all fours since she was an alicorn now, and she looked really cute as one, no joke.

"I'm not sure where we are and why we are like this, but we have to find out what has happened." Spike said as he jumped up the bed to look out the window. That castle was huge, even for a castle. Twilight came to look at it and dropped her jaw in shock. That castle could act like a small town by the looks of it. The creatures walking across the battlements looked like people in suits of armor.

"Wow, it's bizzare, Spike. What kind of rock is this building made of?" Twilight said as Spike doped her hair into a bun. He was a natural with his new hands. Twilight sighed and looked at her new hooves. She felt her face, touching her new muzzle. She looked back to see wings sticking out of her back. On her rear were two magenta stars, each with five smaller white stars and secondary white spines.

Well, at least she can learn how to fly. It felt weird, like an extra set of limbs. She opened and closed them, feeling the muscles in the new set of limbs flex to her brain's command.

"This is weird, and against the laws of biology to turn from a human into this. And now my dog is a talking lizard." Twilight smiled as she saw her friend, the only friend she knew besides Moondancer, of course.

"Wait, is she there, too? I gotta find her!" Twilight said as she slammed back to the floor.

"Stupid legs don't work like my old ones." the alicorn said as she got up, still learning how to use them. If only she was still bipedal when she woke up. She was about to learn how to open a door in this form when it opened to reveal a creature that looked like a knight's suit of armor, but it was evidently a living being.

"Good. You're awake, and early too, by the looks of it." the creature said, its voice had a tinge of a metallic tone in it. Twilight was surprised about the creature and stood completely still, dropping her jaw at the strange creature, who's face was not visible at all.

"Shocked, I presume. Don't worry, I'm not here to hurt you, Twilight."

"Who are you? How do you know my name?" the frightened alicorn asked.

"Oh, well, it's a long story. Come for a walk with me, you look like you need something to eat. And don't worry about the owner's anger for bringing a horse in the house, he's aware of you and the others that we dragged here." the being said.

"Others?" Twilight said.

"Yes. Long story short, you are not alone here. The magic of your world transformed your body."

"Hold it there. There shouldn't be magic at all. I can explain it just-" Twilight's eyes widened as it hit her like a ton of bricks.

"Just walk with me." the creature said. Twilight and Spike finally got to look around in the castle until they reached a room with sets of chairs and tables. Obviously a dining room, or at least one of them. The only other occupant was an orange-yellow unicorn with a red and yellow mane, tapping her hoof at the table.

"So, you too." Twilight said to the unicorn, who looked at her like and smiled.

"I take it that you are Twilight Sparkle, I presume?" the unicorn said as the knight-creature thing went out of the room.

"Who told you? Did that metal-based creature that looked like a suit of armor tell you?" Twilight asked.

"Well, yes and no. I met you from another world." the unicorn said as Twilight looked at her in confusion as Spike sat beside the alicorn.

"Twilight, who is this?" Spike said as he twiddled his fingers.

"Twilight, Spike, my name is Sunset Shimmer." the unicorn said to the duo.

"Did you wake up like this, too." Twilight said as she ruffled her wings a bit.

"So you're an alicorn, then? But yes, I woke up in a room in the castle and looked to see myself like this." Sunset Shimmer said as she put her hoof on Twilight's shoulder when a look of sadness went onto the alicorn's face. The moment was interrupted when another creature came with three plates. Two of which housed some eggs and toast while Spike's plate had some sausage.

"Hey, Sunset, is that Twilight, I'm happy to see my Twilight and Spike! Oh my goodness I'll throw a party for you all!" a pink mare with a dark pink mane and blue eyes said as she bounced up and down before sitting next to them.

"That's Pinkie Pie. She's very hyperactive and tends to throw parties to everyone she sees." Sunset said as the pink earth pony pulled a large cake from her mane and ate it in three large bites.

"And she has bizarre abilities she had even when she was still human. It's weird, but you'll get used to it in time." Sunset said as a green aura formed around her fork and made it float, much to Twilight's shock and confusion.

"Welp, normal is now officially extinct." Twilight said as she sighed and looked at her breakfast. This day's already confusing.

The Courtyard

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It has been a few hours since Twilight awoke as an alicorn, as Sunset Shimmer called it. At first, she was shocked, but then, she managed to calm down with the help of Spike, who was now a wingless dragon that can talk. The orange unicorn was skilled in 'magic', maybe not magic but at least a form of telekinesis, nah, that's not right. The armored being told her it was magic, and she was still in denial. At least she got the hang of quadrupedal locomotion in time. Her brain had adjusted to the new appendages on her back, but she did not have time to use them yet. Right now, she was in one of the castle's courtyards, sitting on a bench under a tree with Spike by her side.

"Come on, Twi. This world is new to me, too. Can't you at least enjoy it?" Spike asked, playing with the tag on his collar.

"Maybe, Spike. I'm not feeling it today." Twilight said as she leaned next to her former pet dog.

"Well, why don't you go for a walk?" Spike said.

"I'd be happy too." Twilight said as Spike walked beside her.

They walked through the stone path of the courtyard, which doubled as a park, maybe, maybe not. Twilight hung her head low, trying to figure out why the heck everything's there in place. The incident told her that it wasn't a dream nor would it have been a simulation. It felt too real. So the next best-

"Twilight. You do you feel down?" Spike said as he jumped upon her back.

"I'm still trying to piece everything together. The creature told me that magic had changed us into colorful horses, and I'm starting to think that he, or it, I'm not sure if that thing has a gender, is right." Twilight said.

"Twilight. You can at least be happy that you didn't turn into say, a quesadilla or anything." the dragon replied. Twilight knew that Spike had a point. She lay down under a tree and began thinking until she found someone else plop beside her. Twilight looked and smiled a bit when she saw her friend, Moondancer, who had transformed into a yellow unicorn with a red and purple mane.

"So I take it you transformed as well?" Twilight asked her old friend.

"You bet it. Kinda had a panic-attack, you?"

"Yeah, me too. I sorta woke up to see that my dog was now a talking lizard and, now we're here."

Just then, Spike came in and decided to enter the conversation.

"Oh, hey Moondancer!" the little dragon replied.

"Hey, Spike. Guess Twilight was right about you. You and her were studying the rumored anomalies, I presume. I thought it was an urban legend at first with the sirens and all, then in a flash of color, I passed out with my entire body in pain."

A small red Frisbee went into the tree and fell to the ground. Shortly after that, a young pegasus filly with orange fur and a purple mane grabbed the Frisbee and ran off, being chased by a yellow earth pony with a red mane and a white unicorn with a purple and pink mane. All of them seemed more adjusted to the transformation than they were. But then again, they were young.

"What is in your agenda, lately?" Moondancer said as she closed her eyes.

"Oh, nothing, really. I was just hanging around with Twilight." Spike said. Moondancer was almost asleep, yet still awake.

"Sounds good." the almost sleeping unicorn said.


Later on, Twilight was spending some time in her room with Spike. She flashed back to the moment when she woke up as an alicorn to find herself and several others transformed into talking ponies. She looked outside to see a cyan rainbow-maned pegasus and a griffon fly together. Well, she didn't know that people changed into other races too.