//------------------------------//
// Chapter 2 
// Story: Back and Forth with Friends 
// by Purple Pony 
//------------------------------//

	Sunset stepped out of the portal with all of the grace that one can muster when you go from two legs to four.
She fell over in a heap.
After picking herself up, she looked around and saw that Twilight was waiting at the portal (Princess Twilight mind you), and upon eye contact, Twilight rushed over and hugged Sunset. “It’s been too long, Sunset.”
Sunset hugged back, after she figured out how to. “Definitely. But we should move from the portal. The others will be coming through shortly.”
Twilight quickly teleports the two of them a few feet away (Sunset just realized that Equestrian and Human measurements are the same, but ponies don’t have feet. Why is that?) and stand there, waiting for their friends.
It wasn’t long before Rainbow Dash came through the portal. The former girl now was a Pegasus, with her fur the same blue as her skin, and her mane the same rainbow that she doesn’t take care of. When she opens her eyes, the first thing she notices (at least to the best of my knowledge) is me and Twilight standing off towards the side. “It worked! Yes!” Rainbow shouts, and then hoof-pumps. 
She then realizes that she has hooves.
“Okaaayyyy…so, this is normal now, I guess. Better get used to it.” She then attempts to stand. A little wobbly, but she stays upright. Then she tries walking. It doesn’t go well. Fortunately, her wings soon take over, and she begins hovering a few feet off the ground. 
“At least this is instinct. Soooooo…I guess we wait here for the others?” She then flies over towards us, and sits down.
Next comes Applejack, who manages to land on her back. “Oof! Well, that was uncomfortable.” Her hat then lands on her face. “At least this came through.” She then rolls over, and sees the other three watching her. 
“C’mon, AJ!” Rainbow says. “You can stand up. At least you should.”
Applejack, spurred on by Rainbow’s comments. Quickly stands up and trots over to the others. “Golly, you used to live like this? I say y’all just got some more respect from me, sugarcube.”
“Well, now you know what it was like when I first went through, AJ.” Sunset replied.
Not a second later, Twilight came through the portal (Human-turned-pony Twilight, mind you), looking every bit the dignified alicorn she was. She didn’t stumble a bit. Until she opened her eyes, and saw her counterpart standing just in front of her. 
“Well, I suppose that is to be expected. Hello, um, me. I believe we have met.” Human Twilight says.
“Hello, Twilight. And yes, we have met. Nice glasses.”
Human Twilight was indeed wearing glasses. It looked odd, considering Pony Twilight didn’t wear any, but at least now there was a difference. 
Anyways, Twilight teleports over to the other Twilight, and both go away from the mirror. Just in time, as Rarity was quick to come through. Unlike Twilight, she ends up absolutely making a fool of herself. She tumbled as she tripped over herself. When she finally stopped, she was laying right in front of the ponies already on this side. 
“Ugh, watch that last step, it’s a doozy. Oh, hello girls. Mind helping a lady up?” Twilight (Pony Twilight mind you) lifted her up with her magic, and set her down on her hooves. “Thank you, darling. That is certainly an odd experience. It seemed to be unnatural, which I guess is to be expected, since it’s magical. Anyways, it is a pleasure to see you again, Twilight.”
Twilight didn’t even get a chance to respond, as Pinkie soon came flying out of the portal. Literally flying. She manages to bowl over the other girls, and soon all of the ponies (Two Twilights, a Rainbow, a Rarity, an AJ, and a Pinkie) were lying in a tangled heap.
“PINKIE!” The others shout.
“Sorry. I guess I came through a little too fast. Anyways, WOOHOO I MADE IT!!!” Pinkie immediately begins bouncing up and down, as if she had been a pony her whole life.
Both Twilights stare at her. “How does she do that?” They both say at the same time. They then look at each other, and giggle.
Finally, almost a minute later. Fluttershy comes out of the portal. She stumbles a little bit, but eventually gets the hang of walking.
“Good! We’re all here. Now, my friends are waiting in the throne room, so let’s go meet them.” Pony Twilight says.
Just as the group is about to leave, a pale-purple head with a horn and a purple mane with blue highlights stick through the door. “There you are, Twilight. The others are waiting for you. Are you co-“the mare then notices the ponies in the room. “ehhh…Twilight, what the buck is going on?”
Pony Twilight answers her. “Starlight, do you remember when I told you about the other world? Well, these are the counterparts of our friends from that other world. They’re visiting for a little while.”
Starlight blinks. Again. And again. “Ehhhhhhh…sure, if you say so. Well, the others are waiting, so we’d better go before Rainbow or Pinkie break something.” She then teleports away.
Rainbow looks at Twilight. “Would I do something like that?”
Sunset answers. “Yes. The school is lucky you don’t break stuff on a daily basis, thanks to all the sitting still you have to do.”



The eight ponies (human six, Pony Twilight, and Sunset) all make their way to the throne room. The six that weren’t born in Equestria are asking questions and getting used to their new bodies. Upon arrival, the ponies look in the throne room and see their exact counterparts sitting or flying (Rainbow was flying). Then, the doors open. The ponies inside look over at the ponies coming in, and immediately stop whatever they were doing.
The reactions are veried. Pony Rarity just can’t take her eyes off of the newcomers, her face not necessarily shock but more than surprised. Rainbow immediately gets a questioned look, wondering if these are rogue changelings or what. Applejack just looks at her counterpart, wondering how a pony can look exactly like her. Fluttershy tries to hide under the table. Starlight, already having seen this, is still suspicious, but doesn’t do anything yet. Pinkie does just what Pinkie would do in any situation.
Immediately, a party cannon goes off, and streamers and confetti rain down. A banner then hangs from the ceiling, saying “WELCOME TO EQUESTRIA, COUNTERPARTS!” Then a cake appears in the middle of the table.
Human Pinkie immediately smiles. “I like her!”
Pony Pinkie then runs right up to Human Pinkie. “Hello, me!”
“Hello, me!
“Want some cake?!”
“Who doesn’t?!”
“Somepony allergic to gluten. But we aren’t, so nopony!!”
“Hopefully you have enough cake, because I’m starved from all that interdimensional travel!”
“Silly, I have cake stashed all over Ponyville, in case of cake emergencies!”
The other ponies in the room just stare at the two. Words do not describe how doomed the universe is. There are two Pinkies, who get along, and seem to feed off each other’s happiness. The thought alone could kill, and then the diabetes would get everyone else afterwards.
Human Rainbow flies up to Pony Rainbow. “Dang. I look good as a pony.”
Pony Rainbow replies, “Thank you. How come we look exactly the same, even down to the cutie mark?”
“You are the same pony essentially. Both Rainbow Dash, but from different worlds.” Sunset explains as simply as possible. Pony Rainbow nods. “Ah. Wanna race?”
Human Rainbow, never one to back down from a challenge, says “Sure, just give me a chance to get used to this form.”
Pony Rainbow then holds out her hoof. Not really seeing what else to do, Human Rainbow bumps it with her own hoof.
The two Fluttershy’s manage to muster the courage and greet each other. “Um, hello.” Human Fluttershy murmurs.
“Hello.” Pony Fluttershy murmurs equally quietly.
“So, um, what sort of animals do you take care of? Oh, if you don’t mind me asking.” Human Fluttershy asks meekly.
It was as if someone had flipped a switch. Fluttershy immediately starts to go on and on about animals, and Fluttershy just soaks it all in. Back and forth the conversation goes, what they’re talking about, nopony knows.
Except it probably has to do with animals. 95% confident it was about animals.
The two Applejacks are eyeing each other up like one of them is about to start a fight. Then they both speak at the same time. “Sorry, it’s a mite worrying when you see somepony that looks just like yerself.” Then the two of them, realizing they have nothing to worry about, embrace their southern hospitality and start to talk about all sorts of things. Quite a few about the differences between worlds, but nothing too deep yet. Sheesh.
Pony Rarity and Human Rarity are both looking at each other as if they have something on their face. Eventually, Pony Rarity speaks first. “Oh, where are my manners? I am Rarity, though you probably knew that, and I am the premier designer here in Ponyville. And you are?”
“Well, I am Rarity” Human Rarity then bows “but you probably knew that, and I like to think of myself as one of the premier designers in Canterlot City. I managed to design a whole wardrobe while out camping a few weeks back, if that makes any difference.”
Pony Rarity bows back. “Why, it certainly does. That’s as impressive as me using shades in a hotel room to create a new line in a day, after getting my original ideas stolen. We really are similar, aren’t we?”
“Yes, I agree we are, but the styles are not.” Human Rarity replies. “Also, how do you run a business selling clothes when ponies don’t wear clothes that often?”
“Very very shrewdly. Fortunately, I have stores in Canterlot and Manehattan, and I’ve become one of the most well-known fashionistas in Equestria.” Rarity answers.
The conversation eventually goes towards fashion, and they proceed to tune out the rest of the world.
The Twilights, having met before, are just soaking in the different reactions. Human Twilight has one question though. “So, how come you don’t wear glasses, but I do? Is my eyesight really that bad?”
Pony Twilight has the answer. “Contacts. Don’t worry, I’ve become near-sighted with all the books I read. You probably aren’t any different.”
Now, Sunset Shimmer trotted over to Starlight Glimmer. “So, you must be Starlight Glimmer. Twilight’s written a lot about you. Messing with time and getting rid of cutie marks? Sort of reminds me of my exploits back in the day.”
Starlight Glimmer just shrugs. “Well, my best friend left when he got his cutie mark, and thus I blames cutie marks. As for messing with time, well, I just wanted revenge on Twilight. But that is nowhere near as impressive as what you have done. Defying Princess Celestia and using the Element of Magic to turn into a demon? That’s rather impressive.”
Sunset then got an idea. “Magic duel? After I get warmed up, of course.”
Starlight smiles widely. “Sure. Whenever Twilight and I fight, I can always tell she’s holding back. It’ll be nice to have somepony who is somewhere near my level. No disrespect intended towards Ponyville, but there aren’t very many high level magicians here.”
“It’s a deal.” Sunset then sticks out her hoof. Starlight returns the bump.



After about fifteen minutes, the ponies (14 of them) all gather around the cutie map. “Okay, so now that you’re all here, we need to set a few ground-rules.” The Princess in the room said. “First, where will all of you stay? I have plenty of rooms here in the castle, if you want to stay here.”
Pony Rainbow is the first to speak up. “My cloud mansion is plenty big for me and me here. Rainbow can stay with me.” 
Pony Fluttershy is the next to speak up. “Um, if Fluttershy here wouldn’t mind, um, she c-could sleep on my couch if she wanted to.”
Human Fluttershy stutters, “W-well sure, that would b-be lovely.”
Pinkie Pie (they were moving around so much that nopony could tell the difference) then offered Pinkie Pie to stay with her. “It’ll be just like camping! Except for no fire!”
Human Pinkie (assuming here) bounces in place. “Sure thing, me! I’d love to camp with you!”
Human Twilight then says, “I’ll be staying at the castle, then.” 
Sunset pipes in “I will too. If Glimmer here can handle me.”
Starlight replies sarcastically. “Ha ha ha, you act like you are a terrible pony to be around.”
Pony Rarity then said, “Well, Sweetie Belle is off with her friends on a field trip to congratulate completing middle school, so Rarity here can sleep in her room for a while.”
“Thank you, darling. Wait, if we are the same, then when I compliment you, I’m technically complimenting me. So is it seen as egotistical?”
Rainbow groans. “Seriously, Rarity? Why do you get bothered by stuff like that? I like to compliment myself all the time, and that was before I had another me to compliment.”
Human Twilight then points out. “Even if you think it’s egotistical, you can’t just not compliment someone. It’s in your nature. Well, both of yours.”
Human Rarity then shrugs. “Oh well. Even if I come off as full of myself, it’s nowhere near what Rainbow is. So I guess I can deal with it.”
Finally, Pony Applejack says “I don’t think AJ here can stay with me. Even if Bloom’s gone, Granny and Big Mac are still there. How the hay am I gonna explain to them there are two o’me? So, sorry, me, but you can’t stay in my house. Much as I would like it, but sorry, sugarcube.”
Human AJ then replies “Well, if your farm is big enough, I could just camp out somewhere you aren’t working right now. I haven’t really camped in a long time.”
Pony AJ nods. “Sure. The north field doesn’t have anything out there, so you could stay there if ya want.”
“Thank you kindly.”
Sunset then points out something rather important. “What happens if somepony sees the two copies of you? I don’t have that problem, but you do. What then?”
All 14 of them begin thinking of ways to prevent this. Eventually, Pony Rainbow comes up with the solution. “Blame Twilight.” Upon receiving puzzled looks, she explains. “Twilight is always trying different magical stuff. We just say that something went wrong and now there are two of us. Since this is Ponyville, ponies won’t question it. It’s simple.”
Pony Twilight nods. “Surprisingly, Rainbow’s idea makes sense. Ponies here in Ponyville are surprisingly accepting of the weird. Not much surprises us anymore.”
“And I can say I’m here from out of town, which is technically the truth.” Sunset adds.
“Alright! Now, it’s been a long day, and half of us have been through a portal. All in favor of hitting the hay raise your hoof.” Pony Twilight says. 13 other hooves shoot up. “Motion carried. See you tomorrow.”