A loud thud was heard. Mane six found themselves in what seemed like a small, dark room. The space felt tight between them.
“Wh…Where are we?” Twilight asked, blindly struggling to make her way through her friends’ limbs. “Girls, are you here?”
“Yeah, Twilight. Kinda crushed, but fine” Rainbow Dash confirmed. “Better ask, what are we? Because I don’t feel myself at this moment…”
“Let me see if there’s a way out…” Twilight’s limbs felt weird when she moved, like she was on sticks; with all her efforts, she touched something that seemed like a door knob. Her new members made it difficult to open the door and get out, but she finally managed. The unicorn tripped and fell on the floor; it felt rough.
“This is strange…” she muttered.
Meanwhile, Rarity rose to stand on her feet and turned around to look in the mirror. When she saw her reflection, she gasped in awe. She wasn’t a pony anymore, but a being with two long legs and other two members with…claws? Her skin was a light shade of peach instead of white and her face was totally different, she noted as she patted it; it lacked the nuzzle, but there were other new features instead. Rarity descended her upper extremities to the chest and squeezed the two mounds of flesh on it. This felt even weirder to her.
“What are those?” she asked, completely puzzled by the sight of her new body parts.
“I don’t know, let me see if there’s a library…Ah, here we go…” Twilight replied. She struggled to rise from the floor and stand up while approaching the small bookshelves in the wall near her; squinting her now small eyes at the titles, she noticed a book titled: “Imaging Atlas of Human Anatomy by Jonathan D. Spratt & Co.”. Twilight stared at the book for a second, then tried to pick it up with her little long ‘branches’.
“Sweet Celestia, how can I even open it without magic? Or at least a nuzzle…”
After a while, she finally figured it out; she had to pick two of her bony extremities in order to turn the pages of the book. Twilight took a look on each of the pages with beautifully-colored illustrations and essential information about this weird species called ‘human’…species to which she and her friends belonged at this moment, it seemed.
“Girls, I found something! We are some beings called…humans. Seems like they’re the inhabitants of Earth. And that’s what the princess meant when she said that ‘we’ll blend in’ “
“Humans? What kind of sorcery is this?” Rainbow Dash pointed out.
“Well, get over here if you wanna know more! Here, let me show you how humans walk…”
Twilight applied the new theories on her friends, and taught them how to walk and keep their balance while standing up. The six girls spent the entire night doing research on the humans’ complicated anatomy, structure and customs.They learnt that the long extremities that grew out of their ‘hooves’ are called ‘fingers’, and that they have many uses, like picking up objects and writing. They also learnt about the physiology of the human body, like its stages of development: baby, child, teenager, adult and elder. From what Twilight read, she placed herself and the others in the ‘teenager’ category, considering that wrinkles weren’t present on their faces, and they looked too mature to be children.
“How old are we, I wonder?” she asked. “If we are teenagers, it seems that we also study in a school or something. Right?”
“I suppose, darling” Rarity shrugged. “Why not ask the locals about it?”
“Not yet…” Twilight murmured. “I don’t think it’s safe for us to go out for now. There has to be brochure or something with information about this town.” She spoke while searching through the shelves. “I don’t even know where we live, to be honest!”
Meanwhile, someone was knocking at the door. The girls panicked and and started hiding around the apartment. Only Twilight approached the entrance door and looked through the peephole; she saw an old female human that seemed quite harmless, even well-intentioned.
“Hello? Is anybody there?” the woman asked with a soft voice.
“Um, yes?” Twilight replied.
“I heard a young girl moved in our complex and I wanted to give her a warm welcome…I even brought something sweet for her; I hoped she would be home”
Twilight quickly opened the door and stood in front of the old lady. She had greyish white hair tied in a bun; this hairstyle pinpointed her glimmering brown eyes that were surrounded by deep wrinkles and eyebags. Still, her expression gave a hint of kindness in her heart. The woman wore a perriwinkle angle-length dress with a white ruffled apron over it. She held a tray with a big pie in her small and wrinkled hands.
“Oh, you must be miss Tara Sparkle, right?” she asked while pinching one of Twilight’s cheeks.
“Uh, yes, I guess…” the young girl answered, puzzled that the human had addressed her with another name.
“You guess? Ahahaha! Youngsters nowadays and their odd sense of humor!” the old lady chuckled.
“Um, excuse me, ma’am, but what school for teenagers is in this area?” Twilight interrupted.
“Oh, you mean highschool, sweetheart? You must be new here…Welcome to Waukesha, by the way! The nearby highschool that you’re asking about is Waukesha South High School, dear! It’s a few meters from here. I’m sure you’ll find it easily, you’re a smart girl, from what I see…”
Twilight noticed a hint of irony in the old woman’s sayings, but she decided to ignore it.
“Well, thank you for the information, miss…”
“…Abigail. Abigail Wilson. But you can call me miss Abby, my dear!” the woman added with a smile on her face. “Oh, almost forgot! Here is your pie! Hope you like it, and have a great time, sweetie! Good night!”
“Um, thank you…You as well!” the teenager replied while taking the tray. She smiled at miss Abby, then closed the door slowly.
“So, who was at the door?” Rainbow Dash asked, dumbfounded by their conversation at the doorstep.
“One of my neighbours. Yeah…” Twilight sighed, while putting the pie on the kitchen table. “Seems like we’re students at Waukesha South High School or something”
“Wau-what? Woah, this must be a secluded place in this world…”
“It might be, who knows? What time is it, by the way?”
Pinkie Pie looked at the clock on the wall. “It’s eight o’clock…”
“…In the evening.” Fluttershy pointed out while looking through the window. “What’s the date though?”
“Is there a calendar? Oh, right; it’s Sunday, 21st May…We can go tomorrow then” Twilight replied.
“Where are we gonna stay, sugarcube?” Applejack asked.
“Here, I suppose…” Twilight said with uncertainty. “Please, make yourselves at home!”
Say no more; Rainbow Dash already started looking for food, and found nothing more than a few tomatoes in the fridge and five bread slices in the cupboard.
“Aww, that’s all we’ve got to eat? Bummer!”
“I’ll buy more tomorrow, after I finally figure out how humans’ system works.” Twilight explained while rifling through another book that she just found in the bookshelves: ‘Life in the USA, by Planaria J. Price and Euphronia Awakuni’
Two hours passed and the girls already fell asleep one by one, except Twilight, who was still reading information about the human society. She was eager to find out more about this entirely new species, and she couldn’t stop just now.
“A little less sleep won’t kill anyone, so let’s dig deeper into all of this…” she said to herself while continuing her studies.
*Next day*
A rooster’s cry sounded in the distance, which woke up Twilight despite her tireness, and she startled, suddenly realising that it was morning and she had to go to school. She watched the clock in deep shock.
“Girls, wake up, it’s half past seven!”
“Mph, what the heck is so important today, Twilight?” Rainbow Dash muttered, visibly annoyed by her friend’s call.
“It’s a school day. Good morning sunshine!” Twilight ironically whispered in her ear. She furiously draped the curtains.
“Ugh, sweet Celestia!” RD screamed in ‘agony’, blinded by the light outside.
The others woke up slowly to the noise, completely confused. It took a while for everyone to get ready and Twilight grew impatient with each minute.
“Come on, we’re going to be late!”
“Be patient, darling! Nobody will kill you if you’re five minutes late…” Rarity said, trying to comfort her.
“Unless it’s the very first class…and it’s been more than five minutes!”
“Calm down, egghead. We’re ready to go now!” Rainbow Dash pointed out. “Though, I don’t have any books with me…”
“I’ll just take three books and these papers over here for now” Twilight replied while grabbing said pieces of paper. “Took the key, let’s go!”
Almost everyone got outside, except Twilight, who struggled to lock the door with her new assets called ‘hands’.
“What is it now, Twilight?” Rainbow Dash yelled from downstairs.
“I don’t know how to lock this thing…Just a second”
“Let me show you, sweetheart” a voice offered from behind. It was her neighbour, miss Abby.
“Goodness, it was you, ma’am!” Twilight startled. “Please do…”
“Alright, so you use your fingers like this and then you rotate like this…” miss Abby explained patiently. “Are your locks different than ours?”
“Not really. Only the way of locking doors is…quite different.”
“Ah, I see. Here you go” the old lady nodded, then gave her the key. “Have a nice day at school, dear!”
“Thank you!” the youngster replied while heading downstairs.
*at the school courtyard*
“Here we are! Wow, this is nothing like what is in Equestria…it’s more grey in the surroundings” Twilight pointed out.
“So, which one is our class, Twilight?” Pinkie asked in excitement. “I can’t wait to meet my new classmates and make new friends!”
“Be patient, we have to ask the principal first. They must have one, right?”
“There’s only one way to find out. Come on!” Rainbow Dash called out to her friends.
The school hallways were definitely duller and less colourful than the equestrian schools, but at least there were a few strange ‘colour patches’ that lightened the halls, and way larger than any other school they had ever seen before. Twilight was astonished by the organised atmosphere of the high school, and she was eager to discover more.
“So, does anybody know where’s the principal’s office or something?” Rainbow Dash asked, interrupting Twilight’s current state of trance. “Or lemme see if one of these people do” she continued while going to a group of students.
“Um, hey, we’re new here, and we need to see the principal. Can you give me and my friends some directions please?” she asked to a long-haired brunette dressed casually, who seemed pretty nice.
“Welcome!” the girl greeted with a broad smile. “Well, the principal’s office is not too far, just turn to the left and you’ll find it in no time; the door actually has a sign on it, and it can be easier to find. Good luck!”
“Thank you lots! See you later” Rainbow Dash replied, completely satisified on the inside. “Yes, it was too easy! Come on girls, to the left!”