//------------------------------//
// 39 - Action in the Back 
// Story: Perchance to Dream 
// by David Silver 
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I pushed down the door, sealing us in the gloom of the back of the van. Starlight's horn lit up, banishing the gloom away as she set her little spell book aside. "Shall we begin? I learned this spell from Twilight, really. It's technically usable without study, but I prefer to hedge my bets."

I gave the briefest chuckle at that. "You were just messing with Kevin, weren't you?"

She rolled her eyes. "Maybe a little. He enjoyed it and I know the type. He would have fit in nicely in my old town." She thrust a hoof at me. "Unlike you. You don't like not being in charge. Even when you aren't, you're always looking for a way to turn the situation around. I've been watching you, my student."

I bumped Starlight up a mental notch for perception. "This isn't going to become a fencing match, I would hope?"

Starlight cocked a brow. "I should hope not. Only one of us even has a weapon. Let's start." Her horn began to glow with a weaving spell. She ran a thin line over me before she let out a soft breath. The glow swept over her body. "Here goes..."

She floated into the air, buoyed by her magic as the glow increased to a glaring light. Moving to the back had been a wise move, I felt. Her legs began to shed their fur. Her legs extended, reaching towards the ground as their shape changed as if made of warm wax to fit that of a human. Her hooves split down the center, then branched, becoming fingers. Her cute little ears withdrew to the sides of her head and lost their fuzz even as her snout pulled back in to a more human face. Her tail drew back into her and she began to gain the curves of a healthy female adult. Her exposed skin changed in color tone suddenly, perfectly matching mine.

The glow faded away, leaving us in dark. "Did it come out right?"

I couldn't see to be sure, so I pulled out my phone and got it to glowing. There she was, a naked but properly formed Starlight. She still had her mane style on her hair and her cutie mark was emblazoned proudly on her hips. "How do you feel?"

Starlight reached out a hand, then the other. She patted herself down lightly, running fingers over her long legs. Her hands raised up and she might have become bewildered a moment at the idea that she had breasts in entirely the wrong place. "I think everything's in the right place, for a human. It's... colder than I expected. Can I have some clothes?"

I left the phone where it could shine light for the both of us and quickly fought my way through the piles to get to my clothes.  I dug out some informal wear and tossed her a bra, t-shirt, panties, socks, pants, and shoes. "Do you know how to put all that on?"

She didn't, but she was too proud to not get to figuring it all out. To her credit, she almost got it right... "Those go under the pants," I offered while trying my best to  hide the expression that wanted to burst free.

A sudden knocking on the back door had both of us jump in surprise.

"It's Kevin, everyone decent?"

When given the all clear, he pushed the door up, then paused. "Huh... Wow, not bad, Starlight. You're... like Linda's sister."

I hadn't considered that, but who does, really? I never met sisters that weren't twins that didn't think they looked different, and even then some times. Still... "I bet that's because she used me."

"Precisely," agreed Starlight as she sat on the back edge of the trailer and nursed on her soda. "It's nice to be able to be in plain view without being terrified. I just have to get used to... this."

Kevin hauled himself up to join us. "Hey, Linda, how did you get used to being on all fours?"

I took a bite of my egg-burger. "I cheated. Near as I can tell, I was time-sharing with the ghost of the pony I was switching with, and we got a bit of each other all over the other. I could fire his bow, and walk, and basically live right, and he went and started enjoying the wonders of email."

"Email?" Starlight snatched some fries and gobbled them up. "What's that?"

I pulled out my phone from where I had just tucked it away and turned off the flashlight I had left on. "Here." I showed her the list of email I had waiting. "It's like regular mail--"

"But electric," finished Starlight with a smile. "Your lightning magic is something else, allow me to repeat. Now what is this about pony ghosts?" She raised a brow. "There isn't any such thing, so far I'm aware."

I could only shrug at that. "Real or not, he was there for me." I didn't dare mention he had approached me looking like Kevin with kind words while I was losing every marble I had. "He's a part of me now. He went off to... whatever ponies do after they die."

"Nothing." Starlight shook her head.

Kevin blinked at that. "Ponies are atheists?"

"Athiwho?"

I held up a hand. "Do you believe in any higher power?"

"Higher power? Oh!" Her face lit up. "You're talking about Harmony. Twilight's a big believer, and I must confess it's hard to argue it when you look at her life. If there is a Harmony, it's clearly looking out for her and her friends."

Kevin pointed at her between bites of his own food. "You're one of her friends."

"True..." She took another bite but didn't swallow for a long moment. "Things taste different, though I suppose that's to be expected. I wonder if meat tastes better now..."

The idea that ponies were happy with simple oblivion had unnerved me a little, not that I was particularly religious, still... It clashed with the pastel innocence I had associated with ponies in general. "You don't have anything after death at all, no theories?"

"Not really?" Starlight frowned a little. "All the more reason to make sure your life is good the first time through, it's all you get. Now that's enough morbid talk. Now that I can explore this world without immediately causing a panic, I want to do just that! You mentioned you had planned to see interesting places and I can only imagine my presence has fouled that up, well, no longer. I'll come with you."

Kevin's doubtful expression brightened to optimism. "That sounds great!" He pulled out his own phone and got to tapping at it. "The next stop's actually an alien hot spot, ironically enough. I couldn't resist stopping through some Area 51 kind of places."

"Area what?"

I patted Starlight on the shoulder. "Kevin is going to bring us to a place where the people like to talk about aliens they didn't see, while we bring an alien we did see. Earth only has one species at the top, so we're lonely and always looking for others, even while we're terrified of what will happen if we do find something out there."

Starlight shrugged a little. "That sounds a bit silly, but fun. I'm up for it." She hopped down, and crashed. They flopped right down to her hands and knees in a graceless display. "Oof! Hang on, I got this..." She climbed back up to her feet, wobbling. "Practice is the only cure."

Kevin slid down with less flopping involved. "Your turn to take out the trash."

Pfft, fine. I got to gathering up the debris and hurried off to the trash with it so we could get on our way. When I got back, Starlight and Kevin were in their places. She was all buckled in and looked like she belonged there much more than a colorful pony would. Just that hair... It wasn't as if a person couldn't dye their hair that way, but it was so bright and vibrant. 

Women would kill for such perfect lines and bold hues. Not me, on the other hand. I was happy with what nature gave me. I pulled the door shut and buckled in and off we went towards our next little adventure.

Our journey was interrupted by the faint haze that we all recognized as Twilight's presence. "S-starlight?" We couldn't see her, but she could clearly see us. "You're--"

"--Human," finished Starlight. "How do I look?"

Twilight was silent a moment. "You look fine, Starlight, but what happened? You didn't cha--"

Starlight cut her off, "--I used the same spell you did."

"Oh! Oh. I didn't even know you read that one. That's a complex spell, congratulations. Well, good news. I... went ahead and informed Celestia of what's going on and she's authorized a visit to the mirror portal storage. She says there are a few that aren't tuned yet. I'll borrow one and we can get it aimed at this world."

Kevin got a little grin. I knew exactly why and reached across Starlight to give him a poke. "No visits to ponyland until we've finished settling in."

"That would be wise," agreed Twilight. "We'll want a nice stable location to aim at. Most such portals are attuned to solid immobile objects, but not always. For easy example, all the portals in Equestria use literal mirrors, which can be moved. It's safer, on our end. We can control our side of the portal, and we always know where we'll end up."

Starlight leaned forward towards the windshield Twilight sorta-occupied. "We're going to explore some human cultural exhibits."

Twilight sputtered before she appeared, her face dominating the windshield. "What?!"

The wheel wavered with surprise before Kevin recovered. I took a soft breath. "The law, Twilight."

Twilight backed away quickly with a squeak. "It's just... I want to see this! Starlight, as my student, it falls on you to take diligent notes, at least, please!"

Starlight wriggled her new fingers. "I can't promise, seeing as I haven't had any experience writing with these and I can't use magic right now."

Twilight's sad cry echoed across universes. "Please at least try... I should go. Good luck." The haze that was Twilight faded away.

Starlight gave a little laugh. "That was entirely worth it." She dug out the pen I had lent her. "Seriously though, I'll try to get some notes down for her. She's adorable and I don't plan to let her down on purpose."

Oh god... "Did you just say adorable?"

Starlight blinked. "Huh, not the word I would typically use. She's adorkable is what she is." She got to clumsily making scrawls with her human fingers.

I reached over and put my hand over hers, showing her how to move her fingers to hold the pen properly. It was more interesting than staring out the window at least.