Sunset woke up, slowly at first but then with extreme urgency as her recent memories replayed themselves.
She was lying down. On concrete, from the feel of it. Her head hurt, but not as badly as she'd expected. She began to sit up, reaching up to touch her face. Her hands encountered an obstacle — for some reason, she was wearing glasses. She pulled them off, frowning and wondering who had put them there. She looked around.
Everything was really blurry, but she was pretty sure she was lying on the ground in front of Canterlot High, just in front of the steps, even if the ground was painted a patchwork of glaring neon colours. There were some blurry shapes starting to move that could be her friends…
She sat up, rubbing her eyes with her other hand, and squinting. It didn't seem to help much. Then she noticed — her hand was purple. A familiar, lavender-purple. She looked down at the glasses with trepidly dawning realisation, and placed them back on her face.
The world slid back into focus, barring a smudge she'd left on the right lense. Harmony was gone. The ground was multi-coloured. The bushes had an assortment of unnatural-looking flowers. There didn't seem to be any immediate danger. She looked down at “her” body. Then she looked a cross the courtyard, at her body, which was starting to move, quite without her direction.
At this point, Rarity ran into Sunset's field of view, stopping right in front of one of the bullies, who was seemingly just waking up. Rarity stood, angrily glaring down, legs set wide and hands on hips in what struck Sunset as a very uncharacteristically masculine pose.
“Hey!” yelled Rarity, “What do you jerks think you're playing at? I oughta kick your butt!”
Sunset squinted, then hazarded a guess. “Rainbow Dash?”
Rarity jerked her head around. “Yeah, Twi?”
Across the courtyard, someone screamed. Sunset turned her head to see Applejack, staring down in horror at her own clothing and fanning herself with one hand.
“Applejack?” asked Rarity.
Applejack seemed not to notice, but then caught a glimpse of Rarity and executed a perfect double-take. “Gah,” she said, starting with eyes wide at her friend, “ga-aah. B-buh. Whu? Hu, yuh? Aah?”
“Rarity,” Sunset intervened, directing her comments to Applejack and raising her hands placatingly, “it's okay, just stay calm.”
Across the road, raucous laughter burst out. Pinkie Pie was standing, looking perplexed, repeatedly touching various parts of her own body, particularly around her eyes. Fluttershy was standing right next to her, doubled over, howling hysterically and pointing at her pink friend as if the confused girl was the most hilarious thing in the world.
Sunset jumped up, bounding up to the top of the steps and spinning around, cupping her hands around her mouth and calling out.
“Everyone! Stay calm and listen!” Wow, she thought, I even sound like her.
“We've been body-swapped!”
The girls gathered around her, both her friends and the two remaining bullies.
“Okay,” she declared, “first we need to figure out who's who. I know this is weird, but please just say yes when I call your name. I'm Sunset Shimmer.” Currently in the body of Twilight Sparkle, she mentally added.
“So… Twilight?”
“Uh, yes?” Pinkie Pie raised a hand uncertainly, touching the other to the bridge of her nose.
“Pinkie Pie.”
“Yepperoni!” exclaimed Fluttershy, bouncing for extra emphasis.
“Fluttershy.”
“Um, here,” whimpered Rainbow Dash, seemingly trying to curl up and hide while standing out in the open.
Sunset stared. Rarity cringed.
“Uh, Rainbow Dash?” Sunset turned to look at Rarity expectantly.
“Yeah,” replied the weary tomboy-turned-fashionista.
“Oh, marvelous,” muttered Applejack.
“Rarity?”
“Yes, darling, I'm here,” replied Applejack, raising one hand.
“Applejack.”
“Yup, looks like I'm you, partner,” replied… Sunset Shimmer.
“This is great!” laughed Pinkie-Fluttershy. “We're all gonna need new names, though.” She pointed at Sunset-Twilight. “You can be Sunlight, 'cause then everyone'll know you're Sunset in Twilight,” she moved on, “Twilight's me, so she can be Twipie, I'll be Pinkieshy, then we have Flutterdash, Rainity, Rarijack, and Appleset. That'll make everything so much less confusing.”
The newly-dubbed Sunlight shook her head, to clear the confusion that came from seeing Fluttershy act so hyper. “Uh, right. And uh, you two?” she directed the question at the two bullies who they had rounded up.
“Um, I think I'm still me,” replied one girl.
“Yeah, me two,” replied the other. “What… what was that? I mean, I know Harm's a total freak, but that's, like…”
“Hey!” exclaimed Rainity, “butt-kicking is still an option here.”
“Oh darling,” interposed Rarijack, “please don't engage in such uncouth behaviour while you're me. Whatever will I do if you run my manicure?”
“Don't worry about that,” proclaimed the first bully, “she looks like a hooker anyway.”
Silence followed as several of the girls stepped back. Rarijack turned to the girl who has spoken with a wide smile, and gripped her own fist in one hand.
“Applejack, dear, you don't mind if I use your body a bit roughly now, do you?”
Appleset coughed, and stepped forward. “Now, uh, Rare? I don't deny these two deserve a whoppin', but I reckon my body's a might bit stronger that you're used to, and I don't reckon you want to overdo it.”
“That's a good point,” interjected Twipie. “Rarijack, do you think maybe you have Applejack's super-strength right now, or do you still have your shields?”
“Wait!” exclaimed Pinkieshy excitedly, “Do you mean I can talk to animals?” and she ran off before anyone could respond.
“Uhh…” began Sunlight, “would you girls mind figuring this out? I think I need to write to—” she had twisted to reach for her satchel, before remembering that it wasn't there. “Oh, right. Um, Applejack? Do you have my journal? It should be in the bag, there.”
Applejack passed the bag across to Sunlight, who opened it and removed the magical journal, opening it so that she could write a message to Princess Twilight back in Equestria.
“So…” resumed Appleset, “how do we…?”
A sudden clap made them jump, each girl starting round to look for the source of the noise, except for Twipie, who was staring intently at the slightly scorched-looking patch of ground a short way in front of her. In one hand, she held a small bag tub of candy sprinkles.
When she realised the other girls present were now looking at her, Twipie's expression became sheepish. “Oh!” she exclaimed, “I, uh, well it looks like I have Pinkie Pie's glucocombustive ability.”
“I KNOW, RIGHT!?”
The words came from across the courtyard, and didn't seem directed at Twipie. Turning to look, the girls saw Pinkieshy apparently engaged in excited conversation with a dalmatian, despite the dog's owner's confusion.
At this point, the front door to the school opened, and Cheerilee stepped out.
“Girls — what is going on out here?”