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// TO THE MOOOOOON! 
// Story: Hello From The Other Side 
// by FoxMcCloud7921 
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	It wasn’t the first time Celestia or Luna had gone through a portal. Whether it was to go to an alternate dimension of Equestria itself, or flung into a portal to Tartarus, the sensation was always the same, like your body had turned into taffy. A pure novice could get him or herself stuck in the time-space continuum (though Celestia was proud that her former student hadn’t fallen victim to that) but the two princesses at this point were practically experts.
Celestia was the first to pass through the gate on the other end and somehow found herself standing on her back feet, causing her knees to buckle as she fell to the ground. Upon closer inspection, she saw she was now wearing what looked like leather boots on her back feet, which she now supposed were her regular feet and that her front hooves were what Twilight had described as hands.
It wasn’t long before Luna appeared and in the same position as her. She stared at herself for a moment before murmuring, “So this is what Miss Heartstrings dreams on a nightly basis…” She looked at her sister before she started snickering. “S-Sister what are you wearing!?”
Celestia looked down at her current attire which consisted of a purple dress with stitched in depictions of the sun near the seams. “What? I think it looks lovely. You’re the one wearing shorts.”
Luna looked down again, finally realizing she had bare smooth skin now. “Hmm…well considering it is pretty warm outside…” She then looked towards the school. “That must be where our counterparts work during the year.”
“It…certainly resembles the university, that’s for sure,” Celestia said as she finally managed to get on her two feet without losing her balance and dusted off her dress. “Well then, we’re officially here. What should we do?”
“Ooh, we could go around and play a game where if we can recognize our subjects?” Luna suggested.
“…I think you forgot about the part where we’re supposed to blend in and not attract attention,” Celestia said. “But I suppose it could be interesting to see if this world really is a reflection of Equestria.” She then checked her pockets. “Oh no…where is…oh here it is.” She brought out a long list of notes that she had taken before the two of them had left Canterlot. “Let’s see…oh here we go. ‘Car: white subcompact SUV…’ …why did I write this down again ‘…make sure to put in drive when driving and don’t hit anything.’ Well that sounds easy enough. ‘Phones were left in car as well as key...passcode is 7119.’”
“I’m assuming that’s the car over there?” Luna pointed towards the parking lot.
“Considering it’s the only one I see I would assume so,” Celestia said as the two of them walked over, which at first was kind of awkward for them but they managed to get the hang of it rather quickly. Once they reached the SUV, which said “Escape” and “EcoBoost” on the back, Celestia saw the handle for the front seat and tried to pull open the door but it wouldn’t open.
“Okay…where do I put in the passcode?” she wondered. Then she saw numbers next to the window. “Oh, that’s clever…” She then pushed the numbers in slowly and the door unlocked. “Aha! I think I’m getting the hang of this technology…” She opened the door and went inside, sitting on the rather comfortable seat as she adjusted her posture. She then spotted a button which she assumed unlocked the other doors and pressed it. Luna then opened her door and took her seat next to her.
“So…people drive these things here instead of carriages…” Luna noted. “And they have an engine…so is it like driving a zeppelin?”
“I don’t think so,” Celestia said. “Okay…now how to…shouldn’t there be somewhere to put in a key? I thought that’s how automobiles work.”
Luna picked up the “keys.” “…This isn’t a key.”
“Okay, I’m sure we can figure this out…let me check again…” Celestia looked through her list again. “‘No ignition switch, just push the power button.’” She then saw the button and facepalmed. “It’s so complicated and simple at the same time.” She then pushed the button and the car instantly started up. “Well…it’s certainly quiet.”
“Are you sure we should be driving this?” Luna asked, now looking somewhat uncomfortable.
“Oh come on, we have plenty of room around here to give it a bit of a test run,” Celestia said. She found the gear shift stick and shifted it towards D for drive. “Okay…just going to lightly tap on the pedal here…whoops!” 
The car shot out suddenly but luckily it managed to stop on its own. “Okay…the accelerator is more sensitive than I imagined. Let’s do this nice and easy…” This time the car started moving at a gentler pace and Celestia used the steering wheel to go around in circles and figure eights for the first couple of minutes. “Oh this isn’t so bad at all…I think I want one of these now.”
“So where to then?” Luna asked.
“Hmm…well I suppose we could check out where they live,” Celestia said. “I’m surprised they gave us all this but then…they are us so I guess we’re not really invading anypony’s- er anyone’s  privacy.”
Luna meanwhile was looking at a small device with a screen. “So this is what they call a smartphone…” She could tell that this was her counterpart’s since the background on the screen had a collage of stars and planets. “It’s got all these little buttons…oh here we go…let’s try Maps.” The phone loaded up the app which asked for her to put in an address. “Where’s their house again?”
Celestia looked through her notes again. “1247 Sunset Avenue…huh…why does that not surprise me…?”
“Wait a second…” Luna took a moment to figure out the keyboard on her phone and after figuring out where to find the numbers she put in the address and then pressed Go.
“Starting route to 1247 Sunset Avenue,” the phone’s female voice suddenly chimed.
“Oh look Tia, it talks!” Luna giggled.
“At the turn, turn left.”
“Hmm, she sounds kind of tense,” Luna commented. “She sounds kind of like Octavia…”
Celestia smiled slightly. “Are you becoming friends with that phone sister?”
“Yes I am.”
“Turn left.”
“You heard her Celestia.”
“I’m going, I’m going,” Celestia said as they drove out of the parking lot. Celestia may not have had a lot of experience driving, whether it was a train, trolley, or carriage, but at least she knew about watching out for others and respecting the boundaries put out on the road.
Unfortunately, as she was following the route, she was probably going a bit slower than the speed limit signs suggested, which caused a bunch of annoyed drivers to drive past her. “Ugh, honestly, was that rude gesture necessary?” Celestia grumbled. “If anyone did that in Equestria I’d…”
“In half a mile, turn right and your destination is on the left.”
“Thank you Octavia,” Luna said. “It’s kind of sad you can’t actually talk to her…”
“She’s a…what do they call them? Artificial Intelligence?”
“Well, I’m sure she has feelings too,” Luna retorted. “Speaking of which, where’s your phone?”
“I’m assuming it’s the one in the cup holder,” Celestia said, glancing down at the large device that looked large enough to be a small notebook.
“Aw, yours is bigger than mine,” Luna complained.
“Does it really matter?”
“I do not know sister, I thought the motto in the modern world was, ‘Bigger is better.’” She then looked through her phone. “Oh, it can play music too? Now I’m curious…” She clicked the app and found that the phone contained a large playlist. “Well…I guess we have a big taste in music…let’s see…how about this one?”
Suddenly, music started playing inside the car, causing Celestia to cringe slightly. “What the hell is this?”
“It’s this world’s definition of music…” Luna said as she listened. “It kind of speaks to me…”
“I dunno…”
Two minutes later, the two of them were still in the car singing the song that was still playing.
“Put your pinkie raise them to the mooooon!”
“Hey girllllssss!”
“What’cha’ll tryna’ do!?”
“Twenty-four karat magic in the aiiiirrrrrrr! Head to toe so playa!”
Both sisters started laughing at how ridiculous they sounded. “Can you imagine if we did this at the castle?” Celestia said.
“I know! The guards would probably think we’ve been replaced by changelings again!” Luna giggled.
“Well, we can both sit here and keep listening to music or we could go inside and check out what we do in this world.”
“Aw…oh well, maybe later we can have some more fun Mr. Mars…”
The house only had one floor, which made sense since it was only the two of them living there and while it appeared to be well kept, it wasn’t anything spectacular, which probably explained their counterparts’ reaction to Canterlot Palace. The front door was locked as expected, but Celestia managed to find a spare key underneath one of the potted plants by the door. “You know, it almost seems unfair,” Luna said. “That we live luxuriously and our counterparts are practically middle-class.”
“I agree,” Celestia said as she unlocked the door. “Maybe we ought to invite them over once a year…as long as they don’t end up trashing the castle.”
Perhaps Luna had spoken too soon as they opened the door. What the outside of the house lacked the inside made up for. The inside was mostly tile and they were quickly greeted by a King Charles Spaniel. “Aw… they didn’t mention they had a dog,” Luna said.
The dog quickly went up to Celestia and rubbed its head against her leg. “She’s not even suspicious of me,” Celestia noted. She carefully picked up the dog and looked at its collar. “Zoe…you really are adorable.” Zoe said thank you by licking her cheek.
They took a quick tour of the house, finding the living room, kitchen, dining room, and then went back to where their bedrooms were. “I think we can figure out which rooms are ours,” Celestia said, noticing how one room had a sun on the door and the other a moon.
Luna chuckled. “I guess we really are alike.” The two girls then went their separate ways towards their rooms.
Celestia’s room was very tidy, consisting of a queen sized bed, a table with what appeared to be a “laptop computer” as Twilight had again explained to her, and a small television. “Hmm…seems comfortable enough.” Still, her full attention was on the laptop. Twilight did say the internet was a “fascinating place.”
Meanwhile, Luna entered her counterpart’s room and her mouth immediately dropped. She couldn’t believe what she saw. There was a fifty-five inch television in her room hooked up to a rather large sound system and on one of the shelves that held up the TV she saw a sleek-looking machine with a pair of controllers. “Never in the thousand plus years that I have lived have I ever seen something so…beautiful,” she said as a sinister grin crawled onto her face.*