//------------------------------// // 2. What a strange new world // Story: Equestria Girls - The Legend of Friendship // by Danieru //------------------------------// “Aaaaaahhhh!” Star Twinkle continued to scream alongside Twilight after realizing the situation and the state that he was in right now, trapped in this weird body and it's slim legs and arms. The two actually managed to hold their screams for quite a while, definitely breaking their own personal records by a long shot. This probably would have continued for a while if Spike wouldn't have stopped them finally. He started by slapping Star Twinkle's face, causing him to stop his screaming. “You two have to get it together!” He insisted almost sick of hearing the two scream like that. However, Star Twinkle was not easily calmed by this. “Get it together!? Have you looked at us!?” He replied annoyed, almost jealous of Spike being a dog, rather whatever he and Twilight were supposed to be. Twilight didn't pay much attention to the two and continued to inspect her body. “What does the rest of me look like?” She asked, clearly having other priorities right now. “Um, like you. Only not you,” Spike replied, which was actually a rather accurate description.”Your muzzle's really small,” he felt the need to add, causing Twilight to inspect her nose and panicking again, however, Spike covered her mouth with his paws to prevent her from screaming again. Maybe it was because Star Twinkle was in this kind of body as well but after inspecting Twilight a little more, he figured that she wasn't looking ugly or deformed in his point of view. She actually looked fine to him. But maybe that was because he knew that she was still the same pony inside. Eventually, everyone decided to just deal with the situation. There was no point of panicking like that forever. As soon as they get back to Equestria their bodies would return to normal again...hopefully. This only gave them the motivation to continue with their task, and that was getting Twilight's crown back. Meanwhile, Spike asked the most important question right now. “Where are we?” This gave Star Twinkle the time to further inspect his surroundings. This was definitely not Equestria. That was the only thing they realized right away. There was a big building right in front of them, making it worth checking out, and some kind of road behind them, on which some strange vehicles were driving on from time to time. As they looked behind them, they noticed a statue under which some kind mirror was. Twilight inspected it a little further and realized that this was the mirror that could send them back to Equestria again, meaning that they at least knew how to get back now. Realizing that, made Twilight a little more confident and reminded her that time was limited for the three of them. “We need to find my crown as soon as possible and get back there,” she said determinedly. “Agreed,” Star Twinkle quickly agreed on. “The sooner we can go back, the better,” Their eyes both turned towards the big building in front of them since it was probably a good start to search in there first. “I suggest we start searching the castle first,” Twilight suggested as she pointed towards the building in front of them. Star Twinkle and Spike agreed to that idea and made their way towards it. At first, it felt a little weird to walk since their hind legs have changed and were a little longer than their front...legs...but it was nothing too difficult. However, Spike noticed why that was the case after he saw someone else walk by the three. The person next to them was only walking on the longer legs and not on all four like Star Twinkle and Twilight. The two quickly got up embarrassed after they realized that this is how you are supposed to walk in this world and attempted to adapt to that as well. However, it was a lot harder than it looked like. Star Twinkle came to the conclusion that the person who walked past them might have been an expert when it came to walking. Eventually, with some awkward movements, the two former ponies managed to walk up to the door. Twilight supported herself on Star Twinkle. “This is a lot harder then I expected,” she said a little frustrated. “Yeah. We have to find the crown quickly so that we don't have to spend any more time in these bodies...“ Star Twinkle replied with the same kind of frustration in his voice. “Yes, you're right,” Twilight said as she let go of Star Twinkle and stepped in front of the door to open it. But Star Twinkle got a little confused by how Twilight tried to open it. She waved her head elegantly and then suddenly, slammed her head right against the door, making her head hurt in the process. It looked really painful. “What was that?” Star Twinkle said confused by Twilight's action. Twilight hold her forehead. “I tried to open the door of course!” She replied. “But my magic doesn't seem to work properly,” she wondered as she made a focused face, probably trying to open the door again. This made Star Twinkle wonder if Twilight had even realized it yet. “I think it might be because you are missing your horn...” Star Twinkle pointed out, making Twilight actually just now realize that she was missing her horn. While Twilight tried to comprehend this, Star Twinkle tried to do something else that was worth giving a shot now. “I wonder...” he thought as he concentrated for a moment. It was just like he expected. “I can't transform. I can't grow a horn or two wings...” he shared with Twilight in a rather bothered tone. This caused Twilight to forget about her horn. “Could it be that there is no magic in this world at all?” She began to theorize. “Then why did Sunset Shimmer and Radiant Blast steal the crown in the first place?” She asked confused. If magic doesn't work in this world, then there was no reason for the two to steal the crown. The could be a chance that they simply didn't know. Or maybe the crown was powerful enough to create magic on its own since it came right from Equestria. There was no point thinking about this stuff at this moment. “Whether the crown works here or not, we just have to get it back,” Star Twinkle said as he now stepped forward to open the door in front of him. He reached out his arm and tried to grab the handle but working with those fingers was simply too difficult. He couldn't fully control his fingers or rather was not used to have any and pushed with his fist against the door in order to open it. “This is difficult!” He thought frustrated as he attempted to pull the door open with his balled hand. Twilight noticed the frustration in Star Twinkle but didn't want to interrupt him, since he was so focused at the moment. He might be able to open it after a while. But he wasn't. He decided to give up and was actually exhausted just by trying to open a door. It was ridiculous. He tried to come up with another solution and leaned towards the other door next to it. Suddenly, his body was moving forward without any warning and he fell. The door he leaned against could be opened by pushing it, making him land face first to the floor. Twilight and Spike quickly rushed to his side to make sure if he was okay but luckily he was, except for some damage from the inside. “There...I opened it...” He said defeated as his face was still kissing the floor. Twilight helped Star Twinkle up again and both of them took a look at what this place was where they just entered. It was a big empty hall. Pretty much like any other castle, even though it looked a little more different then Canterlot Castle, there could be seen some resemblance to it in some way. The first thing that caught Twilight's attention was some kind of showcase with a bunch of stuff inside. She quickly came to the conclusion that it must be some other stuff that Sunset Shimmer and Radiant Blast must have stolen. The crown was not inside there, however. While Twilight looked up, she saw her mirrored image on the glass and for the first time, saw how she looked like now.”What am I?” She asked in confusion as she inspected her head a little more. Star Twinkle and Spike didn't know the answer to that, of course. While Twilight was at it, Star Twinkle also looked at his reflection in the glass. His skin, hair, and eye color matched his looks as a pony but his nose mouth and ears were a lot smaller. The only thing he could think about it was that he looked weird. On his head, he was still wearing the dark green and white cap which had his white star Cutie Mark on it. Then there was this dark green and white jacket, his gray trousers and his black and light green shoes. It looked different but the way he looked or was dressed right now didn't really matter to him since the three didn't plan to stay in this world forever so he just had to go along with this new “style,”. A shrieking sound made the three turn around in surprise. Some kind of alarm seemed to go off. What followed were probably hundreds of people that walked through the once empty hallway. There was no time to react to all of this and the two got pushed and dragged away by this avalanche of people in different directions. Star Twinkle was heavily annoyed by all of this. First, he was asked to accompany Twilight to this world, then he was stuck in some weird body and now he felt even more uncomfortable in this big crowd, one of the things he disliked the most. Thankfully, he managed to get some space and escaped outside of this crowd, however, while doing so, he accidentally ran right into someone, making him fall down on the ground again, due to his lack of keeping his balance on this two legs. “Hey, you're okay?” The male voice of the one who Star Twinkle ran into asked, as he offered his hand to get Star Twinkle up again. Star Twinkle accepted and took the hand, he even managed to move his fingers by imitating how the person who helped him up opened his hand. After he got back on his feet, he apologized to the person for running into him. “Sorry, um...” He then widened his eyes after he got a first look at the person in front of him. It was a really tall guy, with a light brown skin, silver hair and dark blue eyes, who was wearing a brown carpenter overall with a white shirt under it which had a hammer on it. There was one name that instantly came to mind once he saw this person. “Steel Hammer!?” Star Twinkle asked surprised, without realizing that it should be impossible for his boss from Ponyville to show up in this world. But to Star Twinkle's surprise, the person replied and introduced himself just like that. “Yep, my name is Steel Hammer,” he replied with a smile on his face before he formed a rather suspicious face. “But how do you know me? I don't think I ever saw you around here,” he added as he inspected Star Twinkle further. “Oh! Uh...” Star Twinkle only managed to bring out of his mouth. “Must have heard from me, right? Best Wood-shop teacher in Canterlot High, or something like that, right?” Steel Hammer further explained, making it easy for Star Twinkle to go along with that. While he was at it, Star Twinkle took the opportunity to get some more information. “Canterlot High...is that what this place is called?” “Of course. Must be some kind of transfer student, are you? Coming from somewhere else?” Steel Hammer tried to dig up. “You could say that...” Star Twinkle replied, which was technically not a lie. Star Twinkle would have liked to talk some more but Steel Hammer said that he had to leave now, leaving Star Twinkle on his own again. Of course, the first thing that he wanted to do now, is finding Twilight and Spike again. If there was one thing that was worse than walking around in a weird body in a weird world, then it was walking around in a weird body in a weird world alone. While he looked for Twilight, Star Twinkle made sure that he inspected how these people acted around each other and how this world seemed to work. Those “hands” seemed to be pretty important. Everyone used them for pretty much everything. No one was using magic or their mouths to do anything so Twilight's guess that there was no magic in this world at all was right. This certainly made things a little harder and forced Star Twinkle to use his hands as well. Something that he really didn't look forward to. There was still no sight of Twilight and Star Twinkle began to get a little more frustrated. He decided to go inside of a door where some people went in and out from time to time. After entering the room, he finally came across something that he could identify immediately. A toilet. Star Twinkle took the opportunity to walk up to the sink to wash his face. Thankfully, he paid close attention to what kind of people went in and out of here so that he wouldn't accidentally walk into the wrong bathroom. That would be something that he certainly had no nerve for now. On his way to the sink, however, he noticed how the ground was a little slippery. Someone must have cleaned the floor recently, much to Star Twinkle's dislike who managed to actually not fall to the ground despite that, even if it meant that he had to support himself on the sink. “Things just get better and better...” he thought annoyed, finding it already difficult enough to walk on this two legs. He splashed some water on his face and tried to focus. If he wouldn't find Twilight and Spike, he just had to find the crown on his own but since there was not much time to get back, he also had to make sure that he found the two before he would leave this world. Finding Twilight and Spike was necessary, one way or another. “Don't worry, Star Twinkle...we will find this crown and return to Equestria in no time...” he said to himself in order to cheer up a little. “Are you?” Said a male voice, that came from someone that stood right at the door of the toilet entrance. “I wouldn't be so sure about this,” Star Twinkle looked over to the person and quickly had an assumption who it was. In fact, he was sure of it. “You are...” he said in his realization after he inspected the person further. The person had a light orange like skin color, dark rust-colored hair, and yellow eyes. He was also wearing an open dark blue jacket with a red shirt beneath it which had a sun on it, black trousers, and dark blue and yellow shoes. Mainly the hair gave Star Twinkle and indication who he was dealing with now. “Radiant Blast?” He asked the person who was still standing in the door with his arms crossed confidently. “Bingo!” Radiant Blast replied smugly. “Sunset and I already expected that Princess Twilight would come to this world to retrieve her precious crown but we didn't think she would have someone come with her as well. Since she is the princess, I'm assuming that you are her knight in shining armor?” He added while keeping up an confident smile. “No...that would be her brother...” Star Twinkle jokingly but also really seriously replied. Radiant Blast raised his eyebrows confused and began thinking about this reply but he shook his head and concentrated again at what he had to say. “Think you are really smart are you? Well, you are not! In fact, I'll take a wild guess that you have no idea where the crown is in the first place,” While that was true, Star Twinkle attempted to not show that he was in the disadvantage right now. He couldn't let his enemy know that he was already having trouble doing anything in this world. It would only make them feel even more superior. It was usually not how Star Twinkle would do things but in times like this, he was just desperate. “Maybe I do know?” He bluffed. Radiant Blast widened his eyes in shock. “You do!?” He asked in more confused tone, pretty different from how he was acting before. There mere fact that Star Twinkle's bluff worked was just astonishing. However, Radiant Blast quickly saw through this bluff and grabbed his head in confusion. “Argh! You are tricking me, are you? There is no way that you know where the crown is! Not even I know, so far!” He said angrily as he pointed towards Star Twinkle who only returned a confused look. This confused look was also showing up on Radiant Blast's face before he continued. “Wait...did I say that out loud?” He added as he scratched his chin in confusion before he grabbed his head once more. “And here I was supposed to be all intimidating and stuff...” Needless to say, this behavior confused Star Twinkle who was just standing there confused. “What's up with this guy? Isn't he supposed to be dangerous? I start to think that he is not really the brightest...“ Star Twinkle thought confused as he looked at Radiant Blast. Radiant Blast realized how he was stared at and quickly returned to his business. “Anyway! You are an obstacle for Sunset so I have to make sure that you won't interfere with her plan!” He said angrily as he was done talking and started to run right at Star Twinkle to attack him. Star Twinkle was shocked on how this guys mood changed so fast and he didn't know how to react to it. He didn't know what he was about to do to him but with a body like that, there was no way to defend himself, he could barely stand on his two legs because it was still slippery, making him resort to supporting himself on the sink. But luckily, this slippery ground ended up in Star Twinkle's favor. Radiant Blast was having problems running towards Star Twinkle and began to slip. He slipped right past Star Twinkle with a loud “Woaaah!” accompanying his slide and slammed right into the wall. Radiant Blast was out for a moment and his head spun a little. He was definitely not able to do anything for a few moments. This could be Star Twinkle's chance to ask Radiant Blast some questions but right now, finding Twilight was much more important so he left him and went outside. Getting out of Radiant Blast's and Sunset Shimmer's way was very important as well so he made sure to walk away fast to not cross his way again, even if it meant almost running into some other people on the way. “I have to find Twilight! Maybe she found out where the crown is by now!” Suddenly, he slammed into someone else on his way, even if it was just the shoulders of him and the other person that clashed against each other. “Sorry...” Star Twinkle quickly apologized as he continued his way, He didn't have any time to worry about it. He saw that it was not Twilight and that is all that matters. Time was running shortly after all. The person he ran into only waved her fist angrily at Star Twinkle. “Watch where you're going!” She said angrily but Star Twinkle didn't hear her and continued his way, making the person even angrier. “He's lucky that I have more important business to attend to...” she said with her teeth almost closed while saying that. The person had a light orange colored skin, red hair with yellow stripes and green eyes. She was also wearing a black vest, with a light purple shirt beneath it that had a shimmering sun on it, an orange skirt with a purple and light yellow line on the side and long black and purple boots. “Sunset!” Radiant Blast said from behind, causing the girl to turn around. Sunset Shimmer instantly noticed how Radiant Blast looked a little dirty and got a little worried. “Radiant, what happened! You look like as if you were in a fight. Don't tell me that this Twilight did this to you!” She asked angrily. “Nope, I just slipped in the toilet,” he replied while he rubbed his neck a little embarrassed while smiling. Sunset Shimmer rubbed her eyes with her fingers. “Radiant, we can't goof around like this,” she said while she prompted him to follow her. “Princess Twilight already came to retrieve her crown,” she added as she walked next to Radiant Blast. “I know! Let me tell you what happened in the toilet...” Radiant Blast started before he was stopped by Sunset Shimmer. “I don't want to know!” She said in disgust, clearly not interested in what Radiant Blast had to say. “No no not what you think!” Radiant Blast assured before he explained the details further to Sunset Shimmer so that they could continue their plan. Whatever this plan might be... To be continued...