"It's here! It's here! It's here!" the three children said in excitement as they waited anxiously in the car. The three children were Daniel, at age 12, Katie, at age 8, and Kassie, at age 7 and a half. Being the eldest, Daniel had more control over himself than his sisters, but he had been waiting too long for this moment. Living in a small town up in Wyoming, there wasn't a pet store in range. But now, there was a new pet store opening, and they were going bonkers as they drove to it.
"We'll get there when we get there!" Tyson, the father, a man at age 37, said. "If you don't stop, we won't get one." All three children stopped. "Good, if you want to holler out loud, you should have done it in the backyard. Your mom was driven insane by your shouting. I know you wanted this so bad, but, please play along with me."
"Okay, dad. Whatever you say." Daniel said quietly. Their mother, a 35-year-old woman named Maria, began to slowly calm down as they had arrived at the pet store. "Guys, we're here." Daniel said as his two sisters nodded in response. As soon as they got to the car, the three kids immediately went into the store, but not before their parents stopped them.
"Kids, don't forget to buy a litter box for the dog, kay." Maria said. "And bring it some treats for a good deed or a trick if you want it to really like you. We'll be with you."
"Ugh, where am I?" Twilight said as she opened her eyes, only for a blinding light to greet her, and she immediately shut them to block the unwelcome brightness with her... hooves, she guessed. She felt sore all over, especially feeling strange on her hooves, face, and tail. Now that she thought about it, her face seemed to be wet at the tip. "Probably just a side effect from my spell." the alicorn thought aloud before hearing her voice. It sounded, younger. "Wait, why do I?" Twilight asked, yet again, she sounded like she did when she was six. She opened her eyes and scurried off to find the nearest surface, only to feel that her hooves feel, rather squishy. Twilight put them up to her view to see not hooves, but paws covered in lavender fur the exact same as her own pelt.
Her wings fluttered subconsciously as she went to what looked like a bowl of sorts. She looked to see not the face of a pony, but that of a dog, likely a husky. Her mane was gone, with the only clue of it being there was the navy blue fur present on her back, tail and face (minus the muzzle) with purple and pink dots speckled like a fawn's would. She still had her horn, but her face looked much younger than she was before she woke up. "No, no, no. What have I done? Then that means..." Twilight cried as she looked back to see a navy-blue tail with a purple and pink strip on it, but where she thought there would be a bare flank, she had a patch of fur that greatly resembled her old cutie mark. "Thank goodness my cutie mark is still there, and I still have my horn and wings, but WHY AM I A DOG!?" Twilight yelled out, causing the sound of barking to fill the air.
"Wait, where am I?" Twilight asked to no one as she looked out to see that she was in what looked like a pet store, and there were a bunch of other dogs both young and old barking in response to her scream. It surprised her that she was not able to communicate with them, despite being a dog herself. "Okay, Twilight, just cast a simple teleportation spell and get on out of here. Piece of cake." she said, but when she charged her horn, only a few sparkles came out, harmlessly falling towards the ground. "NO NO NO NO! THIS CAN'T BE HAPPENING!" Twilight yelled, once again causing the dogs to bark. "Okay, Twilight, you're a filly again, not to mention a dog, in another place in who knows-" Thankfully, before she could go all crazy-maned again, the sound of a door opening caused her to snap out of it.
"HEY! What's all the racket?" A man said as he opened the doorway. Twilight got a good look at him, and he didn't look anything like the humans from the mirror. The proportions were off, his eyes were small, and his skin was more of a yellow tone with black hair. "Another fit again. Seesh, it's like you guys won't shut up." the man said before angrily slamming the door angrily, but not before Twilight got a look at his pin.
"Petco? Am I in some kind of pet store?" Twilight asked herself as she began to breathe. She flashed back to when she was testing a spell. Putting the pieces together, she began to sob. "No, why did I do this?" Twilight cried as she put her paws to her face and covered her body with her wings. "Spike... everyone, please stay strong." she wished, before she heard the door open. She turned her head to see five of these human-looking things, all of which had a peach-colored skin and brown hair. The father and the two sisters had brown eyes while the mother and the son had blue eyes. There was a sixth human in there, and that was the same one she first saw.
"Wow, look at this one, Mom. I want it!" the first girl said as she pointed towards her. "She's like a unicorn and a dog put together, can I keep it, can I?" she said with delight.
"Well, of course, Kassie." the mother said. "Though, it does look a little strange, especially with the wings and the purple fur. But then again, it's your pick. How much for it?" she said to the Petco Guy.
"That'll be one hundred and fifty dollars, ma'am." the Petco Guy said in a deadpan, almost bored-sounding voice that nearly made Twilight laugh as he unlocked her cage. Kassie excitedly grabbed her and held her in her arms, just below her forepaws as the Mother paid the Petco Guy through this weird device and gave him green paper. "Alright, I hope you enjoy your pet today, miss. Have a fantastic day. Here's a collar for her and don't forget to."
"We know!" they all said in sync as they into another room to discuss names for her.
Twilight began to look up at Kassie. "You know you can hold me in a more comfortable-" What Twilight had to say was interrupted by the mother screaming. She attempted to hit her with her purse, but Kassie dodged the side as she finished the swing, dropping her as she did. Everyone looked at her like she grew another head while the Petco Guy retained his signature deadpan expression, seemingly unfazed by all the ruckus. "I shouldn't have done that, should I?" Twilight asked.
"The dog just talked, the dog just..." the Mother said as she breathed in and out.
"I'm sorry, miss." Twilight said as she went back onto her paws. "I... I didn't mean to scare you." Twilight said as she did some deep breaths of her own. "I just had a crazy day today." Twilight said as Kassie picked her up back in her arms, only she did it in a more comfortable way, being careful with her wings.
"Well, what should we name her?" the Mother said, still with a look of fear in her eyes. Twilight was about to tell her name before Daniel answered for her.
"How about... Estrela, it's the Portuguese word for "star", since she had a star pattern on her." the boy said as he pointed at Twilight's flank, and everyone looked to see her cutie mark on her. Of course, Twilight did not know what Portugese is and nor did she care. If this family was nice, then she can grow and gradually get her magic back. It was her very special talent, she got her cutie mark during a powerful surge, and she still has it on her flanks.
"Alright, Estrela it is, then." the Father said as he got her tag ready for her. "Jeez, first you kids yell about the new store and now the dog just talked, this is-" Whatever he said was interrupted by him closing the door.
"Umm, hey." the voice of Kassie said as Twilight looked up to her. "I... I was a little freaked out too, you know, but I watch a lot of shows with talking animals, and I wondered what it was like talking with them. Can't we, just put this whole mess behind us, Estrela?" Kassie said as she stroked Twilight behind her ears.
"Okay, but it's not Estrela, it's Twilight." Twilight said to her new owner, who was currently petting her back.
"Okay, but Dad's already pretty busy with the tag, so get used to being called that name by everyone else." Kassie said with a sweet smile. Twilight smiled back as she stroked the fur on her head. Already, she was feeling safer around the little girl, and opened her mouth with a big yawn. "Oh my, you must be sleepy already. I guess you had a pretty rough day there, did you?" That was all she could hear as she was falling asleep. With a quiet nod, Twilight dazed off into sleep.