As Applejack walked her hands and arms through the mirror she saw and felt them become hooves and forelegs. She continued forward, passing her head and upper body through the mirror’s surface, oddly not being aware of anything else changing. Just when she was beginning to wonder if the portal had run out of magic from all the prior transformations, she felt a tug and she was pulled through by an invisible force.
“Wuaguhhh!” she yelled, feeling nearly weightless but quickly falling forward. Her body twisted as if in a spiral but she felt no pain, just dizziness, and a little nausea. She continued to swirl, her body changing shape and growing fur. She recognized the feeling as when she and the other Rainbooms ponied-up during their performances, but the changes were much more thorough, and normally the world wouldn’t be spinning around her. She tried to pay attention to each change but was too busy doing her best to not lose her lunch to be able to note specifics. Suddenly she felt gravity return and she was shot out of the swirling confusion and onto something soft and furry.
“Oof! Ow!” it said.
“Rares? ‘Dat you?” came Applejack’s muffled voice as she waited for her head to stop spinning along with her new body.
“Yes, darling,” came a muffled reply. “Now please remove your person from my … I’d rather not say it. Please just get up and take a few steps aside. Pinkie, you too.”
“I can’t,” answered Pinkie’s voice, “you’re on me! You’ve got to be the one to, he-he, ‘giddyup’!”
Rarity groaned, “I can’t ‘giddyup,’ all I see is pink! At least I think it’s pink, it’s rather dark in here. I’m not even sure which way is up! And I can’t seem to make this body move right, I think it’s because Applejack is on top of me.”
“Ah’m movin’, ah’m movin’! Jus’ let me figure out which leg is which here. Ah landed with ma face stuck in ma hat and it feels like ah’m a’top a giant, furry marshmallow.”
“A WHAT?!” Rarity protested. “You. Did. Not just call me giant! I’m sure whatever I look like is elegant and petite for the species!”
Applejack struggled to right herself, straightening out her now forelegs in front of her.
“OW! Darling, I believe you just stepped on my tail.”
“Sorry, Rares.”
“It’s alright, strangely it didn’t actually hurt, it just surprised me. Such an odd feeling it is to have something stepped on when it’s growing out of my—um, never mind.”
“OOOH! I love odd feelings! Step on mine too while you’re up there!" Pinkie added.
Applejack gave up trying to figure out her body while blind and sideways and simply rolled herself to what she believed to be left of the mirror. She felt herself roll down a small, bumpy hill and come to rest on solid floor.
“Thank you, darling. Now if I can just free myself from this pink tornado.”
While Rarity attempted to right herself, Applejack got a forehoof free and managed to knock her hat off her face with a pop. Finally able to see, she then tried to scoop her hat up between her forehooves to place it on her head. “Strange having to do this without fingers.” After a few attempts, whereby she kept losing her balance and falling forward, she gave up and just dropped her head into her hat and held it on with one hoof while she angled her neck back up.
With her priorities straightened out, Applejack got the rest of her legs settled, untangled, and beneath her. Though she stopped before attempting to stand to get a look at the room they had landed in. There wasn’t a lot to see as the only light came from a slightly open set of double doors but she was able to make out books everywhere, not just in bookcases and on tables but also strewn over the floor. She stopped scanning the room when she caught sight of a wriggling mass of white and pink a small ways to her right.
“Uhh …,” said Applejack, watching a white pony attempt to untie its head from inside a large, tangled, pink tail. The pink pony the tail was attached to was mostly obscured by a pile of rubble she was planted face down inside of. The rubble seemed to be mostly composed of books, furniture, and various stationary. Both ponies were completely naked. That latter fact would have been completely natural if it weren’t for the additional fact that Applejack was pretty sure these ponies were two of her very close friends.
As Applejack stared in surprise, Rarity’s efforts to free herself caused her hindquarters to sway in all directions and her tail to twitch and flop around. A glimpse of something that shouldn’t be on public display had Applejack avert her gaze with a blush. She looked further back, opposite the doors, and found the ornate mirror they had apparently been shot out of.
It was a curious thing. Or at least the strange equipment attached to it was curious. For a moment she thought she recognized Sunset’s old correspondence journal sitting in a nook above the mirror, but it appeared to have the sun symbol Principal Celestia was so fond of, rather than Sunset’s dual-colored sun on its cover.
Glancing down, Applejack saw her new body’s reflection in the mirror and noticed that she was also naked—aside from her faithful hat—and decided she didn’t need to try standing just yet. Instead, she angled her hindquarters toward the wall away from her friends, looked back, and began working on learning how to make her tail cooperate while her blush deepened.
While she was working on that, A surprised, not quite lady-like, yell came from her right as the white pony finally freed herself from the pink tail, rolled down the rubble pile, and came to a stop.
“Jumping through the portal,” said the white pony, “was definitely a mistake.”
Applejack risked a glance over to the white pony to find her lying on a side with her hooves and head facing away. Her head was swaying around from her tumble down the pile, and possibly still the journey through the mirror, but the voice and purple hair—or rather—mane and tail on this pony were unmistakably Rarity’s. “Ah don’t know, Rares, ah crawled through and still ended on top of, uh, never mind.”
“It wouldn’t have been so bad if this pile of broken furniture wasn’t in front of the mirror. What happened here? Are we in the right place?”
“Well,” called Pinkie, her tail, sticking straight up from the top of the pile, being the only part of her that was visible, “this book my face landed in has the messages we wrote to Twi, so we’re either in the right place, or this book is an impostor.”
“Pinkie, why exactly are you up there and why is there a pile of rubble in this—” Rarity looked around the room in front of her, “—what I suspect used to be an orderly study? Are those walls made out of crystal?” she couldn’t help but squint trying to make out more details.
“Well, when I cartwheeled into the mirror it kinda turned me sideways, which is weird since because I was cartwheeling I was already sideways, so I think it turned it into a somersault, and then it became a back-flip too, or maybe the other way around; I’m normally really good at both of those but I’ve never done both at the same time, and when the mirror kicked me out here it really KICKED me out here—and I think it’s a good thing it doesn’t have feet because it would really, REALLY have kicked me out here if it did—anyway, my arms and legs—or I guess I should say my legs and other legs—weren’t the right sizes anymore so I tripped and tumbled and kept rolling and bounced off something, and then bounced off something else, and I heard some stuff breaking and I bounced again, and then again, and when I finally stopped rolling I was on top of this pile here. Oh, and then Rarity knocked me into the hole in the top and fell into my tail.”
“I was in your tail?!” Rarity sputtered as if there was hair on her tongue and brought up a foreleg to pick it out, only to hit herself with a fingerless hoof. “Ow.”
“What is in this anyway?” Pinkie sniffed. “Smells like dusty old books.” She sniffed again. “Really dusty old—aaahh, aahhh, CHOO!”
The force of Pinkie’s sneeze blew her up and out of the hole. Once her upward momentum wore off, she fell back down and crashed on top of the pile sending debris in all directions. The resulting dust cloud set the three ponies into coughing fits.
“Pinkie …, darling, are … are you … alright?” asked Rarity between coughs.
“OOH! My tail is really floofy and poofy and soft! I didn’t feel that at all. I gotta remember to always land butt first like that! I wonder if I can bounce on it like a trampoline. Oh! And pony sneezes are REALLY strong!”
Applejack moved to grab her hat off her head and use it to waft the dust cloud away but wasn’t sure how to grab it in her hoof so she just waved at the dust with a foreleg instead. “Glad yer alright, Pinkie, but ah think we just ransacked Twi’s study.”
“I’m afraid you may be right,” Rarity agreed, also trying to thin the dust cloud with a foreleg. She looked around as her vision cleared. “We’re going to have to apologize to—PINKIE! You’re naked!”
Pinkie was already attempting to bounce on her tail, her four legs spread out in front of her, facing her friends. “No I’m not, silly! I’m wearing a fur coat! AND fur pants!” Pleased with her pony body’s fashion sense she looked down to get a better look at herself. She took in her fur-covered pink hooves, her fur-covered pink forelegs, her fur-covered pink belly, and her fur-covered …, she blushed. “Oh, um … those aren’t pants. Definitely not pants.” She then realized she was completely on display and yelled, limbs flailing, “Don’t look at me! I’M NAKED!”
Applejack and Rarity averted their gazes as Pinkie wrapped herself with her four hooves.
And then Rarity screamed, “I’m naked too!”
Applejack’s pony ears flopped down on instinct to protect themselves from the onslaught. “Well Twi and Sunny did say most of Equestria is clothing optional.”
" ‘Clothing optional’ is not the same thing as nudist colony. I’m a fashionista, so is pony Me. Why am I naked?! I should NOT be naked!”
They all lay there a moment, blushing and covering themselves, and making sure to not look at each other. Eventually Applejack reached a conclusion. “Alright, Pinkie’s naked, Rarity’s naked, um, Ah’m naked. We’re all naked and that’s normal for this world. We just gotta ignore that and press on.”
Rarity scoffed at that. “I’m not stepping foot anywhere until I’m decent.”
Pinkie giggled. “We’re not stepping foot anywhere because we have no foots!”
“You know what I mean, darling.”
“Well ah don’t see any clothing in here so we got no choice but to leave as we are.”
“Says the pony with a hat,” Rarity retorted.
“Well it ain’t like I’m wearing it on the end that counts. Besides, we’re all girls here, and we’re all ponies. What’s it matter?”
“What it matters is that I have my dignity to preserve. I am a lady, and ladies conduct themselves with dignity and grace.” Rarity looked at the hoof she had hit herself with earlier and pouted. “And right now I have neither.”
“Hey!” suggested Pinkie, “maybe pony Rarity has some clothing in the palace somewhere!”
Rarity’s eyes sparkled. “Oh that’s right. We’re in a palace, a real live palace! There must be closets all over stocked full of stylish, royal clothes. I’m sure, given the situation, no one would mind if we borrowed some for however long we end up staying here.”
“A’mazin’ that this palace was all made by ponies,” added Applejack.
“No it wasn’t.” said Pinkie. “It was all made by a tree, according to Twi, remember?”
Applejack thought on that, “Strange things happen in this world.”
“Yeah, like a school bully turning into a she-demon and then becoming our friend when an alien pony princess jumped out of our horse statue and used a crown to shoot a rainbow that turned that she-demon back into normal, which isn’t really normal for her since she’s actually also an alien pony that just looks human, and then these three fish-ponies that also just look human show up and hypnotize people with their singing until we all grow pony ears and tails and shoot a rainbow at them too, by rocking out some awesome jams in their general direction, and then a girl that looks just like our purple alien pony princess friend, but is actually a humane for real shows up and SHE turns into a—”
“Ah get it, Pinkie,” Applejack interjected, “weird things happen in our world too. And, ya know, now that I think about it, being naked in an alien world, in alien bodies ain’t exactly the weirdest thing we’ve been through. So, let’s buck up already and look for Twi so we can go back home where we have clothes on.”
A moment passed in silence. The three mares continued to hold their positions. Eventually Rarity spoke up. “I don’t see you, ‘bucking up’, darling.”
“Ah don’t see you doing it either.”
“Normal for this world or not, I am not ‘bucking’ anything until I get some clothes on.”
Pinkie thought for a moment. “That sounds backward.”
“What ah said was—oh never mind.”
Another moment passed and Pinkie pondered, “I feel like we’re forgetting something …. I know I turned off the oven before I left. I put the whip cream in the whip cream fridge. I took bolder for a walk for Maud. Gave Rocky his favorite treat for being good yesterday. Oh I remember! ‘WARNING’!”
“” ‘Warning’?”” Applejack and Rarity asked.
“Yeah! Remember when I gave Rainbow Dash that ‘WARNING’ that made her fall backward into the mirror and then Fluttershy jumped in after her?”
They looked around the room again, still avoiding looking at each other. “Where are Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy?” Rarity asked. “They came through ahead of us. Pinkie, didn’t you see them?”
Nope! I had my face in a book inside a pile of other books and broken furniture! And then a Rarity fell on top of me.”
“W-we do not need to speak of that last part,” chided Rarity.
“Rainbow?!” called Applejack. “Fluttershy?! Where are you two?”
“Darlings, look by the door!” Rarity pointed a hoof at a disorganized trail of books, beside a toppled over bookcase, leading to the set of opened double doors connecting to what looked like a hallway.
“Ah have a feeling that some of this mess was here before Pinkie arrived.”
“That would explain why the floor was so bumpy before the first time I crashed into something,” said Pinkie.
“So,” started Rarity, “what; did Rainbow Dash make a mess and run off with Fluttershy chasing her?”
“Why would Dash just—” Applejack thought for a second, “—she’s off enjoying her wings ain’t she?”
Rarity sighed, “And I suspect Fluttershy is still trying to catch up with her and make sure she isn’t injured, or gets lost.”
At that moment they all heard a loud “WHOOOHOOOOO!” as a multicolored streak zoomed past the open doors followed by a much softer “oh my goodness, oh my goodness!” from down the hall.
The three ponies in the dark room just looked at the open doors as they confirmed their suspicions.
“Seems to be the case.”
“Yeah, that figures.”
“Yepperonie!”
Not yet willing to stand up in their current state, they simply waited as additional instances of “oh my goodness,” as well as a few calls of “Rainbow!” soft utterances of “oof!” and wordless panting all followed, each slightly closer than the previous.
While they waited for the for the inevitable yellow pony to pass by, there were also more loud exclamations accompanied by rainbow blurs passing the door. The group tried calling out to Rainbow each time, but the blur kept flying by.
“So,” asked Applejack, passing the time, “you took Bolder for a walk today? Ah thought ya was helping the rest of us look after Sunset.”
“I was! But I had Bolder in my pocket with his leash on. I was multitasking!”
Finally an “oof” was close enough to be felt through the floor as much as it was heard and the three ponies called out to the source.”
“”Fluttershy!””
“Eek!” came a startled reply.
“Darling, it’s us!” explained Rarity. “We’re still in the room with the portal.”
“Girls?” came a relieved reply.
“This way, Flutterpony!” cheered Pinkie.
“I-I’m trying! … Oof! … I’m … almost … oof, there!” The head and forehooves of a panting, yellow pony landed just beyond the crack between the open doors and looked over, squinting into the darker room. “Girls? Are you there?” she asked.
“Are doughnuts holey?” Pinkie asked right back. “Oh wait, not ALL doughnuts are holey, you know, like the jelly and cream-filled ones, but we are! I mean, we’re not doughnuts and we’re not holey, or cream-filled, but I did have jelly on my toast this morning so—”
“Darling, I’m sure she has the idea by now,” Rarity abruptly spoke, cutting off pinkie.
Fluttershy smiled and took a calming breath. “We all made it okay then?”
“Seems like it, sugarcube. Though we also seemed to have rustled up the place a bit.”
“ALRIGHT! YES!” came another rainbow blur above Fluttershy who ducked low.
“Oh, I know. I’m so sorry,” said Fluttershy after the coast was clear. “We’re going to have to come back and help clean up after Sunset is okay. Rainbow Dash and I …,” she trailed off blushing as she looked back the way she came then forward past where the blur had gone. “I’m afraid it’s not just the one room.”
“I’m sure Twi and the maids will understand once we explain,” Rarity assured.
“Oh I hope so. But I’ll still want to help clean up our mess.” Fluttershy lifted up a forehoof to look at it. “If I can figure out how. Also, flying is a lot harder than the birds make it look.”
“It is?” asked Pinkie. “But you and Dashie fly all the time when you pony-up and get wings back home.”
“That’s true. But, back home, all I have to do is think ‘up’ or ‘that way’ and my wings take me there. It’s like the magic moves them for me. But here they’re normal wings; I have to move them directly, get all the angles and movements just right, and—.”
“YEAH! WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!” the streak passed over Fluttershy’s head again.
“Seems Dash took to it mighty well,” Applejack chuckled.
“Oh yes. She’s already faster than she was at the Friendship Games. She just had a few, um, accidents early on … we both did. So, um, I suggested we stick to this hallway. It’s pretty empty and seems to circle around the whole palace. At least this floor.” With that, she gracefully stood on her four hooves and effortlessly trotted to the doors.
The others just stared at her ease of movement in her alien form as she opened the doors wider, letting in more light. “Oh my! Look at you all!” she said with glee. They stared in shock a moment longer before remembering to be embarrassed.
“Fluttershy! We’re naked!” shrieked Rarity.
“All of you? I thought at least you would have some clothes on, Rarity.” Fluttershy looked them over as they blushed and kept themselves covered. “Ah, Applejack, you still have your hat!” Fluttershy smiled at them and came more fully into the room. Outside, the rainbow blur did another pass.
“But, darling, why aren’t you embarrassed? You’re naked too!
“Oh I know,” Fluttershy smiled. “But it’s okay; I’m a pony.” Fluttershy giggled back at them wiggling her pony ears up and down and swishing her tail back and forth. “We’re all ponies. Isn’t this fun?”
They looked back at her, Rarity and Applejack in disbelief while Pinkie seemed conflicted at the use of the word fun. “Uh, yeah, ‘fun’, it’s ….” Pinkie’s ears twitched and she looked around. “Hey, did anyone else hear that?”
The other girls listened, a few managing to swivel their ears about the room to better focus. “Ah, don’t hear—”
“WHOOOOOOOO!”
Fluttershy looked back to the opened doors. “Besides the three of you, and Rainbow Dash, I haven’t heard anything since we got here. I think the palace is empty.”
Applejack frowned at that. “What did ya hear, Pinkie?”
“A voice. A mysterious voice!”
“Pinkie, darling, are you hearing voices again?”
“It’s only ever been that one voice, but now it’s a different one.”
“Oh my,” said Fluttershy. “What is it saying?”
“It’s saying …,” Pinkie simply mumbled and whispered in a deep tone.
“It’s sayin’ whut now? Ah didn’t understand that.”
“Exactly! Neither did I!”
“That’s a bit foreboding, darling.”
“Nah. I guess she just sounds different over here,” Pinkie concluded.
The other three mares traded looks. “Anyway,” Applejack attempted to shrug but ended up only lowering her head closer to the floor. “Fluttershy’s right, just like ah was sayin’ earlier. We’re ponies, and bein’ naked is normal here. So ….” She blushed, looking at the others and took a breath. Then she tried to stand.
Applejack got her forehooves planted beneath her and straightened her forelegs without trouble but wobbled as she tried to push up on her hind hooves. “Whoa. These legs don’t bend quite like humane legs.”
“That’s right,” Fluttershy affirmed. “While they are much more poseable than the legs horses in our world have, they still work a bit differently than what we’re used to as humanes. You’ll get them though, just take it easy.”
“There! Nothin’ to it!” Applejack smiled as she reached her pony body’s full height for the first time. “And, uh, t-there ain’t nothin’ to be embarrassed about.”
“Then why do you have your tail tucked between your legs, darling?”
“Because, uh … that is to say. Alright! It’s embarrassin’. Rares, if ya find some clothes somewhere, would’ya find somethin’ for me too? Nothing too frou-frouie though.” Applejack paused for thought. “Ya’ll think ponies even do frou-frou?”
“As much as I prefer not to use the term; yes. I suspect pony Rarity’s styles would be much like mine—the type that you often call ‘frou-frou’—just for a different body shape, and a, uh, horizontal back. Maybe some saddles? Sunset mentioned saddles. Do you suppose they wear bridles? I can see lace bridles as part of a chic headdress. I wonder about foot—er, hoofwear. They don’t nail on their shoes like horses in our world do they? How awful must it be to change them?” Rarity blinked, coming out of her reverie, and looked over at Applejack. “Oh, yes, of course I’ll bring you some clothes if I can find some.”
“Thanks.”
“But that goes for the rest of you as well. You find clothing, please bring some back for me. ‘Frou-frou’ is fine of course, just make sure it is a complete ensemble and doesn’t clash with my ski—er, fur. And be sure it’s something that will compliment my figure, and—”
“Rares, if we find anythin’ that’ll fit you and get you to leave this room any faster, we’ll do it. You can then go find something else you’d rather wear once you’ve covered your, ‘dignity’. Deal?”
Rarity looked a little indignant at Applejack’s plan but rolled her eyes and smiled. “Deal. But nothing—”
“Ah-ah,” Applejack chided, causing Rarity to pout. “Anything for you, Pinkie?” They looked over at Pinkie to see that she was tilting her head around at different angles and twitching her ears wildly. “Uh, Pinkie?”
“WHAT?! What is it?! What?! What?!” Pinkie yelled before flinching back. “Oh! Applejack, that was you?”
“Pinkie, darling, are you alright?”
Pinkie chuckled nervously, “Heh, sure! Never better. Just listening to the voices.”
“Voices?” Asked Fluttershy. “There’s more than one now?”
“Yep. Two, or three. Or maybe five. No big deal, they’re not even loud. Just whispers really,” Pinkie’s eyes darted around the room. “Lots of little tiny whispers,” she whispered.
“Pinkie, did ya hit yer head during that tumble?”
Pinkie padded the top of her head with a forehoof, “Yep! A bunch of times. But my hair”—
“Mane.” Fluttershy corrected.
—”is almost as floofy, poofy, and soft as my new tail, so it never really hurt. Always been that way, even in our world. Bumps to the head never bother me.”
“Are you sure, Pinkie? Perhaps you should head home, or lie down for a bit.”
“No-siree-pony-Bob! We’re here on a mission and we’re not gonna quit until we find our purple pony princess pal!” Pinkie jumped up with a smile to show that she was fine and ready to go. However, instead of landing on her hooves she landed on her tail, bounced forward, and did a double forward roll, ending up flat on her belly with her limbs behind her. “I meant to do that!”
“Now, Pink—” Applejack attempted to follow after her but mistimed the movements of her four legs, causing a back hoof to trip over a forehoof, and she tumbled to her side.
“Yes,” Rarity chimed in looking away to give Applejack some privacy, “I believe I’ll stay right here until some clothing can be found. If I’m going to be walking like that, I’m going to cover myself as best as possible first. Are you alright, darling?”
“Yeah …,” Applejack rolled her eyes, “thanks fer askin’.”
“Fluttershy, how did you manage to walk in here so gracefully?”
“Oh, as you know, I spend a lot of time taking care of animals at the shelter. One of the things I do there is help as an assistant to the veterinarians that also volunteer there. I’ve helped a lot of animals get back on their paws and hooves, and claws, so I’ve been able to really study how they walk. I’ve had to in order to be a good assistant.”
Awkwardly picking herself up, Applejack asked, “So, if you don’t have any trouble gettin’ around, what was all that ‘oh my goodness’ and thumping business we heard when you was in the hall?”
“Oh,” she blushed, “that was me trying to fly. I thought it would be just as easy since I’ve also looked after so many little birdies, but—”
“YEEEHAAHHOOOO!”
She looked back at the open doors, “Well … I wasn’t able to keep up with Rainbow.”
“Alright, so, for those of us that don’t pay so much attention to how animals walk, think ya can give some pointers?”
“Oh of course! But don’t you watch the horses on your farm?”
“Not in that much detail. Ah take care of ‘em, feed ‘em, wash ‘em, take ‘em out for rides, play with ‘em, and put ‘em to work. If somethin’ seems wrong with any of ‘em ah call you. Am’m not a vet.”
Fluttershy’s ears drooped a little at that. “Oh, I see. Well, alright then. Everyone watch me.” Fluttershy turned so they could see her from the side and began walking slowly back and forth along the floor. Taking care not to walk over any scattered books or debris. “Front-right, back-left, front-left, back-right. You lift your front hooves just before placing your hind hooves back down. You should always have two or three hooves on the ground during regular walking.”
As Fluttershy continued walking in a rough oval in front of her friends Applejack began to copy her while Rarity and Pinkie watched.
“Front-right,” said Applejack as she lifted that hoof. “Back-left—”
“Now angle forward, and place your front-right hoof down right before you lift your front-left, and then place your back-left down, all in one fluid motion.”
Applejack nodded and continued. “Front-right down, front-left u—” With both her left hooves in the air Applejack fell onto her side.
“Oh my. You want to put your weight a bit to the right before you lift up your second left hoof.”
Applejack just sighed and began to stand again.
“QUIET!” Pinkie shouted, startling the others. Fluttershy let out a tiny squeak, and Applejack fell over again with a short, instinctual, whinny. “Oh, sorry. Ignore me. I was talking to ‘them’. I think there’s six now.” When she noticed three pairs of concerned eyes on her she quickly stood up and nervously added, “And we’re walking! Front-back, second-base, left-hook, and, um, and JUMP!” Pinkie bent all four knees and jumped upward. Upon landing she jumped again with all four legs while leaning forward propelling herself ahead. “See? Look; perfect!” Pinkie got into a rhythm, expertly jumping all around the room.
“Um, Pinkie, that’s called pronking, not walking,” said Fluttershy.
“It’s perfect! I’m a pronkin’ pony Pinkie Pie!”
“That looks like it’d get a mite tiresome real quick, though it does look easier.” Applejack got to her hooves, bent her four knees, and jumped. Unfortunately, her hind legs had more power to them than her forelegs and they kicked way out behind her launching her more forward than she had intended, with her back end higher than her front. The angle of her attack caused her to crash into Fluttershy and bowl her over. “Sorry about that, sugarcube. Ya’ll alright?”
A little dazed, Fluttershy struggled to stand as she replied. “It’s … woo, okay, Applejack. I’m okay.”
“And ah think ah’ll go back to walkin’.”
Meanwhile, Rarity had remained on the floor, lying on her side, with her hooves tucked in close; just as she was when she first realized her state of attire. She now inventoried the situation. One friend barely able to walk, another dazed, a third bouncing around the room like a ping-pong ball and apparently hearing voices, and the fourth—
“THIS IS SO AWESOME!”
—Likely to tire herself out before even leaving the palace. She clicked her tongue in annoyance. Come on, Rarity, clothes or not, your friends need you, it’s time to take charge, she thought to herself. Rarity smoothed out her mane with a foreleg, stood up with as much grace and dignity she could manage, discreetly tucked her tail down between her hind legs, and began to walk. Promptly falling onto her face.