Sunset Shimmer rubbed her head with a hoof. All these times and she still hadn't figured out how she could painlessly enter Equestria. She could only imagine how her friends would land…
And just as that thought entered her mind, she heard the portal humming, signaling an incoming traveler. She got on all four hooves, took a few steps to make room, and swept around to face the portal with an eager smile.
She faced the portal just in time to see six new ponies tumbling out, practically landing on top of each other before rolling onto the crystal floor.
Sunset winced as she imagined how painful it must’ve been, but they weren’t moaning as much as she thought they’d be so she quickly shook it off. She slowly trotted to Twilight Sparkle, now a unicorn, and grabbed her front left leg in an attempt to lift her to a standing position.
Twilight’s consciousness was slowly returning, and she opened her eyes to find an orange-and-red blur directly in front of her. It looked like Sunset Shimmer, but as the vision cleared, she instead saw an equine who bore a striking resemblance to the girl in question. Before she could process this, she lifted her other front limb to rub her eyes… only to find not a hand as she expected, but a solid, flat hoof. The shock was enough to make her fall onto her back, and she continued to stare wide-eyed at the new appendage as she attempted to get herself back into a sitting position. She experimentally clopped the hoof on the floor, just to confirm it wasn’t some weird delusion.
“This is impossible…” she muttered in pure disbelief.
Sunset opened her mind, about to reassure the purple unicorn, but she remembered that she had five other new equines, who were a little slower to recover.
Rainbow Dash was trying and failing to get up on her nonexistent feet, much to Sunset’s amusement, while Fluttershy and Rarity were opting for a more delicate approach, having sooner recognized their new form – as awkward as it may be.
“Don't worry, Rarity,” Fluttershy said, trying to be encouraging as she was still lying on her stomach, "I've helped enough quadrupeds to know how to get yourself standing on those legs."
“Well, pardon me for only just now getting them,” Rarity said, sounding a little tired. “It’s not like you are doing much better.”
Indeed, the yellow pegasus was having trouble understanding her weight, as every time she attempted to stand up, she would only trip over.
Applejack was having similar troubles. “C’mon girl,” she told herself, struggling to get onto her hooves, “You have horses on your farm. Surely it’s not hard to understand how they stand.”
She lifted her front legs with little problem but had considerably more trouble with her back legs. The joints between her flank and hooves were nothing like her knees. They were folded outward rather than inward, so it was surprisingly difficult to position them in a manner that allowed her to push herself up.
Sunset approached her to help, as well as the last girl, Pinkie Pie – who seemed just as natural as the born-pony. They each handled one back leg and lifted it to put Applejack in the desired standing pose.
“Phew, thank ya’ll,” Applejack said, tipping her hat with one hoof.
Pinkie Pie bounced to the remaining visitors. “Come on, girls! It’s not that hard! I mean, I practiced for this moment at home, but still!”
Rainbow Dash, once again assuming a bipedal stance, before finally realizing the more comfortable position, was the first to react to this. “Wait… you practiced being a pony?”
“Of course! Why wouldn’t I? When your best friend is a pony from another dimension, this moment was bound to come sooner or later!”
“I guess I just… never thought about her that way,” said Rarity to Sunset, blushing in embarrassment. “Now that I think about it, I can’t understand how we’d forget a background as… unique as yours.”
“Oh, wow,” came Fluttershy’s voice, not facing any of them in particular, but the mirror. Her eyes were staring wide, but not in shock, with her lips being squeezed together in amusement. “I look adorable.”
The others turned to also face the reflective surface out of curiosity.
“Hmm, I must say, I do look pretty gorgeous… for a pony, anyway” said Rarity with slight hesitation, gently brushing her mane with a front hoof.
Applejack was just in bewilderment at how she looked as an equine, the very thing she owned as lower life-forms on her family farm. “It’s like I now know what it’s like to be them…” she said quietly.
Twilight was still trying to put the pieces together. “But… the dimensions… the portal… ponies…” Her voice suddenly raised as her mind gave up. “It doesn’t add up!”
“Yeah, that’s magic for you,” said Sunset smugly, joining her friends in front of the mirror. “Even here, we don’t quite understand everything. Now, let’s stick to the mission at hand - or hoof, as it were - we gotta find Princess Twilight.”
“Aww, c’mon Sunset,” said Rainbow, “It’s not every day you get to travel to a magical alternate dimension and transform into an awesome species. I mean,” She proudly observed the feathered appendages on her back. “Look at these babies! It’s like when I get when I perform onstage, except permanent! Imagine the heights I could reach!”
“Sure, worry more about that than the fabric of our reality breaking…” said Applejack bluntly.
“Yes, we need to stay focused,” Sunset agreed, now in front of the staircase leading to the castle’s main class. “Don’t worry, I understand that it’s a little shocking, but don’t worry, I’ll make sure you’ll get the hang of it. Now just follow me and hopefully, we’ll find the princess.” She waved her hoof toward the stairs, signifying the girls to walk in that direction.
Five of the six visitors, however, were struggling to even make a proper step, shaking their hooves in fear of tripping. Rainbow attempted but immediately fell over and landed on her stomach.
“Girls, just walk like this!” said Pinkie Pie, trotting slowly enough so the girls could acknowledge the pattern. She stopped when she was directly next to Sunset.
That surprisingly helped a good amount. After the first few slow, clumsy steps, they were at least able to remain upright, but Sunset couldn’t help but be amused at their clumsiness.
She remained slow as the group attempted to climb up the long staircase. Walking on hooves was the single strangest sensation ever to them. Apart from the limbs being different lengths, it almost felt as though all their fingers and toes were forcibly fused into a single hard digit. And the constant clopping as their new hooves hit the crystalline floor only reminded them that this wasn’t some weird fever dream, it was completely real.
Eventually, they managed to reach the master floor. Surprisingly, however, there was not a single voice to be heard, or even much noise in general apart from their hooves.
Sunset Shimmer scanned the lobby. “Hello?” she called out loud, her voice heavily echoing across the overly large room. After hearing her reflection a few times with no response, her ears began to droop as it dawned on her that help wouldn’t come as easily as she hoped. She secretly began thinking how stupid it was for her to think that she could just barge in and expect a freaking princess to help her whenever…
But suddenly, her thoughts became interrupted by the sensation of someone tapping her front leg. She looked down and discovered it was Spike.
“Oh, hi Spike,” said Sunset, giving a weak smile.
“Sunset Shimmer, what are you doing here?” said Spike, trying not to express impatience. “You know Princess Twilight doesn’t want you going through the portal without her permission.”
“I’m sorry, it’s just… this is an urgent matter. I need to know where she is.” Sunset replied, looking a little exhausted.
“Oh… well, she left for Canterlot a few hours ago. She has some urgent talks with Princess Celestia… have you heard she’s set to take her place soon?”
Sunset gasped in astonishment. “…So this is what learning under Princess Celestia leads to?” she thought out loud. “Almost makes me wish I stayed with her… I wonder what could happen to me if I take her up on her offer…”
The others also displayed expressions of shock but quickly shushed themselves from the corridor to not get noticed. After all, the last thing Spike needed to discover is six human girls have gone through the portal.
“…Anyway,” said Spike, wanting to leave Sunset to herself, “If it’s that important, I don’t think she’ll mind you stopping in. You do know where the train station is, right?”
“…Oh yeah, I’ll have no trouble finding it,” said Sunset, trying hard not to get lost in her thoughts.
Spike excited back where he came from, walking into a room from the upstairs balcony. As soon as they were certain he was out of earshot, the girls walked out to meet Sunset.
“…Wow,” said Twilight Sparkle in amazement. “This Spike is a dragon! I don’t think I’ll ever see my dog in the same way again…”
“So, we have to trot to Canterlot?” said Rarity, rolling her eyes before coming across a key realization. “…Wait, this isn’t Canterlot?”
“Yeah, this is Ponyville,” Sunset explained, “I guess the geography is slightly different between worlds.”
“Well, that makes about as much sense as anything else we’ve been through today,” said Applejack, wanting to hurry the conversation. “Now let’s just get goin’ already!”
"You sure?" Rarity asked, "Surely I should be better dressed before I go walking."
Rainbow giggled, and slowly walked to Rarity. "Uhh, I hate to break this to you, but..." she chuckled as she struggled to get the words out, "...you're naked."
"WHAT?" Rarity screeched.
"Rainbow, don't tease her," Fluttershy scolded. "Rarity, it's nothing to worry about. Ponies' coats are all the clothing they need."
"Well, there is some fashion here and there," Sunset added on, "but otherwise you're right Fluttershy."
"Oh..." said Rarity quietly, blushing at the added embarrassment.
"As if this wasn't already weird enough," Twilight said, rolling her eyes.
After taking a second to get over the rather amusing conversation, Sunset saw the entrance right in front of them. Not wanting to pass up a grand moment, she splendidly opened the doors, revealing the outdoors.
“Welcome to Equestria!” she declared with pride.
After the light settled in, the sight that beheld the girls was a weird mix of the familiar and surreal. The ground, pavement, and general structure seemed very par for the course for a suburban area, but it was populated by ponies. Ponies of varying colors and designs. Some colts and fillies in the distance were innocently playing with a ball, a couple of others were running and enjoying each other’s company, and some full-grown mares and stallions were more calmly walking down the streets, some just going on an afternoon trot. The buildings were similar to their own at first glance, but they were clearly much more stylized and uniquely-designed, and no two of them looked alike. And on top of that, the weather was so perfectly sunny, bright but not blinding, and at just the right temperature with not a cloud in sight.
It felt straight out of a children’s fantasy.
As the girls took their first steps onto Equestrian ground, they took the time to take in the atmosphere.
“This… is… AWESOME!” Rainbow exclaimed, jumping into the air with her wings extended for the first time. She felt herself slowly glide down. So, she experimentally took off several feet into the air, with slight clumsiness but still being able to keep herself airborne.
Fluttershy, out of curiosity, looked at her wings. She fluttered them, attempting to take off, but partially out of cowardice, could barely get her hooves off the pavement. She immediately shrugged it off.
“What a fascinating opportunity to study the properties of another dimension,” Twilight thought out loud, grinning as she scanned her entire line of sight.
Sunset giggled to herself, finding it extremely charming to see the girls react much like she did when she first entered their world. But she knew she couldn’t afford to waste time.
“C’mon girls,” she said, with notably more patience than before. “The train station is just a few blocks down this way.” And she took a few steps to telegraph the direction.
As the seven trotted across the town, Sunset made sure that her friends kept a low profile to not attract any unwanted attention. After all, the last thing she wanted was for everypony to somehow discover that the six equines were inter-dimensional visitors. She even alertly turned a couple of corners when she saw a particularly large crowd or even one of the six's pony versions in the distance.
It didn’t help that the ponified girls were less focused on following Sunset’s tail, and more on aweing at the world around them. Sunset found it pointless to stop them though; she knew she would be just as curious if put in their hooves, and she still found amusement in them being purely fascinated in what was mundane to her.
Before she knew it, they arrived at the Ponyville train station. They all sat as a group in the corner of a relatively empty car. Just the same, Sunset didn’t want the others to make much noise as a precautionary measure.
As the others took a seat, they found it surprisingly difficult and unnatural to sit on their haunches. Even Sunset was out of practice, so she took no problem in having them sit like a human, with their rears on the wooden boards and their backs against the windows. It was nowhere near as comfortable as it would in their human bodies, but it was the best they could do.
Most of the train ride was spent on idle chit-chat and casual conversations about what they have observed. But then came the long, winding mountain connecting the rail line from Ponyville to Canterlot. From there, the entire group took a big, long look at the small town. The sight was so picturesque and fantastical, that it made the new ponies’ eyes widen and fully on the window.
“Can you believe this is real?” Rainbow Dash asked in amazement.
“I’ve pinched myself far too much to think otherwise,” said Rarity, holding up her front hooves. “At least, as well as I could pinch with these…”
“How majestic,” Fluttershy whispered.
“But not as majestic as THAT!” Pinkie Pie shouted, pointing her hoof at the other window, whose visage was somehow even more jaw-dropping.
It was an incredible, enormous, modern, complex-shaped castle. It almost looked like several already-impressive towers and monuments were merged. About half of the castle was, almost like magic, hanging off the edge of a beautiful, flowing river, and each mini-structure ended with an elegant, pointed tip.
On first sight, it was clear to see that this was the home of Princess Celestia. It was the single most enthralling view they had ever seen.
“That is even more AWESOME!” Rainbow exclaimed again, flapping in the air.
“Shh,” Sunset shushed, not wanting to look at the sight for herself. The memories associated with them were too much for her.
“Don't be such a killjoy, Sunset,” Twilight Sparkle said playfully, nudging Sunset in the shoulder. “This is the type of thing you only get to see once in a lifetime!”
Sunset did not look at her though. All she did was stare toward the ground. She knew what Canterlot Castle looked like anyway; she studied there for a great many years under Princess Celestia. Man, did she love showing off that powerful magic of hers and impressing the princess… sure, it ended sourly, but they made up eventually. And before all that happened, they sure did have a lot of happy times together. The birth of her phoenix Philomena, Celestia sharing stories about her past with Princess Luna, and just having fun together – going beyond the teacher-student relationship they originally had.
She experimentally tried to cast a little light spell with her horn, but all that occurred were some sparks. It was clear that after years of disuse, her magic had considerably weakened and she had a much harder time activating it than before. Tears began to shed upon such a realization.
As Twilight was the one directly next to the born-unicorn, she was the only one to notice the burst of sadness upon the friend. But, not wanting to bum out the rest of the group, she knew to keep it to herself.