Maya patted her brother forward. "Go on," she encouraged, tossing her head at the house ahead of them. "This one feels good." The boy giggled, charging ahead to try his luck with knocking on the door. She was to lead a few eager children along as a favor for her mom. She didn't regret it. Kids were fun to hang out with.
She was even dressed for the role! It was amazing they had the perfect outfit, Posey Bloom, from that show she liked. That pony was usually dour, for good reason. Maya wasn't that, but she understood the feeling, and felt a connection with the animated pony. "If we were in the same world, I'd sit you down and have such a chat..." Oh, that'd be such a great first client. But it hadn't worked that way so far.
She even had a tail to sway with her steps, fake as it was, but it had a ribbon, and it came with a clover necklace. Maya loved it. "So good." She fiddled with it as her brother rushed back to her side with the others, weighed down with some new candy. "Good haul! Onwards!" She pointed the way, corralling them all towards the next house. "Ooo, look at that one."
The kids laughed and cringed in equal abandon at the spooky house she had pointed towards. It was all in good fun.
A pity it had to come to an end. She was frozen in place. No, the entire world was frozen. The only movement were strange runes that glowed and sizzled, forming around her in patterns too complex to even imagine drawing. They ran in a circle around her, then raised, creating a beam that ran over her form. Scanning? Taking a picture? As soon as it ran up and back down, darkness came.
She hit the ground with a loud clop, several of them. She lashed her tail. "What's going on?" she demanded, her voice sounding a bit off. "Where am I?" She didn't see any of the kids, let alone her brother. "This isn't good."
"This isn't good," echoed a voice. Looking up, Maya saw a unicorn looking confused. It was a familiar unicorn. A mare that had shown up a few times. "This was supposed to... Hm..." She looked towards a book, peering at notes. "Spike!"
"Yeah?" A small dragon peeked into the room. "Oh, hey." He was looking at Maya. "Um. You have company? Hi."
"Hi?" ventured Maya, raising a hand... That was not a hand. She had no hands. That was a hoof. She had several of those. She had twitchy ears and an equally eager to swish tail. "What is going on?! Why am I in front of Twilight Sparkle?"
Spike fired a thumbs up. "Great, at least you know who she is. I don't know the specifics, but pretty sure this is an accident. We'll send you home in a moment."
"It's not that easy," sighed out Twilight. "If she was a pony, sure, but she isn't."
Spike rolled a hand at Maya. "Looks like a pony to me."
"She isn't." Twilight stood up and circled to in front of Maya. "Are you?"
Maya blinked, looking down at her hooves again before raising her eyes back to Twilight. "I...I don't know what's going on," she stammered. "Last thing I remember was taking my little brother and his friends trick-or-treating. I was dressed up as Posey Bloom for Halloween."
She gestured awkwardly with her front hooves at the flower-patterned outfit she now wore. It certainly looked like something the dour pony from that show would wear.
"Now I'm here, and you're Twilight Sparkle, and I'm some kind of pony too apparently?" Maya shook her head in disbelief. "This has to be some kind of crazy dream."
Twilight nodded thoughtfully, her horn glowing as she levitated her spell book back over. "It seems my transportation spell must have accidentally pulled you here from another world," she murmured. "But turning you into a pony is unprecedented..."
"Another world?" Maya interjected with alarm. "You mean like the human world? Where the show comes from?" She had so many questions swirling in her head.
Spike stepped forward curiously. "You look like an earth pony to me. But Twilight says you aren't? How does that work?" He cautiously reached out a claw to poke at Maya's shoulder. It certainly felt solid.
"Well in my world, I'm a human...not a pony," Maya explained slowly. She tenatively tried standing up on all fours, wobbling a bit. This would take some getting used to. "Can you really send me back?"
Twilight rolled a hoof at Maya. "She's from another world. Like the mirror, remember that?"
Spike suddenly looked less confused. "Oh, yeah! The mirror. Are you from Canterlot High? We should get her to the mirror so she can go back to normal. Wow, you must be so disoriented right now."
"I am!" Maya stomped a hoof, but immediately began breathing patterns, calming herself. "I am... Sorry... This is a lot, but I can take it. I can take it... So..." She turned to Twilight. "You can send ponies home, but not me. Let me guess. You can teleport me to somewhere in Equestria, but not somewhere on Earth."
Twilight inclined her head. "Basically, yes. Exactly that. You're catching up with this quickly. Now... This is my responsibility." She raised a hoof to her chest. "I won't abandon you. You're not alone."
Maya smiled at that, sinking to her haunches. "That... is actually comforting. Look... I just need to know my brother's alright. I'd be a terrible big sister if I just forgot him. Can you help me make sure he's alright?"
Twilight clopped her hooves together. "Anycreature more worried for their little brother than themselves right now is a creature I want to have as a friend. Now, I have a spell that may help. If you would, keep the image of your brother centered in your mind." She trotted off, looking around for a particular book.
Spike stayed with Maya in the spellcasting room. Similar runes were on the floor Maya stood on, circling her. "So." He was orbiting Maya slowly. "Human, huh? Fingers, arms." He wriggled his own fingers. "Bet you miss those."
Maya cocked a brow at the dragon. "Yes." She raised a hoof and shook it around slowly. "It's like my hand is stuck inside a mitten, forever... I can't say I'm a fan of that." She lashed her tail behind her. "You're showing off, finger-haver."
"Guilty." Spike grinned at Maya, chuckling. "Really though, you okay?"
"Getting used to standing. How about..." She took a step and almost toppled over. But she was trying and pressing despite it. "One step at a time..."
"Nice. I was clumsier when I was a dog. Say, you look... kinda like Fluttershy?"
Maya perked a yellow ear. "Flutter... I know I heard that name before..." But she was too young to really be into G4. Still. "Right, the toy! The, uh, pegasus? I don't know her very well..."
Twilight returned levitating a large mirror, its surface swirling with magical energy.
"This scrying spell should let us peek at your world and see that your brother is okay," Twilight explained. She set the mirror down in front of Maya. "Just focus on him and the image should appear."
Maya stepped forward anxiously, concentrating on her little brother. Suddenly the mist in the mirror cleared, revealing a street at night filled with kids in costumes. Maya gasped as she saw her brother happily walking down the sidewalk, bucket full of candy. Next to him was...herself? The human Maya laughed and smiled, continuing the trick-or-treat route.
"What? But how?" Maya blinked in confusion at the sight before her.
Twilight peered closer. "Fascinating...it seems when I summoned you here, it created some sort of residual echo of you in your own world. Like a temporary magical projection." She tapped at her chin. "Or... this one is the magical projection of that one?" She looked between the two Mayas. "I can't say for sure which is which."
Maya let out a sigh of relief. "So he's okay...and I'm somehow also still with him. This is so strange." She shook her head, missing the existential horror of the situation.
"It confirms the transportation spell is functioning bidirectionally between our worlds," Twilight mused, scribbling notes with her magic quill. "Don't worry, once we return you, your echo will vanish. The connection is still intact."
Maya managed a small smile. "That's reassuring at least. Thank you for showing me he's safe." She paused, thinking. "So then, any idea why or how you summoned me specifically? And if I'm the echo--" She had heard that. "--Sending me back means I vanish... I'm not sure I like that idea..."
Twilight tilted her head apologetically. "I'm afraid I don't know yet. But now that I've seen the bridge between our worlds, I can study it until we find a way!" Her tone was optimistic.
Maya nodded slowly. "Well, one step at a time then..." She glanced down at her hooves. She sure hoped the answer would come soon, but the ponies seemed friendly enough, to her relief. She might have to get to know them a lot better. "Look." She turned to Twilight fully. "Right now, there's two of me. Creepy, but we're in different worlds." She cycled a hoof, balancing awkwardly on the other three. "It hardly counts. Once you get past 'there are other worlds', then there are infinite mes. There are infinite yous. One more isn't hurting anything. The choices you're giving are 'maybe get rid of one of me, and oops, that one may be this one talking right now.'"
She took a slow breath. "So... Better idea. If I can peek in on my brother once in a while, I can see what's going on. If the other me suddenly vanishes, then you send me back." She thrust a hoof at Twilight so hard she toppled over with a thud of hitting the crystal ground. "Ow... Then, only then. Until then... Well..." She cycled a hoof from the ground, in no risk of toppling then.
"Until then, guess it's time to figure out a new life."
Twilight nodded at the life she may have created accidentally. "I am so sorry, for all of this. I can offer you a room, at least." She waved over her castle. "I have plenty of room, and you're welcome to share it with me. We'll get you settled in. I have some great friends who will be so eager to meet you."
Spike chuckled at that. "You're from a human world. Like comics?"
Maya climbed to her hooves. "A little, why?"
Spike clicked his tongue on his teeth. "I have just the thing then. Prepare for a comic bonanza!" He ran off, giggling.
Twilight rolled her eyes at that. "He's not kidding. Let's get you a room to read in." She led the way, taking her time for the slowly moving new pony behind her. "I'm Twilight, by the way." She paused. "And you know that. How do you know that? And what's your name?"
"We'll start with the name." Maya did her best to keep up with Twilight. "I'm Maya. Nice to meet you, Twilight. Where I come from, you're children's media."
Twilight turned an ear back at Maya. "Children's media? Really? Not to... brag, but I go through a lot of genuinely terrifying things. You share that with foals? Your people must be very brave." She willed open a door with her glow. "You can have this room, if you like?"
Maya advanced to see the room. It smelled... of stone, actually. That made sense, as it was made of some kind of crystal. The bed, thankfully, was not. It looked soft and inviting. There were books, there was a desk. There was... a quill? "No pens? Is that for show?"
Twilight inclined her head. "Oh! Right. Those are expensive. Only city ponies make use of them."
Maya laughed nervously. There were things to get used to beyond being put in a pony's body.
She still had to explore that part of things...