Applejack was standing in the back of Tinker's shop. He was measuring her neck witch felt weird on so many levels. Twilight and Rarity had told him that they needed new collars and which pony 'belonged' to who. He had asked to see there cutie marks and when they looked at him confused he explained. "I have to see your cutie marks so I can put it on there collars, so they will be identified as yours. Rarity and Twilight had then let him examine there cutie marks and he quickly sketched them out.
Tinker was now trying to measure Pinkie Pie's neck, but she would not stay still. She was bouncing around and doing things that, well, Pinkie did. Eventually Tinker forced her to sit still using his magic, muttering to himself about better training or something.
When he had finished taking the earth ponies' measurements he asked the two unicorns what colors they wanted the collars to be. They both looked at him in confusion before saying something.
"Um...blue?" Twilight answered.
"Red." Rarity replied.
Tinker nodded again and went to the wall and retrieved one of each color. He then went to a desk and started making something, though Applejack couldn't see what it was. Tinker worked for awhile before Rainbow Dash complained, "How long is this going to take?"
Tinker shot her a look, then looked at Twilight who glared at Rainbow. Dash huffed at sat back down, but thankfully Tinker answered her question. "It should be done soon, I just have to get the cutie marks on the collars." He sounded irritated.
Rainbow didn't say anything more and Tinker went back to working. When he was done he levitated the collars and snapped them on the two earth ponies. Applejack was surprised, the collars fit snugly but there was still enough give for it to be comfortable.
"Wow!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed, "It's so neat! Twilight's cutie mark looks cool on it."
Applejack looked at her own, the red did go well with her orange fur, and the diamond hanging own from it was a nice touch.Then the leashes came on.
Tinker snapped on the leashes to the collars and AJ instantly felt restrained. She almost felt like she couldn't breath, it was the strangest feeling. She began to tug at it, but Tinker just tugged back and handed the end of the leash to Rarity. He gave Pinkie's leash to Twilight.
Tinker looked back at Applejack and said to Rarity, "Do you want me to put your cutie mark on that hat too?"
AJ almost lost it, she frantically clutched her hat, "An't nopony's go'in to touch my hat." she said defensively.
"No, that's alright. That hat is very special to her and nothing shall be done with it." Rarity said hastily.
Tinker shrugged, "That's fine, I was just wondering. Would you like to buy anything else? Maybe a hair pin for your Pegasus to identify them as your servants?"
"Is that normal in this town?" Twilight asked hesitantly.
Tinker shrugged, "Some folk have them, but it isn't required."
"No, then." Twilight said. "I think we're good."
"Alright then, that will be 20 bits."
Rarity instantly pulled out the money, much to the surprise of everyone, and handed it to Tinker. He took it, counted it, and then handed Rarity back her change before waving the six ponies out, calling "Have a nice day."
Those ponies in question looked at each other and then headed back to the library. The unicorns holding the ends of the leashes with there magic, feeling very awkward.
----
"Were on earth did you get that money?" Dash asked Rarity when they returned to the library.
"Oh deary, I always have extra bits on me. You never know when the'll come in handy." Rarity replied as if it was obvious.
Dash just rolled her eyes, "Of course you do."
Twilight meanwhile was looking through the books in the old library. She would look at one, toss it on the floor and then pick up another one.
"Sugercube, what're you do'in?" Applejack asked. She had taken of her collar as soon as they had gotten into the library.
"I'm trying to figure out why earth ponies are treated as pets." Twilight answered, frustrated. "Even though we're in a new dimension it doesn't make any scenes. And figuring out why will also help us blend in."
"Why do we need to blend in?" Dash asked, irritated. "I mean can't you just do the spell again and send us back?"
Twilight shook her head. "We can't do that for a couple of reasons. Number one: dimension traveling is more magically draining then just dimension viewing and I need time to recover. And number two: The spell wasn't supposed to do that so I need to figure out what I did wrong before I can do it again and get us home. That's also what I'm looking for, a book on how to get us back."
"Um...do...do you think,you know sense this it a parallel universe, do you think there are a type of us?" Fluttershy asked quietly.
Twilight shook her head again, "I have no idea, but for some reason I doubt it. We haven't met a single pony that is in any scenes like any pony back home." Twilight gasped "Yes! Here's a book about the history." The unicorn set the book on an old desk and flipped it open. A cloud of dust immediately engulfed her. "Ack!" she coughed, waving her hoof around to clear the dust. She then started flipping through the book until she found the page she was looking for and shouted, "Aha." before skimming over it. He face showing great interest.
Her five friends waited a moment before Dash asked, "Um...Twilight, are you gonna tell us what it says?"
"Hmm?" Twilight said looking up, "Oh! Yes of course! Sorry, I got a little into it."
"That's alright sugercube." Applejack said, "Just read it for us."
"Alright." Twilight said, clearing her throat, "It says here," she then started reading aloud.
"Long ago everypony was treated the same. The Pegasus and the Earth ponies were considered the equivalent to the unicorns and even the Alicorns. Then Queen Iris came to the thrown, she saw the error in the plan that had been used for so many years. The unicorns could use magic, so they should be held to the highest for this ability. The Pegasus could fly, not as spectacular as magic but still useful, they should be the middle class. The Earth ponies couldn't do anything, they couldn't fly or use magic or any thing special, like animals, so they should be treated as such."
"Now hold your horseapples sugercube." Applejack interrupted Twilight. "Us Earth ponies may not have fancy things, but we're tied ta the land. Ain't no other type of pony grows crop better then us."
"I know Applejack." Twilight reassured her friend."I'm just reading what the book says. It's wrong, but that's what it says."
Applejack nodded, but she still looked upset, and motioned for Twilight to continue.
"The Alicorns of course, would be held to the highest of all. They would be treated god like, for it is only appropriate for such magnificent beings to be above us all. Other things changed too, Pegasus no longer went to regular school, instead they went to a special school to learn how to help unicorns. Earth ponies couldn't go to any school and became uneducated. Some ponies then rebelled, they could not see the grand genius of our beloved Queen Iris. Thankfully, they were soon stopped and peace returned. Grander peace then before, for everypony new there place. Queen Iris still rules today and watches over us, making sure that nopony is treated how they shouldn't be. As long as this code is upheld, war will never fall."
"That books crazy!" Rainbow declared after Twilight had finished reading, "It makes it sound as if being equal is a bad thing."
"Well this is probably written by a unicorn." Twilight reasoned "To them it would be better."
"Ya," Dash huffed. "They own everything. Of course it's better for them."
"It just don't make no sense." Applejack added. "Earth ponies have a high value in the economy, we grow all the food for crying out loud!"
"Probably why they didn't get rid of them all together." Rarity joined in.
Applejack looked at her for a moment then shook her head, "That's just messed up."
"Don't Earth ponies have any rights?" came the quite voice of Fluttershy.
Twilight sighed, "I don't know Futtershy, the book didn't say anything about that." Twilight looked each of her friend in the eye, " Look, it may be crazy, but that's how it works here. We'll just have to fit in until we can get back home."
All the ponies nodded, then they heard a sudden rumbling.
"Woopsie." Pinkie Pie giggled, looking down at her belly. "Hey Twilight, does blending in involve getting food?"