A surge of air forced itself through Twilight’s lungs causing her eyes to snap open and make her gasp for even more air. She looked around herself, seeing that she had hands and feet again. But that’s not exactly what caused her to scream. She wasn’t her fur color, like she was before, but a subtle shade of brown. She scrambled to her feet, looking around herself. Her saddlebags had turned into a purple messenger bag, and she didn’t see Spike anywhere. She did however, notice five unfamiliar unconscious bodies laying splayed out in different places in front of her. She realized she was in a grassy field, overgrown with weed and other plants, so tall that she made the conclusion that if anyone was walking past at this very moment, they wouldn’t be able to see her.
Twilight decided to inspect the bodies of the girls in front of her. One was barefoot, with bright pink hair that came down in loose curls. Next to her was a blonde girl, a cowboy hat covering half her face, freckles dotting it attractively. On the left of that girl was another girl who was on her stomach unlike the other girls. She had rainbow hair that came down to her back scruffily. Holding her arm was a thin girl with willowy light pink hair. The last girl was laying on her side, her purple curls covering over her face.
Twilight had a feeling she knew these girls, a very strong one, but she couldn’t quite put the names to their faces. The pink haired girl began to stir, her eyes fluttering open to reveal piercing blue irises. She struggled to stand up, but couldn’t. It appeared to Twilight that this girl was having trouble standing up on two feet. “Do you need help?” She asked, sticking out a hand.
The pink haired girl accepted the gesture. “Thanks, Twilight.” Twilight was startled. How did this girl know her name?!
“H-how do you know my name?!” She demanded.
The pink haired girl gave her a confused look, before picking up her bright pink backpack. It had three balloons on it. “Huh? Twilight, it’s me! Pinkie Pie!” the girl tried to advance towards her but Twilight took a step back.
The pink haired girl was genuinely confused. Twilight could see that. She just couldn’t tell why. “You say your name is Pinkie Pie, but you’re not a pony!” Twilight shot back.
The girl who called herself Pinkie seemed a bit shocked. Then, she looked at her hands, her arms, and felt her face before wiggling her bare toes in the dirt. There was a tense silence before the girl erupted into giggles. At first is was a small snort, and then a full on laughing fit, complete with a lot of snorts.
“W-why are you laughing?!” Twilight asked. Now she was the one confused.
“You don’t recognize me!” Pinkie laughed. “You don’t recognize me because I’m not me!”
Twilight stood there for a moment, and then cracked a smile herself. Of course. Now she remembered. They were sent here on a mission to bring back The Elements of Harmony. This world was full of creatures that walked on two legs. Of course their bodies would have to change in order to fit in.
At this moment the others began to stir, Applejack being the first, then Rainbow Dash, then Rarity. The only one still not awake was Fluttershy. “What in tarnation am Ah?!” Applejack asked, pulling at her orange flannel shirt.
“Who cares?! My wings are gone!” Rainbow Dash wailed.
“You guys! Fluttershy isn’t waking up! I think your wings are the least of our problems!” Twilight yelled laying a hand on Fluttershy’s forehead. She put her ear to her chest, sighing in relief when she heard a heartbeat.
“We have to go find somewhere to stay and make a game plan.” Applejack said. She walked over to where Twilight had laid Fluttershy, and put the lithe girl on her back, in a sort of piggyback way.
“Why on earth are you barefoot?” Rarity asked Pinkie Pie.
“Who knows! Truthfully, I like it this way!” Pinkie bubbled, digging her feet into the dirt again.
“Well, I’m just glad I didn’t end up like that. I mean really, being barefoot in this place is so uncouth!” The fashionista responded.
Applejack rolled her eyes. “Says the girl who never wore shoes unless she had to.”
“That was different, Applejack! We had hooves! Not these, these,- Whatever these things are called!”
“They’re called feet.” Applejack responded, giving her a smug look.
Rarity growled but said nothing. She’d win this battle some other time.
“Guys, It’s growing dark. We better go.” Rainbow said, looking up at the sky.
Twilight did the same. “Rainbow’s right. C’mon girls. Let’s see what we can find.”
They realized that where they had landed was the side of a highway. Twilight suggested they take the forest alongside it, since it seemed more familiar. By the time they had made it out on the other side, the moon was high up in the sky.
They had been walking for hours, and it was taking a serious toll on all of them. Especially Applejack, who had to carry Fluttershy. Dash had offered to take her a few times but AppleJack refused. Not only because she was stubborn, but because she didn’t have the heart to tell her that although while Fluttershy was a relatively small girl, she was relatively heavy.
“There’s a cabin!” Rainbow Dash shouted, pointing at seemingly abandoned house on top of a hill. They all ran up to it, driven by exhaustion and hunger.
“Sweet! Looks like the coast is clear!” Pinkie said. Twilight jimmied the door and it opened. The first thing that they did was lay Fluttershy in the bed in the upstairs bedroom, then look for something to eat.
Dash, Pinkie, Rarity, Twilight and Applejack sat outside around a fire discussing their plans for finding the elements while they ate.
“There seems to be a city around here. We should follow that road and see where it leads.” Twilight said, as she read a map she had found in the cabin.
“But what about Fluttershy? We can’t just leave her here and as much as I love that girl, carrying her around is mighty tiresome.” Applejack replied, rolling her aching shoulders.
“Want me to rub them, darling?” Rarity offered.
Applejack blushed but nodded, sighing with pleasure the minute she felt Rarity’s hands working her shoulders.
Dash snickered. “Enjoying yourself there, AJ?”
Applejack glared at her, albeit it was a weak one but she glared at her nonetheless. Rarity was too good at what she was doing to let Applejack be angry at Rainbow Dash.
“Well, we could let someone stay with her. That way she won’t be alone?” Twilight suggested, staring at the way Rarity was working her magic on Applejack. She was beginning to think she needed a shoulder rub herself.
“Nah. Because we don’t know how long whoever leaves will be gone. We still don’t know this place, and it’d be wise to stay together. There are things we still don’t understand about this place either. And that could be a serious problem if something happens.” Dash said, throwing some sticks into the fire to keep it from dying.
Pinkie burped. “Well, I say we wait and see what happens in the morning. She could wake up at anytime you know!”
“For once, Pinkie’s right.” Dash agreed. “Fluttershy is a lot weaker than all of us. It’s probably just taking her longer to wake up.”
“It’s been five hours. How long is she going to take?” Applejack asked. “Ah mean, is she even breathin’?”
“I felt a heartbeat.” Twilight assured. “But I don’t think she was breathing.”
“She has to be breathing or else she’d be dead.” Rarity corrected. Then she thought for a moment. “We left her inside alone.”
The girls shared a look before bounding in the house one after they other. They made it in, and ran up the stairs and into the bedroom to see Fluttershy sitting up in the bed dazed and confused. She looked at them, but seemed even more terrified.
“Uh, someone wanna tell her?” Applejack asked.
After an hour of explaining what was going on, Fluttershy seemed to calm down. “What are we going to do?” She asked.
Twilight sighed. “Well, now that you’re up, first thing tomorrow morning we’re following that road."
Somewhere in downtown Manville...
Tati Sparks extinguished her cigarette under her boot before going back into her apartment. She snorted when she found Piper and Rani passed out on her couch. Slackers. They were good for nothing friends that she kept around just because she knew they had no one else.
“Get up, you selfish assholes!” She shouted, pushing them onto the floor. They landed with a thud, Piper groaning and Rani cursing under her breath.
“Yo! Rachel! April! Flora! Get out here!” She called.
“Tati will you calm down? There’s no reason why you should be treating them like that.” Flora said as pushed a strand of her pink hair out of her face.
Piper blew a pink strand of hair from her face. “Yeah! As much as we help you out with your stupid schemes!”
“Oh please!” Tati snorted. “You and Rani are the cause of all my problems!”
April shook her head. “Says the girl who don’t know her own limits.”
“Shut up, you hick! I damn well know what I’m doing!” Tati shot back. “In fact,” she giggled, pulling out a chest from under the couch. “Check these out.”
In the chest were five necklaces, one with a balloon on it, one with a butterfly, another with a diamond, one with a bolt and another with an apple. And then there was the one that shone above the rest. There was tiara with a giant purple jewel in the middle and nine smaller blue jewels within it.
“Hehehe. I told you idiots I hit the jackpot.” Tati sneered.
Rachel gasped. “Tee, where did you snatch these from?”
“Don’t know. I went through some portal and wound up in this fancy smancy castle. They were the first thing I saw when I got there. It was being guarded by some pathetic pony.”
Her friends shared incredulous looks. “You sure you weren’t messed up when you stole this crap?” Rani asked.
Tati tugged at her rainbow hair. “You calling me a junky, bitch?”
“I didn’t say that, you shithead!” Rani shot back.
Tati pulled on her hair even more. Tears were starting to form in Rani’s eyes.
“Let go Tati! You’re hurting her!” Rachel yelled.
Tati didn’t listen. Instead she grunted, pulling even harder on the poor girls hair.
“Tati that’s enough!” Flora shouted.
Tati ignored her too. This time she wrapped her nimble fingers around the other girl’s neck. “You say too much. Maybe you’ll finally shut up once you’re dead!” She growled, her grip squeezing tighter and tighter on Rani’s throat.
The poor latina was turning blue. “That’s it.” April said. she ran up to Tati and punched her in the face. The hit distracted her long enough to make her let loose of Rani. The girl gratefully took gasps of air as April picked up Tati by her black t-shirt. “Ah don’t care if you’re our leader. You lay one more hand on her, Ah’ll beat you senseless. You hear?!” She barked.
Tati nodded wildly. “Good.” April said before letting Tati drop to the floor. Rani snickered. Tati sent a middle finger her way before grabbing a bottle of whiskey off the table.
She took a long swig before she spoke. “Whatever.” Then she took the tiara out the chest and put it on her head. As she did, a surge of power ran through her, making her drop the bottle. She started convulsing, her eyes open wide and glowing white.
“Tati?! Tati!” Flora called, shaking her.
The shaking stopped and then Tati closed her eyes for a moment before opening them again.
“Dude, you okay?” Piper asked.
Tati could feel the tiara’s magic flowing through her. Oh the things she could do with this kind of power. She chuckled before answering. “Oh, I’m better than okay. I’m just dandy.” She had great plans for her group now, and they started tomorrow.