During the ten second long scream, Samantha tried to think up a rational resolution to her newest issue. Sweetie Belle had followed her through, that much alone was cause for panic. She wasn’t a pony which would complicate things, she also wasn’t a little girl/ filly which would (thankfully) simplify some complications. The screaming wasn’t helping matters in a flurry of motions Samantha forcefully clamped her hand over Sweetie Belle’s mouth.
“Sweetie Belle, it’s Samantha. Come with me!” Her voice, she suspected, got the young girl to calm down long enough to be dragged into the woman’s restroom. “Please calm down, I need you not to scream, okay?”
Sweetie’s eyes were wide as the pony species she once was a moment ago, but she nodded. Hesitantly Samantha removed her hand. Sweetie Belle awkwardly raised her own and was speechless.
“Uh, you probably have tons of questions and…” Samantha trailed off and feeling of seriousness left her when she caught Sweetie Belle smiling and admiring ‘the view’.
“I’m so tall… this is splendid really. Heh, I almost sound like Rarity!” In a way she was correct, the comparisons were uncanny.
“You’re not… freaking out… huh.” She would have been surprised until she remembered how her experience was. I guess that makes sense… let’s go get her home. She grabbed Sweetie’s hand and walked them out. “C’mon, let’s get you home.”
“How? Where is this anyway? What.. uh, are you? And me? Am I you? A you?”
“Human, we are humans. I’m normally one and you shouldn’t be one. Just grab onto the poster here and you should be fine.” The two walked out of the bathroom and quickly found the poster.
Sweetie Belle, not knowing how to operate her hands awkwardly lowered one down and touched it with all five fingers. Nothing significant happened, except the poster was torn more. Samantha panicked some and felt all over the poster; it wasn't working.
“S-Samantha, what’s wrong? You… can send me back, right?”
The fear in her voice only added to her own stress. Could she? I’ll get her home… oh how I wish this was a dream. Her determination was quickly forgotten, however, when her friend came strolling up.
“Samantha? You okay? Uh… woah, okay. Guess you didn’t like that poster, heh. Me either.” Jessica shrugged.
“Yeah, the poster. Sorry, I ran into a friend on the way back to our theatre. Uh, this is Belle.” She awkwardly pointed to Sweetie Belle who said nothing in response. Samantha then whispered to Jessica. “She’s shy.”
“Right… nice to meet you, Belle.” Jessica waved politely and smiled. “You doing a double feature? You can join us I guess.”
Belle as she was down deemed looked down at her dress. It was white and quite plain. She wasn’t sure where she got it or why, but for some reason felt grateful that it was there. She then quickly looked back at the strange creature, the human and nodded. Out of all the fears she currently felt, not getting home, not being a unicorn and being in the company of strangers, one single thought ran through her head.
A proper mare must always be dressed for the right occasion. She thought and nodded knowing her big sister would be proud. At least she hoped so.
Jessica nodded, wondering just why the girl had taken so long to respond. Must be slow, whatever. “Alright, c’mon, we’re missing the hot action.
Sweetie Belle had no idea what that meant, but action sounded fun! She smiled and slowly grabbed Samantha’s hand, mimicking what she had done to her from earlier. “C’mon, let’s see some action!” A movie made by aliens, Scootaloo is gonna be so jealous! Samantha had yelped while getting dragged, but both of them stopped while Sweetie Belle pondered something. Are they aliens? She saw Jessica speed up into the dark hallway and quickly followed. However, she stopped again. Wait, can I walk on two feet? Hooves? Whatever! The second she thought about it, the more she realized how tricky it actually was. Which in turn made her walking seem more awkward.
Samantha saw she was having trouble and quickly took the lead, making sure Sweetie was keeping up while holding her hand. “C’mon, we’ll watch this and then try and get you home.” I hope. Samantha could have easily explained the situation to Jessica, but she was having trouble understanding it herself. Not having enough information about how to get her home (or how Samantha ended up there in the first place) would simply make her sound like a babbling insane person.
The three quickly found their seats and it wasn’t long before a majority of the three was enthralled by the film.
“Who left the fridge open?!”
Samantha took a glance at Sweetie Belle who was not only captivated by the film, but had quickly gained proper use of her fingers. Obvious by their yellow sticky appearance from buttered popcorn.
At least she seems calm. I wonder why? A quick memory told her just why, she was too. At least as a child, in a new pony body. She was calm about the whole thing, being so young her full perception of reality wasn’t fully lucid like an adult or older child. Things were like a dream, everyday. A wonderful dream. I should give those three fillies a bit more credit, they are way smarter than I was as a child. She took a quick glance back over and found the “filly” trying to balance a piece of popcorn on her nose. Maybe not as much…
The whole experience of having Sweetie Belle with them didn’t seem to cause too many distractions. It was after the movie which Samantha worried for. She had no plans and it wasn’t as if her parents would let some random girl stay over. As time went on, Samantha grew more and more nervous. Wild ideas of how to hide her seemed more and more realistic as time dragged on.
I could have her hide in my closest whenever my parents are home… yeah hiding a pony child in a closet who happens to be in an adult human body. Nothing can go wrong there! For a moment she thought it was plausible, until she noticed Sweetie Belle’s loud giggling. Okay, I could have her… just - crap! I can't think of anything! For a second she was angry at Sweetie Belle for making things so complicated, but she quickly calmed down when she thought about it. Not her fault. I barely understand what’s going on. Any one of them could have followed me. Samantha sunk further into her seat, wondering just when her nightmare would be over.
Sweetie Belle felt as if she was having a rather intriguing day. If her new body wasn’t interesting enough, their films were even more. The special effects, sound, scale and size of everything (not to mention the very clear picture) all just seemed so impossible. Quickly an image of educational films that Cheerilee would play in school popped into her head. Never before could she have imagined movies like this!
She examined the hero on the screen who seemed to randomly spit out made up phrases. I wonder if they get cutie marks? She figured only ponies got them, but actor in the film had to have one in… something! She squinted her eyes on his face and giggled a bit, but not before blushing profoundly. Maybe he has a pretty mark… g h
The movie was clearly coming to an abrupt end, the three ladies could clearly see the budget dying off as the effects got cheaper and cheaper.
“I’ll see you next time, we’ll get tropical! Sweetie Belle had no idea what he was talking about, but shrugged and awkwardly clapped her new hands while the credits rolled.
These things are weird… She inwardly complained. She yelped in surprise when her hand was yanked and her body was dragged along as Samantha and her followed Jessica.
“Sweetie Belle, I need you to keep quiet when I speak to Jessica. Got it?”
“Okay, but you’re hurting my, uh, arm?” Samantha nodded to clarify that she was correct. “Please stop yanking.”
Samantha let go and blushed. “Sorry.” She quickly turned back to Jessica while other people passed them. “So, me and Belle here need to head to the college to pick up some stuff. I can drop you off but then we need to go… take care of that.” Samantha glanced back and nearly panicked when she didn’t see Sweetie Belle. Where did she go?!
“I’m gonna tag along, k.” It was more of a statement than question, but Samantha was too distracted to nod.
“Yeah… whatever…” Samantha trailed off and frantically search around for Belle
Jessica stared at her friend as if she went mad. She was looking like she had lost a child or something. “Uh… she your girlfriend or something?”
All searching for ‘Belle’ ceased immediately. “What?!”
A few people in the hallway glanced at that. Jessica chuckled. “Chill out, it’s fine if you’re gay. I mean I didn’t see it coming, but…”
Samantha smacked her hand into her face and sighed. “Jessica, shut up please. Also, did you see where she went?”
Jessica shut her mouth and smiled, then comically pointed to her lips. Samantha groaned.
Sweetie Belle watched Samantha converse with Jessica while doing her best to remain quiet. Suddenly she felt a plethora of people scrunch up behind her. Before she could even yelp she was dragged along out of the darkening hallway and into the growing sunlight. She saw a massive lobby with dozens up dozens of people all gathered in various groups. That’s a lot of… not ponies.
Her fascination of them soon ended when she noticed all they did was talk. She looked down and spotted something quite colorful on the ground. “Is that a doll?” She leaned down and spotted a small oddly constructed miniature equine. It looked to be a cheap toy. Tentatively she knelt down to pick it up, upon touching she felt as if she was leaving her own body. For a moment she felt giddy and light headed, but it soon past. The light around her shifted from her view from dark to light impossibly fast. After opening her eyes from being shielded, she gasped.
“I’m back?” She questioned. Sweetie quickly looked down to her body to confirm things were okay and she sighed in relief. “Samantha? You here?” Looking around she found it curious that she wasn’t where she was before, not when she left Ponyville.
“She’s not here.” She heard a familiar voice claim.
She looked up to find a floating lord of chaos just above her. “Oh, okay, thanks.” She quickly did a double take when she came to her actual senses. “How do you know she’s not here?”
He appeared to ponder her question greatly by taking his beard and stroking it a few times. “A decent enough question. What is here anyway?”
“Ponyville…” She replied irritably.
He smiled wickedly down on her, then leaned in as close as he could possibly get. “Are you sure? Are you absolutely positively… positive?! Last I checked you were here…”
For a moment Sweetie Belle’s vision wavered and in that single solitary moment she saw the theatre, she saw Samantha and she saw her body change. She quickly shook her head then promptly knocked it into Discord’s. “Back off! What was that?!” She demanded, her voice squeaking so everypony could hear.
Discord pouted and shook his head. “You have a hard head you know.” The tiny filly fumed as her marshmallow colored cheeks turned crimson. “Oh fine, fine. I know all about Samantha and that other world of hers. You were just there, weren’t you?” His smirk returned.
Sweetie Belle’s anger vanished, she tilted her head curiously. “Did you bring her here? Why?” The unicorn couldn’t think of a single reason for wanting to do so. Other than he was Discord and he likes to have fun.
He scoffed. “Well, not intentionally. You could say I had the sniffles… and I may have misplaced a part of me. A very important part…” Quickly his expression shifted to one of a serious lord of chaos. One Sweetie Belle wanted no part in. He saw her quick retreat and attempted to teleport right next to her. He snapped his talons and half expected to vanish in thin air, only to reappear behind the panicked filly. Instead he found all it did was cause a rain cloud to appear above his head, one that was not shy about spewing out endless bits of chocolate milk.
Sweetie Belle slowed down when she saw Discord appeared to be having trouble. He would snap his talons several times then something bad would happen. By the end of it all he was covered in cotton candy and soap bubbles. He fumed on the ground with his ‘arms’ crossed and sighed. She tentatively walked up to him and took a seat. “What are you doing?”
“I can’t… “ He fumed even more and seethed out his response. “I can’t… teleport anymore and once more I’m not sure why.” Sweetie Belle could only nod. “Well, I have an idea. But I need your help.”
“Why mine?”
He scoffed again. “Oh, think about it. A mysterious mare appears out of nowhere then disappears and reappears, along with you. I know of where she is from and where you went. It has to be my magic!” Without warning he picked her up and cradled her like a young foal. “Just thinking about my magic with her, all alone! What if it gets lost? What if it catches a cold…”
“Uh, can you put me down now?” Her wish was granted when he threw her up in the air and she landed promptly on her side. His magic shifted around him, granting the lord of chaos an odd get up made of black. He began to weep. “What if I never see it again?!”
Sweetie stood up and dusted herself off. “I’ll help you I guess…” In a split second all crying ceased and he began to frantically shake her hoof up and down.
“Excellent! So, where do we start?” Another snap of his magic and a familiar looking outfit was placed on Sweetie Belle, one she had seen Pinkie wear when she was out “solving riddles”.
“Well, you think Samantha has your magic?” She questioned.
He waved his talon. “Or something like that. My magic has always been difficult to tame, it could be anywhere really.”
“But if it’s in her then how did I travel back without her? All I did was touch this doll and--” Her face became scrunched up against his in an instant.
“Doll?! What doll? You never mentioned a doll!”
She shoved his face back for a second time, wondering why it had became a going trend. “I was in that movie theatre then I found a pony doll? Yeah, that was it. I touched it and I was back!”
“Inanimate objects… it’s worse than I feared!” He tapped his beard once and his whole body vanished into thin air, only to reappear right on top of the unicorn’s back. He then brought out a saddle and a muzzle for her face. “Quickly, Watson, to Twilight’s place!”
“But you just said you couldn’t teleport…” Sweetie Belle trailed off when she noticed something very familiar about Discord, his smile and eyes seemed eerie familiar to Pinkie Pie’s. It was in this single second that she decided it would be best for her sanity to not question his logic. She sighed and walked ahead the ten feet required to reach Twilight’s front door.
“We’re here.”
Discord climbed off, but Sweetie’s hoof stopped his claw from ever reaching the door. “Discord, what is going on? Just… be serious for once.” His face shifted to a dark and depressing frown. “But not that serious!”
He smiled slightly. “You really want to know?”
She nodded frantically.
He giggled like mad, then quickly tapped the door three times. “I have no idea!” When his giggle fit died down he sighed and smiled. “Oh, it feels wonderful to not know something. Mysteries are so rare to me. So rare…”
Sweetie Belle shook her head, wondering if she could possibly sneak off and just maybe help him out later. “Are you ever gonna make sense?!”
He scoffed yet a third time, and shook his head in disgust. “Now where’s the fun in that?”