Sour Sweet narrowed her gaze. She pulled back her bow. Concentrating on the target before her, she released. Her blue arrow flew through the air. In one swift moment, it punctured the center of the target. Sour grinned.
"Another totally awesome archery practice," she remarked. "These new targets are totally sweet!" Canterlot High had only recently gotten an archery set, much better than the ones at Crystal Prep. For that reason, Sour Sweet had transferred schools. She had been coming every day ever since.
"Hey, Sour Sweet!" called one of her friends, Lemon Zest. Sour Sweet waved in return.
"Hey, Lemon!" she answered as Lemon Zest jogged over.
"Are you just finishing up?" Lemon Zest queried, running a hand through her yellow hair. Sour Sweet nodded.
"Yeah." Lemon Zest followed her when she went to retrieve her arrows.
"So, are you going to Sugarcube Corner tonight?" Lemon Zest asked. "Pinkie Pie's handing out free cupcakes!" Sour Sweet bent over to pick up an arrow in the grass.
"Sounds fun!" she replied. "I'll try to make it!"
"It's in, like, an hour," Lemon Zest informed her. "Are you really gonna come?"
"Why wouldn't I?" Sour Sweet countered with a smile. With Lemon Zest's constant bombardment of questions, Sour Sweet sometimes felt like Lemon was a little kid following her around!
"You're usually too busy with sports," Lemon Zest pointed out. "Which is awesome, but ya gotta go to parties sometime!" She elbowed Sour Sweet playfully. Sour Sweet laughed.
"Alright, alright! I said I'd come, didn't I?"
"That you did!" Lemon Zest agreed. "See ya then!" She jogged off. "I have homework to do!"
"Bye!" Sour waved as Lemon Zest left.
That girl can never stop asking questions, can she? she mused to herself.
In a few minutes, Sour Sweet's arrows were tucked into her quiver, which hung at her side as she walked back to the front of Canterlot High.
"Aack!" She yelped as one sneaker caught on a loose paving stone. Sour Sweet pitched forward. Luckily, she caught herself on the palms of her hands. Sour Sweet breathed a sigh of relief as she stood back up and dusted her hands off.
"They really need to fix the floor, er, road, eh, whatever," she remarked, tucking a loose strand of bubblegum hair behind her ear. "Some klutz could trip.
"Luckily," she continued confidently, "I am not that klutz!"
"But I am! Watch out!"
"What the-" Sour spun around to see Pinkie Pie decked out in roller blading equipment- and the party girl was headed straight for her!
"Sorry!" Pinkie apologized as she rammed into Sour Sweet. Sour Sweet stumbled backwards.
"Hey!" she yelled, grabbing her side. "What- aah!" She felt her back press up against the CHS statue. And then Pinkie was replaced with a swirl of colors.
"Sorry!" Pinkie exclaimed, waving at the portal, despite Sour Sweet being already gone. "It's just my job!" She grabbed a notebook and began to scrawl in it.
"'Dear me, I sent a girl named Sour Sweet your way. Please take care of her and give her a good home. And a cardboard box!' Smiley face." Pinkie beamed as she shut the journal.
Sour Sweet felt like she was going to throw up her lunch taco.
"That was some ride," she groaned, staring up. What else was she supposed to do until the nausea passed?
"HELLLLLLLLLO STRANGER!"
"What?" Sour Sweet groaned, not bothering to look around. "Who's there?" A lock of fuchsia hair appeared in her line of sight, followed quickly by a bubblegum pink face and sky blue eyes.
"Hi!" the pony exclaimed. "You must be Sour Sweet! Pinkie Pie told me you'd be coming!"
"Yeah, Pinkie Pie," Sour Sweet agreed lamely. "Wait... you look like Pinkie Pie!"
"That's because I am Pinkie Pie!" the mare confirmed. Sour Sweet shut her eyes as she processed the information.
"So... you told yourself I'd be coming?"
"Nope!" Pinkie Pie responded cheerfully, as if that had solved the problem.
"But, you just said your name is Pinkie Pie."
"Multiverse! Hello?" Pinkie Pie waved a hoof in front of Sour Sweet's face. "Where do you think you are? Kansas? Oz?" Pinkie Pie sniggered. "Nope! You're in an entire new universe!" Sour Sweet blinked again as she waited for the information to sink in.
"Sweet mother of Artemis!" she yelled suddenly, sitting straight upright.
"Woah, woah, woah, it's okay!" Pinkie consoled her, which didn't really work with her upbeat tone. 'It'll only be for a little while! Hey, look! You've got wings!"
"W-wings?" Sour Sweet stuck a hoof behind her back, looking for the wings. One hoof brushed a soft, pillow-like object.
"That tickles," Sour Sweet commented.
"No way! Did you know it's physically impossible to tickle yourself?" Pinkie protested. "WAIT! What if you tickled yourself from another universe? Idea!" PInkie scribbled something into a notebook.
This is going to be a long afternoon, Sour Sweet groaned inwardly.
"Look, Pinkie, can I please go home? There's a big party tonight, you understand that, right?" she asked. Pinkie nodded vigorously.
"I understand. I super duper understand! And that's why-" she pulled Sour Sweet to her hooves. "-I'm gonna help you get ready!"
"Oh no," Sour Sweet groaned as Pinkie Pie dragged her away.
"This is my friend Twilight's home!" Pinkie told her enthusiastically as she ran.
"Uh uh uh uh uh uh uh," went Sour Sweet as her head bounced against each stair.
"We're gonna do your hair and all sorts of good stuff!" Pinkie Pie continued as they ran through the front doors.
"Put me down, please!" Sour Sweet moaned. "My hair already looks fine!"
"Not after this ride!" Pinkie Pie finally dropped Sour Sweet under an oak tree.
"What did you do to my hair?" Sour Sweet's question came out as a whisper. She prodded at the fresh mess.
"I ruined it so we can start over!" Pinkie cheered, pulling a brush out of her own pink mane.
"Brush, brush, brush, brushbrushbrushbrush," Pinkie hummed as she brushed.
What. The heck, Sour Sweet thought sourly.
"Pinkie, can you please let me go?" she asked sweetly.
"And now!" Pinkie proclaimed, ignoring Sour Sweet's plea, "your crown of acorns!"
"Crown of- oomph!" Sour Sweet was cut off as Pinkie shoved a makeshift crown onto her head.
"Uh, thanks, Pinkie," Sour Sweet told her. "I, uh, need to get out of this freakish universe and back to my own."
"Good thing I typed up a book so you can read all about Equestria when you return to your own world in two seconds!" Pinkie plopped a notebook into Sour Sweet's hooves.
"'The Fool's Guide to Equestria,'" Sour Sweet read aloud. On the back, Pinkie had scrawled, For those friends in alternate dimensions.
"Wow, thanks, Pinkie!" Sour Sweet exclaimed. Then she blinked. "Wait, did you just say I'm going back in two seconds?"
"Well, duh! I don't want you to miss your party, do I?"
"I feel nauseous already," Sour Sweet groaned.