Lyra went down her checklist again before glancing up at the diligently working Twilight, working on that strange machine of hers. "Almost ready?"
Twilight threw a switch and the portal was open, waiting for them. "Don't forget, if you see somepony that looks like you, stay away from them." She looked to Darrell. "Stay with Lyra, and watch out for each other. It's an alien world and everypony should stick together. Thankfully it was mostly harmless last time I was in there, but it can catch you by surprise." She held up a hoof. "You will arrive dressed. Why? I'm still trying to figure that out, but it's probably for the best. They do appear to be dressed at all times. A nudity taboo?"
Darrell nodded quickly. "We don't have fur."
Lyra bit back the urge to correct Darrell, this close to the humans, it just felt silly to say. "Ready to go?"
Darrell gave a hoofs up gesture and hopped to the ready, looking quite eager to go through the portal.
Lyra moved up beside her. "I should warn, there's nothing about this that's been shown to change sexes, just species."
Darrell gave a less cheerful nod at the reminder. "A man can dream. And I will be a man at least, er, human. Let's go." She strode forward into the portal, and Lyra rushed through after her.
Bright colors, distorted images, and the sensation of being pulled apart drew a startled scream from Lyra. she could hear Darrell's voice calling out through the non-space. It took forever, but also an instant, and they were ejected onto cement.
Lyra pushed up onto all fours and quickly realized her body was entirely off-balance. Her butt was up in the air, and her shoulders low to the ground. Why were her hind-legs so long! And she only had fur on her head, though her skin was the right color? Her self-inspection was cut short as a familiar female voice yelped beside her. She was still white, with the red mane that Lyra remembered. She was also a she, as far as Lyra could tell, at least they looked pretty similar.
Darrell sat up and stood up quickly, wobbling a moment before she had full apparently control over her new form. "This isn't quite right."
Lyra tilted her head at Darrell. "You look alright from here?"
Darrell shook her head. "The... it's hard to explain. It's human... like... without being human? And humans don't have these skin-tones! White like chalk and green? We'd be rushed to a hospital."
Lyra pushed up, trying to imitate Darrell's standing position. She started to topple, but Darrell caught her and steadied her. "Thanks. So... this isn't the right place?" The mystery only felt deeper to Lyra. They had come to a human world, only for the supposed human to reject it? "Let's assume a moment it's just Twilight's portal messing up. How does everything else look?"
Darrell started to meander, looking around curiously. "We're in front of a school. Looks like a High school. We're a bit old to be wandering in there, unless we want to pretend to be teachers. Pass. Let's find a library."
Lyra found no fault in the idea and followed the mare, er, woman? She certainly seemed to understand the human world. The strange rolling things on the road reminded her a little bit of an automobile, but they were too quiet, and too sleek, and too a lot of things. Darrell knew how to get past them, and Lyra followed along after her, taking in the new world with large eyes. Darrell suddenly pulled up short and Lyra bumped into her from behind.
Darrell gestured subtly to, oooo, more humans. They were just as colorful as ponies, and they appeared to be a herd, walking down the side of the road in a group of five, all talking loudly about things Lyra didn't understand. Darrell nudged her off the sidewalk and they let the group go past before Darrell shook her head. "This is not my Earth. Did you see their pants and skirts?"
Lyra shook her head. "What about them? They looked perfectly serviceable."
"Cutie marks!" Darrell threw her arms into the air. "They all have cutie marks! How does that even work? Humans don't have them, but each one had their own icon in about the right place."
Lyra couldn't say with certainty if humans should have cutie marks or not. The book didn't talk about them having them, but that doesn't outrule the possibility. "Wait, but it was on their clothing?" Lyra looked down, and beheld her own cutie mark on either side of her skirt. "Huh..."
Darrell followed her vision and choked out a laugh. "This is some kinda crazy pony version of Earth." She turned and resumed her journey.
Lyra moved up beside her. "Well, speaking hypothetically here, does this feel like 'home'? I mean, are you... more comfortable?"
Darrell sighed a bit as she walked. "That's hard to say. I like having the right almost-shape back, even if the proportions feel a little off. But I'm still a damn girl. I'll stick with you. The ponies have magic at least, there's still hope we can fix that."
Lyra smiled. "There's always hope, and I'm not giving up on you."
Darrell stopped, then turned and smiled at Lyra. "Thank you. I don't say that often enough, but you really have been trying to help, and I do appreciate that. It's just... so hard. I'm not trying to be a huge downer the entire time, but I look in the mirror and that's not me! Am I being stupid?"
Lyra had less confidence in calling her misguided. "I don't think... you are. But please, indulge me. I'd like to see more proof that you know how things actually are here, rather than what they shouldn't be."
Darrell waved her forward, and soon they arrived at the library. She moved to a seat and sank into it in front of a strange set of objects. One showed a picture that kept changing, while the other had letters and numbers on it. Darrell began striking the letters and moving a third object around, interacting with the image on the screen without a problem. "Let's try a Google search... No Google?" Darrell seemed to get frustrated before she found... something? Lyra really had no idea what was going on, and tried to just watch and learn.
"Poogle? Hooftube? I'm getting the drift here. It's like a huge cosmic joke at my expense." She flopped against what she had called a keyboard before she sat up. "Alright, what do you want to see?"
Lyra chewed her bottom lip thoughtfully. "How about a pony?"
Just a moment later a video was playing showing the rather graphic scene of a horse giving birth. Lyra went red and turned around. "Less ponies!" She peeked and saw an educational video about how to make a chair was playing instead. Harmless, but damning for her thoughts that Darrell didn't know what she was doing. "What about... a mountain." Whatever she asked for, Darrell could produce pictures and sounds and more to go with it. Lyra was amazed. "Wait a moment. You said humans don't have magic, but this is pretty magic right here, and you obviously know how to use it. What's up with that?"
Snickering came from a few stations down. A glance showed the back of a male human's head. Darrell pushed to her feet and grabbed Lyra's hand, guiding her towards the exit. "You sound crazy." Lyra did not miss the irony of this statement and couldn't stop a giggle from escaping her. "They're not magic, they're technology."
"I've seen technology. That is not technology." Lyra frowned a little. "I thought you trusted me. Tell me the truth."
Darrell wobbled one of her hands. "I can't even start to explain how it works without explaining how ten other things work. We'd be here all day, but I swear. I double-swear! Those were technology. Really advanced technology compared to what you have on Equestria, but still technology. They run on electricity."
That word Lyra knew and she bobbed her head. "Electricity is good for moving things or for light." She frowned. "How did they fit so many colored lightbulbs in such a small space?"
Darrell looked surprised. "That was actually a very good guess right there. Again, Not really my specialty. I think we should go back."
They walked side-by-side back to the portal. Lyra rubbed behind her head. "Forgive me for saying this, but it feels kind of odd. I mean, alright, you convinced me. You are a human, at least up here." she tapped herself on the head. "So why are you coming back instead of running away?"
"This is not my home. And I'm not a girl." Darrell frowned and waved a hand at the town as a whole. "And these aren't even really humans. I'd be settling for a cheap facsimile. At least I know where I stand with the ponies, and I have a house, and some friends, and maybe some crazy pony magic can put me back together later."
Lyra made quiet mental plans. The treatment would continue as planned. After all, Darrell had to live as a mare, just as the others were ponies now. She would teach them how to be happy ponies. "Oh! Wait... if this is not your home, doesn't that mean there could be lots of not-home human places?"
"Uh? I guess?" Darrell looked uncertain. "Why?"
Lyra shook her head. "When we get home, compare notes with the others, see if their 'home' is your 'home'. And you can tell them I'm on their side. I mean, it doesn't make them not ponies, but I won't call it a story anymore, sorry."
Darrell pulled Lyra close and kissed her forehead. "If I showed up on Earth saying I was a talking pony, they'd do a lot worse than give me a cozy house, try to find me a job, and a therapist that seems to want me to be happy."
They returned to Twilight's castle, where she turned off the portal with a relieved expression.
Lyra sent Darrell ahead into town before sharing her findings with Twilight. "She is human! Or was? Or is? I'm not even sure anymore... She could use the 'computer' and she knew how to cross the roads and use the doors and everything! She was walking in that awkward body like it was meant to walk instead of being designed to make you look as stupid as possible."
Twilight helpfully picked up Lyra's monocle and put it back in place. "This is becoming a habit. You're serious though? I mean... I believe you, and that does explain a few things, like how a crystal pony can go missing without a single parent actually missing their foal." She suddenly started turning green. "Oh Celestia, that means it really was meat." She sagged to the ground, weak and nauseous.
Lyra put a hoof on Twilight's shoulder. "Calm down! She said it wasn't 'her home'. She's a human, but the human world behind that portal wasn't the same, and there were other differences. So, you know, that burger could have been hay, just like ours! He said there was a lot of pony stuff about that human world."
Lyra soon left a much-relieved Twilight behind, trotting briskly to make notes about the exciting journey and consider her next plan of action.