//------------------------------// // Scientific Confusion // Story: When: "Pony Up" Becomes a bit too Literal // by Feelzy101 //------------------------------// Twilight Sparkle was quietly humming to herself as she drove into the heart of the city. Sunset lived in a suburb closer to the edge of the city, whereas Twilight lived close to the downtown area in a fairly lavish house. Her parents were co-owners of a somewhat successful business in town, and they needed to be close to their office. As she drove, Twilight couldn't help but be somewhat distracted by the situation she got herself into. She was driving a truck full of magical, technicolour ponies who were also her friends, to stay at her house. Before she started researching the strange happenings at CHS, she would've never believed any of this. But it was real, and while she wasn't directly involved, she had to do something to help them (even if was to further some of her own research into magic as well). Sunset Shimmer looked up from the old book, startled as the truck hit a small pothole in the road, and was instantly taken aback by the looks on her friends faces. They were staring at her with a look of pure amazement and shock. A little freaked out by her friends, Sunset slowly started to put her book back into her backpack. It was then that she noticed their gazes followed the book, not her. Sunset face-hoofed as she realized her stupidity. "Oh yeah, maybe I should've mentioned at some point that unicorns can use magic." She tapped her glowing horn as though she needed proof for her claim. "That is so AWESOME!" Rainbow Dash was practically shaking with excitement. Applejack gave her a sideways glance, then turned back to Sunset, "Can you do other stuff, or just move things?" "Well, normally a unicorn only really learns levitation, usually at a pretty young age," Sunset lifted her backpack up in front of her. "But sometimes, they go on and study more advanced types of magic. A lot of the times it corresponds to their special talent. I was Princess Celestia's student before I came here," she stopped and glanced around at her friends. "But you girls already know that story," she looked down at her hooves and sighed, a bit of guilt present in her voice. Pinkie Pie noticed Sunset's sadness and quickly interjected, "That was a really really really long time ago, we already forgave you for that, silly." "Thanks, Pinkie," Sunset looked back up and continued. "Anyways, before I left I had studied a lot of advanced magic, and I can definitely show you later tonight. But I'm nowhere near as good as Twilight is. Her special talent is literally magic," she gave a small laugh and muttered under her breath, "Cheater." She apparently hadn't muttered quiet enough and the back of the truck erupted in laughter. It was about 5:30 when they got to Twilight's house, and everyone in the back was happy to be able to move their legs again. Twilight parked in the driveway and got out to help her friends. One by one, she lifted them out of the truck while directing them into her garage while Sunset watched for other people. A single car drove down the street just before Sunset got down, and she quickly ducked under the sheet. "Huh," she peeked her head out from the truck. "That was close, I'm surprised it isn't busier, we're downtown at like, twenty after five or something." Twilight picked up her unicorn friend and put her on the ground, "I'm pretty sure most people live in their shops and businesses, because I never really see a "rush hour" here." She locked the truck and started to walk inside through the garage. "Wow, I never really noticed that, that sounds like Equestria, or what Princess Twilight told me about Ponyville anyways," Sunset explained. Twilight had to stifle a laugh at the idea of having a town for ponies called Ponyville. A couple of minutes later found everyone around a coffee table in Twilight's living room. There wouldn't have been enough seating had everyone been human still. Fortunately their smaller size allowed the six ponies to fit on the two love-seats across from each other. Twilight sat in her father's recliner that was positioned at one of the corners of the table. Everything was silent for a few minutes because everyone had finally gotten over the initial shock of the ordeal and were now worried about what would happen next. Would they be stuck like this? What would people think? Even Sunset and Twilight were worried, if only for the sake of their friends. Sunset was already used to being a unicorn, and could easily cope with her life if worse came to worst. It was a vibrating sound that finally broke the silence as everyone in the room instinctively reached for their (in six out of seven cases, non-existent) pockets. A small laugh was shared throughout the room at the mistake, and Sunset realized that the vibrating was coming from her backpack. "Girls! That must be Princess Twilight! She might have a solution for us," Sunset levitated the book to her as began to flip to the correct page. "Already? That was fast. I guess she has more time to spare when she isn't dealing with a magical time crisis like during the Friendship Games," Pinkie's comment caused Twilight to stir in her seat and blush a little. That was one crazy afternoon. After everything that happened during the games, I never thought I'd be so awkward when meeting myself! "Well," Sunset paused as she found she found the page from Twilight. "Let's see what Twilight thinks of our situation." She began to read aloud from the book: Dear Sunset Shimmer, I'll admit: as the Princess of Friendship, even I don't know everything about it! And unfortunately, I know even less about the magic in your world as it doesn't normally have magic at all. The magic wasn't removed when I returned with the crown as it seems that some of it stayed there. To make matters worse, when I tried to come to help you girls personally, the portal wouldn't open. It seems that the same thing that caused you to stay as ponies, is also causing the doors between the world to "lock." So to be blunt; I don't know enough about what's happening to be able to help. However, I will do what I can on my end to look for an answer. I have already contacted Princess Celestia and Princess Luna for help. That being said, I know that you girls are smart enough to look into this on your own as well. Especially you, Sunset, considering you also studied under Princess Celestia. I will try to keep the book with me at all times, and I let you know as soon as we find something. Your friend, Twilight Sparkle. "So, you girls are really stuck like that for now, aren't you?" Twilight motioned for the book, and Sunset passed it over for her to read. "Well, in that case, I guess there's no sense in moping around," Rarity got down from the couch and stretched. "Twilight darling, would you mind if I took a bath? It would be nice to get all that dust out of my hair," she waited for Sunset to say it's her mane, but fortunately she never did. "Yeah, that's no problem, we can just watch some TV for now. The bathroom is down the hall and to the left," Twilight pointed in the general direction. "Did you want me to come help you? The bathtub might be a little tall for you to climb into, it taller than the average tub." "Oh, I'm sure I'll be fine, but thanks for offering," Rarity walked down the hall as the sound of the TV filled the house. That left the 5 remaining ponies and Twilight to either work themselves up further about the issue at hand, which Applejack proceeded to do silently. Or they could settle in and watch some cartoons as a sort of break. It was no later than a minute after Rarity left the living room that a scream filled the room that could put a banshee out of business. Twilight and Sunset were the first ones to get to the bathroom, as they weren't trying to learn how to run effectively. When they found Rarity laying in the normal bathroom with the bathtub filling, they shared a look of confusion between each other. "Rarity, what's wrong?" Fluttershy pushed past the girls at the door and sat down beside the now crying unicorn. "I'm not wearing any clothes!" Rarity shouted. "Well duh, ponies don't wear clothes. You already know that from Sunset," Rainbow rolled her eyes at her over dramatic friend. "You didn't even notice when you thought you phone was vibrating." "I know that ponies don't where clothes," Rarity whined. "But where are MY clothes?" "Huh, I never actually considered that," Sunset put her hoof to her chin. "Considering that traveling through the portal to this world gives a pony clothes. It also takes them away when you return to Equestria. Princess Twilight did say that there's some sort of connection from what happened and the portal. If I were to guess," not that my guesses have been accurate so far, "you'll get your clothes and phone back when we figure out how to transform back." Rarity exhaled a sigh of relief that her self-made clothes weren't (hopefully) lost forever. She then tried to climb up into the tub, which was far too tall for her to climb into. Her struggles were interrupted by Twilight as she picked her up and placed her into the abnormally tall, half-full bathtub and turned the tap off. "Heh, thanks," was all Rarity could say. It was unanimously decided upon that the rest of the night should be spent having fun as friends and relaxing instead of trying to find solutions to the problem. This was decided because everyone was quite tired already, and because nobody even knew where to begin looking for answers. The six ponies finally remembered to call home and explain that they were having a sleepover. Luckily, none of their parents were too upset, as they were used to their daughters hanging out after school all the time. Twilight also called her parents to make sure they wouldn't be coming home early, and to ask if it was okay that her friends stayed over. She already knew the answer to the second question, considering how much her parents had pushed her to make friends at Crystal Prep. The living room had been converted into the "hangout" for the night. Sunset was able to lift the furniture out of the way, which earned her lots of complements from her friends. Every blanket and pillow was then scavenged from the house to be made into 6 small beds in the middle of the floor. Twilight chose to use one of the couches instead of taking more of the finite blanket and pillow supply to lay on top of. Games were played, movies were watched and fun was had by all. Pinkie Pie had enough board games hidden in her hair that made everyone's head spin. Obviously nobody questioned it, because they'd never find an answer. It was about midnight when they went to bed and almost everyone fell asleep as soon as their head hit the pillow. Sunset was the only one left awake. Twilight is counting on me to help the girls, but I'm just as in the dark as she is right now. I wish I knew what to do. She thought about this for several more minutes, before finally giving in to the much needed sleep.