Twilight awoke, seeing a ladybug crawling around the gray pavement, her vision at first blurry before becoming clear enough that she is in fact in a different world. There were small buildings that happen to have a solid roof rather than soft hay across rivers of dried asphalt that mechanical chariots drive by without horsepower.
“Uh, Twilight?”
Twilight turned to a familiar sound.
“Huh? Spike! I'm so glad you're– Spike? Are you a... dog?”
Indeed, the small, purple canine circled around before answering, “I... think so. But I have no idea what you are!”
Twilight was about to address him when she noticed something was way off. Instead of a solid hoof, she had a hand with five long slender fingers. She wiggled them before waving her hand then waved both of her arms. Looking down, Twilight found she was wearing some form of skirt with her cutie mark before she unfurled her hind leg, which also donned clothing, in this case, a thick boot. This was too much to take in for her and screamed her heart out.
Spike scratched his ears with his hind leg before walking up to his sister as she panted hysterically.
“Twilight, you have to get it together!”
Using a deep breath maneuver taught by Cadence, Twilight calmed herself before returning to all fours, applying weight to her knuckles.
“What... does the rest of me look like?”
“Um, like you.” The dragon dog placed a paw on his chin “Only not you. Your muzzle's really small.”
“My muzzle?!” Twilight poked her face, realizing that her nose and mouth are much more separate from each other. Twilight shook, ready to scream again when the little mutt placed both paws at her mouth.
“Are you gonna scream again?” Spike received an answer with a shake of her head before releasing her.
“Where is your kidnapper?” asked Twilight as she looked around again.
“Don't know. After we went through the mirror, she just kinda left me here. Any way we can go back?”
Twilight turned around to a horse statue before place her hand on the glass surface, seeping through the material as if it were water.
“That serves as the gateway back to Equestria. But we need to find my crown as soon as possible and get back there.” Twilight turned around to find herself at the entrance of a massive building, much more elaborate from the ones behind her “I suggest we start searching the castle first.”
“Works for me.”
Hopping onto her back, Twilight hobbled on all fours as she approached the building. Spike looked to his left before tapping her shoulder. Twilight stopped galloping as she turned her attention to another individual similar to her form, but much more masculine, walking a dachshund.
“Yeah, I don't think that's how the new you is supposed to–”
Before Spike could speak any further, Twilight sprang onto her hind legs, giving an embarrassed smile at the stranger as she wiped the dirt of her skirt. The dachshund looked to his master, happily wagging his tail before being told to walk forward.
As soon as they were in the clear, Twilight's legs started to give as she made a few large, awkward steps before being able to support herself on the stair rail.
“C'mon, Spike.” Twilight heaved herself up the stairs while her companion effortlessly hopped the staircase. “I do not wanna be like this for longer than I have to.”
“Well, look on the bright side. You don't have those pesky wings to worry about anymore.” Spike's complement was meet with a glare.
After rising back to her full height, Twilight approached the glass and metal doors, swung her upper body before slamming herself at the entrance. She looked at the translucent entry before attempting to use her magic to open the door. But that only worked in grinding her teeth before realizing,
“My magic! It isn't working!”
“Makes sense.” Spike added as he patted his head “You don't exactly have your horn.”
“What?!” Twilight almost began to panic, realizing the next thing of her former existence being missing.
“We really need to find you a mirror.” Spike shuffled over and pushed the door open.
Inside, the building was empty, with the silence to match save for a few echoes coming from Twilight's heavy boots as she tip toed to the center of the commons. Looking around, the interior was very spacious, two floors connected by stairs as to the left and right of the commons were hallways of grass green lockers, illuminated by electric torches attached to the ceiling. At each corner of the commons were award display cases, but Twilight thought otherwise as she approached one to her right.
“What do ya think, Spike?” Twilight scanned the case “Other artifacts she's stolen from Equestria?”
Twilight continued to look at the case, unaware of the danger around her.
“Quite a display, isn't it?”
Twilight immediately gasped before falling flat on the floor. Holding herself with both arms on the floor, she made contact with a set of red and yellow shoes before looking up his brown striped khakis and violet shirt before coming in contact with his face, so unusual, yet easy to distinguish by his hair style, emerald green eyes, and stripey facial hair along the lower jaw.
“Need a hand?”
Stretching out said appendage, Twilight could not help to notice that unlike her hand, or everyone else's so far, most of his fingers were bound by skin and muscle, resulting in a set of claws. The Alicorn turned human placed a fist on the hand, spread her fingers, felt the contours of the palm, then grasped the hand before being pulled up the floor.
“Hey, Cosgrove.” The three individuals turned to find a young woman wearing a sky blue sleeveless shirt, jeans, and charcoal black boots with orange chevrons. She held a similarly black jacket with chevrons over her shoulder - “Who is this?” She asked before putting on the additional clothing.
“Haven't asked her yet.” Cosgrove answered before turning back to Twilight.
“Cosgrove?” Twilight’s mind began to click as she looked at the other girl her age, recognizing her red and yellow hair “Sunset Shimmer?”
The two gave each other a look before Sunset replied, “Yes that is our names, what's your name?”
Twilight still felt uneasy asking the duplicates of two of her friends, but better not to be rude to the natives. “I'm Twilight Sparkle.” She answered
“Twilight Sparkle?” Cosgrove cocked his head, taking in a couple deep breaths through his nostrils “Haven't seen you around here.”
“Did you transfer recently?” Sunset asked, adding more to Twilight's worry as she came up with a reasonable answer.
“Why yes.. another… School.” She answers, getting a wink from Spike “Say, you two haven't seen a crown have you?”
“What crown?” Cosgrove waved his arms around “We get a lot of crowns at this time.”
“The one that has a jewel on top” Twilight poked at the large pink star at her skirt “like this?”
After looking at the skirt for a while, the two teenagers rose to their full height.
“I did just eyeball Fluttershy carrying an object like that.” Sunset pointed to the hall on the other side of the commons
“Just down there and to your left.”
“Oh, great, thanks!” Twilight began walking across the commons.
Cosgrove leaned over to Sunset, his eyes keeping sight on the visitor. “Did she smell… odd to you?”
But just as soon as Twilight was in the middle of the room, the school bell rang at the same time herds of the bipedal individuals stormed the school, quickly crowding the school and making it all the more difficult for her to get to the other side. At one point, a duplicate similar to Diamond Tiara accidentally knocked her over. Twilight crawled as quickly as she could to not get crushed by their shoes. Soon she was at the other side of the room, quickly colliding with the leg of a blue haired man. Like Sunset, he also wore a black jacket, but with a red and white stripe pattern along the sleeves and backside.
“Whoa.” The young man stretched out his hand, this time with five digits “You okay?”
Twilight took the person's hand before being pulled up off the floor. Wiping the dust from her skirt, she turned to find him joining the masses. Looking at the locker, she found her own reflection being so different from what she was used to for a lifetime.
“What am I?” She asked herself before walking down the hall.
As she continued her search for Fluttershy, she took a few passing glances at some of the more unusual clothing certain students wore.
“Hey!”
Twilight cocked her head at the outburst, realizing just now that she also had much smaller ears.
“Oh, excuse me, I'm really sorry.” whispered a familiar voice from around the corner. Taking a look, Twilight found a young, cream colored girl with pink hair being picked on by another her age wearing a tan jacket.
“I’m walking here!” She berated the girl as she stepped forward.
The shy girl slowly backed to a locker, “Oh, um, I'm sorry. I-I-I was just trying to…”
“I'm sorry, I'm sorry.” Gilda said in a mocking voice before looking back at her in fury “Why don't you just watch where you're going, doofus?”
Twilight furrowed her brow before looking down to see Spike having the same idea as he growled at the aggressor from afar.
“B-b-b-but I... I…” defeated, the pink haired girl slunk down to the floor.
Soon, two purple boots stamped forward.
“How dare you speak to her that way!” Shouted Twilight Sparkle, getting the aggressor’s attention.
“What did you say?”
Norman, one of the students, shimmied along the lockers as Twilight and the bully walked to each other.
“I said, ‘How dare you speak to her that way!’”
Both of them stared long and hard at each other until Gilda rose to her full height.
“Ugh,” She flicked Twilight's nose “please, all these lame guys are driving me buggy.”
Gilda walked down the hall before stopping and give Norman a look, scaring him to lock himself inside his own locker. Twilight still had an angered look as she turned a corner.
“I can't believe you did that!” Said Fluttershy as she rose up to her full height.
“I couldn't just stand there.”
“Well, it's just that very few ever stand up to Gilda.”
Twilight looked behind her again, “That was Gilda?”
“You've heard of her?”
“Sort of…”
“I don't think I've seen you around before.” Fluttershy cocked her head “Did you just transfer to Canterlot High from another school?”
“Yes! Another school!” Twilight then did a flailing motion with her arms “My name's Twilight.”
“I'm... Fluttershy.” She said in an almost inaudible tone.
Twilight placed a hand to her ear, “Sorry, what was that?”
“It's Fluttershy!” She squeaked as her eye picked up Spike sitting on the floor.
“It sounds like you're saying Fluttershy, but how can that...?”
“Oh, my goodness!” Immediately she pushed Twilight aside to be at the pup’s level “Who's this sweet little guy?”
“That's Spike!” Twilight chuckled “My, uh... dog!”
“Oh, he's so cute!” Fluttershy reached into her backpack and took out a dog biscuit “Go on, eat up, little pup!”
Because he ate mostly gemstones in his world, Spike was uncertain of the dog treat until he took a nibble before happily crunching it into a pulp.
“Oh, wouldn't ya just give anything to know what they're really thinking?” Fluttershy asked as she scratched the pup's ears.
“He usually just tells me.” Twilight said flat out.
Spike kept waving his paw across his neck as Fluttershy rose to her full height, “Oh, w-what do you mean?”
Spike quickly made a series of barks.
“Oh, uh, nothing!” Twilight chuckled, scratching the back of her head “Never mind. Sunset Shimmer said you picked something up. It wasn't a crown, was it?
“How did you know?” Asked Fluttershy
“Uh, lucky guess? Do you still have it?” -Fluttershy shook her head - “But you know what happened to it.”
The animal lover nodded before answering, “This morning, I was passing out flyers for the animal shelter like I do every Wednesday.”
One hour ago, Fluttershy was standing next to the statue, holding a stack of fliers on one arm, holding a copy with the other as her classmates walked by.
“Canterlot's animal shelter needs more volunteers. Won't you help an animal that can't help itself?” Fluttershy wobbled the paper to one student, who immediately turned it down, pushing it at her face. Admitting defeat, she let loose the stack of fliers, curled up by the statue and began to cry just when the crown flew out of the portal and whacked her in the head.
“I have no idea how it got there.” Fluttershy spoke in the present while rubbing Spike on the head “But I didn't want anything to happen to it, so I decided to give it to Principal Celestia.”
“‘Principal Celestia?’” Twilight, having mastered manipulating her fingers added a parenthesis “She's the ruler here?”
Fluttershy eyed the other way, trying to find a good answer, “You could say that. Technically, I guess she and Vice Principal Luna do make the rules.”
“Where is she now?”
“Probably in her office.” Twilight ran away from Fluttershy a good distance before screeching to a halt and jogging back “Third door on your left.”
“Thank you!”
“Oh, wait!” Fluttershy beckoned, stopping Twilight again “You're not really supposed to have pets on school grounds. Might wanna tuck him into your backpack.” She turned around while keeping an eye on her friend “That's what I do.”
With the bag slightly ajar, a kitten, a rabbit, and a parakeet pop out, making a series of cute noises.
“They just get so lonely when I'm in school all day.”
“Oh, okay!” Twilight waved her goodbye “Thank you!”
The five-minute bell rang, putting the caretaker on edge.
“Oh, no! I'm going to be late for class!” Zipping up the backpack, Fluttershy quickly made a mad dash down the halls to her class.
Following Fluttershy’s direction, Twilight entered the door labeled, “Alumni Office.” In front of her was another door with the labels, “Principal Celestia,” acting accordingly with a series of knocks.
“Come in.” - On command, Twilight pushed the door open with her head, entering so she appears lower than that of her mentor - “How may I help you?”
Twilight looked up to see the Principal apparently ignoring her as she looked at a student file. Placing her backpack on the floor, she approaches the desk.
“Um, uh... Whew.” - Celestia lowered the file, staring at Twilight before making a “Well?” gesture, snapping Twilight back to focus - “My name's Twilight Sparkle. I-I'm new here, and... Well, I understand that Fluttershy found a crown this morning and gave it to you.”
“Yes.” Celestia answered before standing up, closing the file before approaching the cabinet “I've had Vice Principal Luna put it somewhere for safekeeping. No idea how it ended up on the front lawn. Were you interested in running for Princess of the Fall Formal this year?”
“Uh, no. Not exactly.” - Twilight tried to come up with telling the truth, but in a different world, different beliefs may call her crazed - “The truth is... Well, the truth is I... You see, the crown is actually…” Twilight stopped to recall what the Principal just said “Princess of the Fall Formal?”
Principal Celestia marks a day from her calendar, “It's Canterlot High's big Fall dance.”
“Like the Grand Galloping Gala.”
“Uh,” Celestia turned around, raising a brow “Grand Galloping Gala?”
“Oh, uh, it was a” - Twilight noticed Spike peeking out of her bag before shoving his head back in - “big deal at my old school.”
“And was there a princess?” Celestia asked as she returned to the calendar.
“Yes, but she wasn't exactly a student.” Twilight looked to find a series of portraits of past winners, many Twilight did not recognize, though she could easily recognize Applejack (Fall Formal 2012), Sunset Shimmer (Spring Fling 2013), Rainbow Dash (Fall Formal 2013), and Rarity (Spring Fling 2014).
“Here at Canterlot High, the students from various grades select at least one of their peers to represent them. If a majority votes for one, she receives a crown.
Twilight wrapped her index finger around her chin, “You asked me if I was interested in running for Princess. Can anyone run?”
“Yes.” Celestia answered before walking back to her seat “You just need to let the head of the Fall Formal planning committee know you'd like to be on the ballot.” - Upon sitting down, she looked up at the new student, appearing exhausted - “Was there anything else?”
“Um, nope! That was it!” Twilight grabbed her backpack and walked out of the door before grasping the knob.
“Well, if you do need anything else, my door is always open.”
Not knowing the strength of her new body, Twilight slammed the door shut.
“Sorry!” she apologized before exiting the office.
Spike wriggled out of the backpack, “Twilight, why didn't ya just tell her the crown was yours and ask for it back?”
“Oh, I was going to, but imagine if one of them showed up in Equestria saying they came from a place filled with tall, fleshy, two-legged creatures with these?” - Micro Chips was passing by when he spotted Twilight flailing her arms and legs like mad before slowly backing away - “We'd think they were crazy!”
“You make a good point.” Spike confirmed while watching the startled student.
“Looks like if I want my crown back, I'll have to become Princess of the Canterlot High Fall Formal.” Twilight crouched down before swinging her body the other direction, raising her arms high in the air “So that's what I'm gonna do!”
Aside from the faint echo, there was no applause. Spike looked around the empty hall before asking, “And how exactly do you plan on doing that?”
“I have no idea!”
Just as Twilight’s stomach began to rumble, the school bell rang. This time, Twilight hugged the wall as dozens of students traversed the commons.