Rainbow left the two visitors from Equestria, if only for a moment. She returned in a swimsuit to find Berry glaring at Cherry.
"You can't claim to be the faster swimmer if you refuse to swim!"
"I can and I just did." Cherry huffed softly. "Besides, we're here to rescue Indie, not race."
Berry swayed a little. "We're going to meet all of Twilight's friends and they'll know what to do, in the meantime, are you afraid of being shown up in athletics as well as mechanics?"
"Ooo, she's calling you out." Rainbow grinned as she incited the competition. "You gonna accept that?"
"What in tarnation's goin' on here?" Another human had arrived, with a hat that reminded Cherry immediately of...
"Applejack?"
The human looked confused. "We met?" It was Applejack! "Rainbow, who are they and why are ya provokin' a fight?"
Rainbow looked ashamed. "I just wanted to see them swim."
Applejack approached the two with a raised brow. "With metal pants? You want them to swim in metal pants? Sugar, have you lost every bit of your sports-addled mind?"
Berry glanced down at the metal garment. "I've swum with metal legs before. They make for some dr--"
Applejack blinked at Berry. "Are ya defendin' her?! Come with me." She grabbed one arm each of the new students. "Ah ain't allowin' nobody in the pool like that."
She dragged both of the new students into the poolside locker room. "Now ah don't know what Rainbow done told ya, but here." She fished out new clothes from a metal box on the wall. "Put this on, then ya can swim all ya want."
Cherry accepted the article even as she looked Applejack over. Though not a pony, it was hard to miss how the two were related. "Applejack? We're friends of Twilight."
"Huh? Really? Ya from that snooty school?" She pointed one of her fingers. "You don't seem the type ta be honest."
Berry shed her clothes without a trace of shame and began getting into the swimsuit. "Princess Twilight Sparkle."
"Oh!" Applejack perked right up. "Shoot, you two from Equestria?"
Cherry nodded even as she changed with equal lack of shame. It's hard to understand nakedness at times when one usually was. "We're looking for a friend of ours, Indie. He's, uh..." What did he look like as a human? "He has to be around here..."
Applejack nodded to the two before glaring across to Rainbow Dash standing there awkwardly. "Why were you settin' them up fer a race instead of looking fer their friend?"
Rainbow gestured at the two of them. "They're not ponies like Twilight. They're, like, mer-ponies." Her eyes widened as she said the last word. "Come on! Don't you want to see them?"
Applejack cocked a brow before looking between the two of them. "The way ah see it, we could do that, or we could find their friend."
"Fine!" Rainbow sighed dramatically. "Let's find their friend, then maybe they can show us before they go back? I mean, I haven't seen any doubles of them around here, so they should be cool, right?"
"Right." Applejack rolled her eyes as she turned to the main building of the school. "Ah heard Twilight being called to the principal's office. Ya think that has anythin' to do with it?"
"She was?" Rainbow peered in the direction of the office. "That egghead? She probably got an award in something."
"Maybe. Let's find out one way or the other."
Cherry glanced between her friends, new and old. "Should we change back?"
Applejack put a hand to her face. "Yes. Why are ya wearing metal pants anyway?"
Rather than strip and get re-dressed, Berry slipped her original clothes on over her swimming outfit. "They were here when we came. We didn't even have back legs where we came from."
Cherry bobbed her head as she followed suit, putting on her old clothes over her new. "We had a tail, and now we don't. Do none of you have tails? How do you avoid falling over?"
Rainbow smirked at that. "We manage somehow. Alright, everyone dressed? Good, let's find an egghead and maybe your friend while we're at it."
With a communal call to battle, they marched off in pursuit of Twilight.
Applejack raised a brow at Twilight. "Ya sent them through there?" She inclined her head towards the glowing portal. "Why didn't you go?"
Rarity snorted at the question. "For one, Applejack dear, she is a princess. She shouldn't be galavanting off to other worlds on a whim."
Applejack rolled a hoof. "Correct me if ah'm wrong, but ain't Cherry technically a princess-like herself? Ah mean, she is the daughter of the 'Master of the Waves' an' whatnot. Don't that make her one?"
Twilight gulped loudly as she glanced at the portal. "I shouldn't be in Canterlot High while my double's there. I didn't want any of them there, but there was just enough energy to turn it on long enough for Indigo to fall in." She sat down and clopped her forehooves together nervously. "I didn't mean to... Ohhh, this is bad..."
Fluttershy smiled gently. "We should have faith in them." Twilight looked at her a little incredulously. "I mean... they're good friends, and they did alright here, which was just as strange for them, right?"
Rainbow nodded. "I bet they're already finding something to put together or break apart and having a great time."
Twilight gave a nervous laugh. "Well, I hope they aren't doing that... but maybe you're right... Let's--"
Rarity was close to the portal, peering into its swirling depths. "Why don't we go through and lend a hoof?"
Twilight's magic flared to life as she pulled Rarity away from the open aperture to the other world. "Not so fast! We all have doubles in there that we shouldn't be meeting."
Rainbow snorted softly. "What's the worst that could happen?"
Twilight's eyes half-lid as her voice went low and even. "Complete and total integration of realities ending in mutual annihilation."
"Oh my..."
Twilight nodded. "So let's not do that."
The human Twilight looked at the strange person before her with metal pants. "So..."
"I'm Indigo, but you can call me Indie."
"Nice to meet you, Indigo..." She glanced away, then at the secretary. "So what am I supposed to do?"
"You're to let him accompany you to class for the remainder of the day. He'll have a schedule tomorrow."
She opened her mouth to object, but changed her mind on seeing how nervous he was. "Alright, come on, Indie. Let me show you around." She led him out into the hallway. "Where are you from again?"
Did Twilight count as a friend of Twilight? "Um, do you... know the other Twilight?"
The human Twilight's eyes widened. "You're from there?!" She spun on him suddenly and pushed him up against a locker. "I have a thousand questions and you hold at least half the answers." A strange giggle escaped from her. "Come with me." She pulled the scared boy away, making haste down the hallway. She took a left just before Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and the others came down the hallway.
Berry looked around with obvious curiosity. "You built all of this?"
Rainbow shrugged softly. "It was built before we got here."
Cherry reached up towards the lights but couldn't quite reach. "Not you specifically, more like 'humans' you?"
Applejack let out a nervous little laugh. "Let's keep chatter about 'humans' down low, alright?" She grabbed the knob and opened the door to the principal's office. "Excuse me..."
The secretary looked up at Applejack. "Yes?" It was proving to be a 'busy' day, her least favorite kind. "How can I help you?"
Applejack glanced around as the others filled in behind her. There was no Twilight in sight. "Did Twilight already leave?"
She pointed back into the hallway.
"Right, we'll be moseyin' on then." She tipped her hat and everyone began to shuffle out.
In the returned quiet, the secretary let out a sigh of relief just before a voice issued from the intercom, "How long has it been since a magical meltdown of some kind?"
She reached forward and pressed the reply, "At least three months, ma'am."
"Very good."
Twilight's giggles grew worse as she led her newest subject along. "You don't mind if I examine you, do you?"
"Um..."
"Good! What was your name again, Indiana?"
"In--"
"Nice to meet you! Now, what do you know about science?"
The strange... female thing was really making him nervous. He decided it was time to stop letting her pull him along and planted his hind-legs into the ground. "Tell me where we're going."
She blinked at him with obvious surprise before she smiled widely. "Oh, where are my manners? I just want to examine you. It will be completely harmless, I assure, and you'll be advancing the causes of science for just a little time." She held up two floppy claws close together. "You can afford that, right?"
Indie had a hard time denying females, especially pushy ones. She seemed reasonable, as far as he could tell. "You just need to look?"
"Exactly! Just looking. It shouldn't take very long at all." She looked him over from head to feet. "Could you describe your native configuration?" She saw him giving her a glazed look and sighed softly. "Tell me what you looked like, before you came here."
"Oh! Well I had fur, for one, and a nice big tail."
"So you were a pony, like Twilight?" She raised a brow and began pulling him along again, rushing to get him to wherever she wanted to get her testing done. "Were you large, small?"
"I wasn't exactly a pony, not like Twilight." He hustled to keep up with her as she rushed. "I'm a seapony. I have, uh, had, two legs." He wriggled the odd floppy claw things. "Are these even legs?" He was starting to doubt they were legs at all. "We come from the sea."
"Fascinating!" Twilight looked so excited. "You simply must tell me about your living conditions. I wonder what translated over or not..." Her eyes fell to his metallic pants. "Did you get those here?"
He glanced down at where she was looking and saw nothing but his clothing. "Did I get what?"
She reached out and pulled the belt-line of his pants. "These."
"Oh, yes!"
She made a soft noise of curiosity as she pushed open a door into darkness and flicked on the light. They had arrived in a science room, and Twilight was ready to apply science liberally to the situation.