7. Transitions, part one
“Rainbow Dash, I’ve made my decision,” Twilight struggled to say over her hard breathing. She perched on a cloud, resting her weary wings. It had been a vigorous workout.
The pegasus hovered in front of her, defiantly crossing her forelimbs. “But they’ll stick their muzzles where they don’t belong!”
This was getting irritating. Celestia had been easier to persuade, and Rainbow Dash wouldn’t dare question her decisions. Twilight was tempted to play the princess card, but that would have been counterproductive; the Element of Loyalty needed to be onboard. Some concessions could be made. “I don’t have a problem setting some boundaries.”
“They know too much about us already.”
“I know; I was there, remember? Really, Dash, did you ever consider that a future episode of that cartoon might reveal all about Scootaloo?”
The pegasus silently glared at her. Maybe that wasn’t the best approach.
“Regardless, it’s not their fault. Don’t take it out on them. I’ve made my peace with it, and you should too. The others don’t have a problem with it.”
Rainbow Dash smirked. “You turned your parents into potted plants.”
Twilight recoiled in shock. “I never told—”
“It was in that cartoon,” Rainbow Dash said, interrupting, “the one the Crusaders saw the beginning of.”
Great. So the humans do know. The alicorn sighed as she walked over to the cloud’s edge and looked down at the orchards north of Ponyville. “It doesn’t change anything.”
She looked back at Rainbow Dash. “No, it supports my case,” she said with growing conviction. “They don’t even need to come here; Scootaloo went to them. Nothing stopped Meg from asking Scootaloo herself—” she paused for effect “—and she didn’t.”
Silence.
Twilight resumed gazing at the ground below. “Not that those three should have gone there in the first place. I still don’t understand why they didn’t fall to their deaths over some random spot in that realm.”
Rainbow Dash cringed. The Crusaders didn’t know how to use the pills; that should have been the inevitable result. “Fine. You made your point.”
Twilight had debriefed them, of course. At the farm, Apple Bloom had first overheard Rainbow Dash telling Applejack about that airplane. All three of them then did their best to overhear careless mentions, and eventually they thought they had it all figured out. They waited until Twilight went to Canterlot before making their move. Rainbow Dash had noticed the scooter and wagon in front of the castle and investigated. The pill dispenser was now magically protected, as it ought to have been in hindsight.
Twilight turned around and walked back to the pegasus, who was still hovering above the cloud. It was now or never. “I need to use the Element of Magic to properly turn them into ponies, and I can’t do that without you.”
“Huh? Why? You turned us all into breezies by yourself just fine!”
That was the only time, up till now, that Twilight had used the inter-species isomorphic mapping spell. “Humans aren’t magical,” she explained. “Turning them into ponies doesn’t by itself give them magic. I need the Elements to make them magical.” Research was one of the reasons she had gone to Canterlot that day. The spell required alicorn-level magic, which meant only an experienced alicorn could offer advice on its use.
“Okay, whatever,” Rainbow Dash said unenthusiastically. “Better than using our Rainbow Powers to remodel your castle.”
Really, Rainbow Dash? Her new castle was, after all, an offshoot of the Tree of Harmony. Ordinary construction techniques weren’t particularly effective on it. Granted, it wasn’t as “awesome” as defeating archvillains, but Rarity certainly enjoyed herself.
Putting her annoyance aside, Twilight dropped the other horseshoe. “You’ll also need to guide them if either of them turns out to be a pegasus.”
“Fine.”
Rainbow Dash drifted over to the edge of the cloud closest to Ponyville, signaling the end of the rest period. “At least I’d be able to keep a close eye on them.”
“That’s the idea,” Twilight said, as she went airborne. She flew as fast as she could back to Ponyville. Rainbow Dash effortlessly flew by her side.
Twilight took her usual set of measurements around the Pinkie Pie doll. The magic flow was a little bit worse than the day before, as was always the case. A monitoring regime had been set up at The Mirror as well, with daily reports being sent to her. It told the same tale of a slowly growing magic-free zone. They had two months, tops, before that zone encompassed the Crystal Heart.
She returned the equipment to a saddlebag. There was one task left to do before leaving, but it had to wait until the humans were back home. She passed the time by browsing books at random.
It was an hour later that she heard the front door open. She put back the book she was reading and faced the door, assuming the royal posture, wings flared, waiting for them to check if she was there. The alicorn princess did not have to wait long.
The two humans entered the room but then stopped, speechless, processing what they saw. Meg spoke first. “You’re wearing your crown.”
More than just her crown, Twilight was wearing her full regalia. It had seemed appropriate. She gave them a warm smile. “Today, I am here as a Royal Princess of Equestria. Under the authority given to me by Princess Celestia, I hereby grant you passage to Equestria as my guest.”
“R-right now?” stuttered Meg.
Twilight giggled. “Not right this second, no. I was thinking this weekend, bright and early Saturday morning.” And there were several matters to discuss first.
Steve walked over to the desk, put down his notebook computer and plugged something into it. He said, cautiously, “Any strings or conditions we should be aware of?”
Nope, no morons here. Let’s get this over with. “Yes,” she admitted. “First, you cannot mention the cartoon to anypony who isn’t already aware of it. I think you can understand why it’s a sensitive subject for us.”
“How could I forget your first reaction?” he facetiously said, as he walked back to join his wife.
“Uh, yes, exactly.”
Meg got down on her knees, to bring her eyes closer to the alicorn’s. “We’d like to make a request,” she tentatively said. “It’s not a condition or anything, but it would make this visit a lot more meaningful to us, and it might even make things easier for you.”
Given that Twilight was going to ask them to become ponies, it seemed only fair to keep an open mind. “I’ll grant any reasonable request.”
“Well… I don’t know if it’s reasonable, but…” Meg worked up the nerve to say it. “Could you turn us into ponies?”
Wait. How did they even know I could turn—that cartoon, obviously. Regardless, it sure made things easier.
Twilight refocused her eyes on Meg. “Believe it or not, that was the second condition—at least if you want to go out in public. You see, we haven’t announced the existence of your realm or of your species to Equestria, nor do we currently have any plans to do so.
“And that leads to the third and final condition: you cannot tell anypony about the existence of humans or of this realm.”
Meg got back on her feet.
After some thought, Steve said, “The last two are connected to the first, aren’t they.”
“It does… complicate matters.”
He put an arm round his wife. As they looked into each other’s eyes, they broke out in a smile. “We accept those conditions,” he said.
Twilight was pleased how smoothly that went. There were just a few more details to take care of. “I’d like you to stay overnight in one of my guest rooms. It would help you acclimate to being a pony by getting a good night sleep as one.”
“You mean, in your castle?” asked Meg.
“That’s right!”
Steve walked backed to the desk and picked up his laptop computer. “May I bring this along? I have no idea if it would work over there, but it would be useful if it does.”
Twilight had to suppress a squee. I’d very much like to know if it would work too. “You may take it with you,” she composedly said.
She noticed it was plugged into an outlet in the wall. An unused outlet right below it looked like a standard Equestrian power outlet. What’s one more huge coincidence? she cynically thought. “Those power outlets,” she said, pointing a hoof in their direction. “They wouldn’t happen to provide 120 volt alternating current at 60 hertz?”
Stunned silence.
“I don’t know which shocks me more,” Steve said, “the fact Equestria chose the same way to distribute electricity, or that you use the exact same terminology to describe it.”
Twilight sighed, shaking her head. “Tell me about it,” she droned, “in a language we happen to share.”
“Uh, yeah, good point. Changing the subject… do we get to choose what type of pony we become?”
She shook her head. “No, that’s not how it works,” she explained. “You’ll become what you would have been if you were conceived and born a pony. You don’t even get a choice of mane color.”
Twilight lifted off the floor, in preparation for using the return spell. It was easier to click her rear hooves when she wasn’t standing on them. “Anyway, I need to get going so I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Wait,” said Meg. Twilight paused. “Rainbow Dash didn’t leave on the best of terms with me because of a question I asked her. Is that going to be a problem?”
“About Scootaloo?” asked Twilight. Meg nodded. “Don’t worry about it; you pushed one of her buttons, unfortunately, that’s all. I’ve already talked to her about it. Just don’t bring it up again.”
“No problem.”
It shouldn’t be a problem. And with that, Twilight returned home. She wasted no time in taking off her regalia.
Bright and early Saturday morning, everypony had gathered in the throne room. Even Rainbow Dash managed to be there on time.
Discord was also present, at Twilight’s request. His magic would be put to use, and not just to ensure nothing bad happened to the humans if she screwed up somehow.
Twilight was also curious how he would interact with the humans. Fluttershy felt he was quite eager to meet them, undoubtably because his sense of humor, as they all recently learned, used human culture as inspiration. There hadn’t been the chance to inform Meg and Steve that he’d be here, as it was just arranged, but they knew about Tirek so they ought to know about Discord and his current status in Equestria.
At the appointed time, Twilight hopped off her throne onto the floor and trotted out of the circle of thrones. Discord followed her, having turned into a pretentious maître d’ holding a silver plate, upon which was a strangely out of place plaid pill and an exquisite crystal goblet full of water. Once Twilight stopped, he bowed, lowering the plate. While the water was a nice gesture, it wasn’t needed. She took the pill and swallowed it.
She found the humans anxiously waiting for her arrival, both wearing… the human version of saddlebags, she guessed, on their backs. Presumably one of them held that computer. First up was an explanation of what was about to happen.
“I’ll be grabbing you with my magic, so that you’ll be pulled into Equestria with me. You might feel a slight tingling sensation or brief disorientation. The transition is sudden; it might be easier if you closed your eyes.”
Twilight flapped her wings and approached the humans as she began concentrating. A lavender glow emanated from her horn, encompassing both humans, magically binding them to her. As she clicked her rear hooves three times and thought there’s no place like home, she could not help noticing that they both kept their eyes open.
They were in her throne room. All thrones except hers were occupied, with Discord standing off to one side. Twilight released the humans and took her throne, the one with her cutie mark. “Welcome to my home!” she proclaimed.
The humans took in their new surroundings, slowly turning about. They paid extra attention to the two ponies they had yet to meet, Fluttershy and Rarity—and then their eyes fell on Discord. The draconequus, smiling, meekly waved his lion paw at them. It was almost cute.
“We’re really here, in your throne room, just outside Ponyville,” said Meg, not quite believing her eyes.
Pinkie Pie bounced on her throne. “Yupperoni!” she chirped.
Rarity was giving the humans a good once-over, probably with the intention of getting into human fashions, or so Twilight was willing to bet, while Fluttershy… The poor mare couldn’t seem to decide if they were animals to embrace or ponies to hide from. At least that decision was about to become much easier.
Applejack was the next to speak. “Before we go any further, I’d just like to apologize for my little sis. Apple Bloom had no business crossin’ over like that, and Ah appreciate how ya handled it. I’m sure Ah speak for the others as well.”
“Indeed,” confirmed Rarity.
“What they did wasn’t cool,” Rainbow Dash hastily added.
“That’s okay,” Meg assured them. “They are welcome to come over anytime—with adult supervision, of course.” Looking upwards at nothing in particular, she then muttered, “I just hope my niece can keep a secret.” As incentive, Twilight agreed to meet her the next time she came over.
Discord decided this was the time for him to make his introductions, causally floating over to the humans. This should be interesting, Twilight thought. Neither of them flinched or backed away, confirming Twilight’s suspicions; they just stood there wondering what the Spirit of Chaos was about to do. Join the club.
The draconequus drifted to a halt in front of the humans and began to speak, paw and talon clasped in excitement. “I am thrilled to finally meet representatives of humanity. May you find Equestria to be everything you hope it to be.”
Discord gazed at the enthroned ponies. “Your presence will certainly make this a less boooring place.” He pulled a bouquet of brown stems out of nowhere and handed them to Meg. “May our friendship blossom”—the stems turned green and roses blossomed—”over the many years to come,” he said.
“Thanks… I guess,” she said, as she hesitantly accepted the roses. “I must confess I didn’t expect you to be here.”
Twilight rolled her eyes. What was that all about? Was he planning something to keep things “interesting?” Did he just wink at her? Still, she couldn’t really complain. It was infinitely preferable to having the old Discord around. Anyway, the humans knew what he was and what to expect from him and they weren’t idiots.
“Of course you didn’t expect me!” he smirked as he drifted away. “What kind of a Spirit of Chaos would I be if I only appeared when expected?”
Let’s get back on track here. “I’m sure you’re eager to leave this castle,” Twilight said, “so let’s get started on your transformations.” Meg and Steve turned their attention back to the alicorn.
“If there’s anything in your clothing you want access to, please take it out and put it aside. Your clothes will go away as part of the transformation, but you’ll get them back when you become human again.”
Looking at the assembled, naked ponies, Steve said, “Yeah, when in Rome… not as if they’d fit anyway.”
Twilight continued explaining. “Normally I could do the transformation by myself, but because you are not magical creatures, I shall need to use the Elements of Harmony to couple you to the magical field.”
“I imagine it’d be no fun being a pony without magic,” said Steve.
“You got that right,” said Rainbow Dash.
“That is why we are all here,” added Rarity.
While that exchange was going on, Twilight started having second thoughts. Did the humans really know what they were getting themselves into? Yes, they knew all about her realm, but that’s not the same as being a part of it. She needed to make it absolutely clear.
“Please pay attention,” she said. She waited until she had it. “Once you are coupled to the magical field, you shall acquire a destiny like any other pony. Do not take this lightly.”
“Just look at us,” added Applejack with deadly seriousness.
“Not that we would have it any other way,” said Rarity with total conviction.
“Will you be happy having a destiny?” asked Pinkie Pie with intent quizzicalness.
There was silence.
Steve asked, “We will get cutie marks?”
The enthroned ponies nodded their heads.
“But not when we’re return to human form, correct?”
“No, without magic there can be no cutie mark,” Twilight answered. “Destiny can work in mysterious ways, nonetheless.” She added, uncertainly, “Perhaps it already has.”
Twilight closed her eyes and focused. No longer did they need the gems embodying the Elements of Harmony; they were the embodiment of the Elements. That was the gift bestowed upon them by the Tree of Harmony, after they had unlocked its chest with their hard-earned keys. She reached towards the Element of Magic within her and awakened it, triggering their transformation into their Rainbow Power forms.
Now one with her Element, Twilight perceived the harmonies and disharmonies around her. The castle was full of harmony, not surprising given its origin. Discord… was a work in progress. The Spirit of Chaos will never be harmonious, but chaos and harmony are like light and dark, or hot and cold; one cannot exist without the other, and that in itself forms an even deeper harmony—or chaos, depending on your point of view—one that Discord has finally begun to appreciate, and that appreciation is one of the things that makes their friendship possible.
Turning her attention to the two humans, she sensed… nothing. They were in this realm but not part of it, not in harmony nor in disharmony; they just… are. It was time to change that.
She opened her eyes. The humans were staring at her extra colorful form with open mouths. There was no substitute for seeing it with your own eyes, she guessed. “I have some experience with destiny, as you can see,” she smiled, slightly. “You can still back out.” Was she being overly melodramatic? Their destinies could be quite pedestrian, after all. Oh yeah? Then why were they here.
Meg said, forcing it out, “Do me first.”
As you wish, the alicorn sighed to herself. “Stand on the central star.”
Meg complied. The ponies levitated from their thrones to form a radiant sphere above her. From the sphere emitted streams of color converging on the human, engulfing her. She became hidden by the glow.
This part was relatively easy. Twilight had turned herself and her friends into breezies and back again all by herself. Now that Meg was magically charged, she could impose an isomorphic mapping from human to pony and did so. The glowing region morphed from vaguely human to vaguely pony. The exact form she had taken was for now hidden from view.
Now came the challenging part. Meg was a pony without magic, disturbingly disharmonious. Twilight wouldn’t wish that on anypony. Breezies were magical; the coupling adjusted automatically to the change in species (though in her case she retained her alicorn magic, as it was not tied to her species). Here she had to create a coupling where none had ever existed. The Element of Magic needed the other Elements, together in harmony, to do this.
It was done; harmony replaced disharmony. Neither had Discord intervened, another good sign. Twilight broke the sphere and all six returned to the floor surrounding a pegasus where once a human stood.
Twilight examined her work. Meg’s coat was orchid colored, her mane was medium violet red, and her eyes turquoise. Her mane and tail were long and full-bodied, with bangs not unlike her human hair style. Interestingly enough, her new pony face had a strong resemblance to her original human face. She also had a blank flank.
Meg was just standing there as if she was still waiting to be transformed. Given the nature of spell, she probably was, in fact, as yet unaware anything had changed. Before Twilight could ask her how she was feeling, her husband got down on his knees in front of her, startling her.
Steve looked into his wife’s now pony eyes. “You really are a pony, so colorful, so cute. Is your voice the same? Say something!”
She didn’t answer immediately, as she processed the fact she had, in fact, changed. “You’re so big now!” she giggled.
Her voice seemed the same to Twilight. “Do you feel okay?” she asked her.
Meg’s ear swiveled towards Twilight, and she looked into the alicorn’s. “And you don’t look so small anymore,” she observed. “I’m fine. I feel completely normal, like I was born this way.” She flared her wings. “I’m a pegasus!” she shouted, as if just realizing it.
Twilight was starting to feel relieved, but she wasn’t there quite yet. “Let’s see if you have pegasus magic. Will you do the honors, Rainbow Dash?”
“On it.” She hoped off her throne and walked in front of Meg, as Steve hurriedly got out of the way. “We’ll start by introducing you to your wings. I’m going to go through all the muscles controlling my wings and I want you to mimic me. You already know how to use these muscles, you just don’t know it yet.”
Twilight had previously worked with Rainbow Dash on this brief tutorial in the advent one of them was a pegasus; likewise, she helped Applejack come up with a quick tutorial for a new earth pony; naturally, she herself would handle a new unicorn.
It only took a minute to go through all the motions. Meg had no problem instantly repeating everything she saw Rainbow Dash do. That was just as expected; as she had adult level control over her human form, so should she have over her new pegasus form.
Rainbow Dash was ready to move on to the next phase. “Now we’ll do flapping.” The cyan pegasus began flapping as if hovering, but remained on the floor. “Don’t try to consciously control each individual flap, just the overall pattern. Just like you don’t consciously control the movement of each individual leg when you walk—uh, assuming it works that way for humans too.”
“It does,” Meg confirmed, as she tried to copy the flapping pattern she was seeing.
But it was proving a bit difficult for her to stop directly controlling her wing muscles. Twilight could sympathize. That was a stumbling block she also encountered in her own efforts to master flight. The fact that Meg acquired wings via an isomorphic mapping should make it easier, however, and indeed she soon figured out how to replicate Rainbow’s flapping pattern. Like her tutor, she was still stuck to the floor.
“Now let go of the floor.” Rainbow Dash gently lifted a few feet then hovered.
Now we see if she has magic. But Twilight couldn’t help noticing that Meg still had no cutie mark. It was virtually unheard of for an adult pony to lack one, but then Meg was not a typical adult pony. If it didn’t appear soon, it could lead to awkward questions once they went into town. How ironic, after making such a big deal about it.
“I don’t understand,” Meg said. In her confusion she had stopped flapping. “I’m not ‘holding’ the floor; I’m just standing.”
“You’re as bad as Twilight,” Dash said in exasperation. Twilight didn’t appreciate that, even if she couldn’t deny it was true. “Don’t think about it; just do it.”
Meg silently pondered that for a few seconds before replying. “Gravity is what’s holding me down, so what am I supposed to do, just ignore it?”
Without waiting for an answer, she resumed flapping and this time she started to rise. “Look at me, I’m actually flying!” she squeed.
She has pegasus magic, check.
“Now we’re going to land.” Rainbow Dash altered the beating of her wings and slowly descended to the floor. Meg did the same, though nowhere near as gracefully.
“Really, you did good for a first effort. It takes lots of practice to be as awesome as me! You shoulda seen Twilight’s first attempts at flight.”
“We did, actually.”
That struck a nerve. “Oh, right, those cartoons,” Rainbow Dash scowled. Twilight glared at her. “I know, Twilight…”
Meg looked around her wing to see her flank. “What about my cutie mark? When will it appear?”
Good question. Twilight had been speculating about possible reasons for the delay. “Most likely your destinies are linked, so Steve must become a pony first.”
Twilight briefly glanced over at the draconequus by the wall. Discord was reclining in a chair that wasn’t there before, munching on popcorn. Nice to know we’re not boring you. Then she noticed Pinkie was munching on popcorn too. Sigh…
“I’m ready; let’s do it.” Steve got up and walked onto the central star as everypony else got out of his way.
They repeated the process with Steve. He became a light brown unicorn with a deep blue mane and tail, and teal eyes. The Elements returned to the floor and reverted to their normal, less colorful forms.
Twilight inspected Steve. “And how do you feel?”
“Did I change?” He looked at himself. “I guess so. Definitely not a pegasus. And a blank flank.” He faced Twilight again. “To answer your question, I feel fine.”
Meg approached him, a big grin on her face. “You look good as a unicorn, too.”
“A unicorn, am I?” He reached up with a hoof to gently touch his horn. “Indeed I am. I actually felt that.”
Twilight bore an anticipatory smile as she got in front of him. “You remember our discussion on how magic works?”
“I do, and I bet you’re about to give me a test.”
Twilight lit up her horn, turning it into a source of light. “Try to do that.”
“And I’ve never been so happy to take a test in my life.” He closed his eyes and tried to will his horn to do the same. Nothing happened at first, but after a few seconds something fell into place and it lit up.
He has unicorn magic, check. “You pass,” she congratulated. “For extra credit, now do this.” She extinguished her horn.
He extinguished his own horn immediately.
“You should give priority to mastering telekinesis. Like Meg and her wings, it’s a matter of you not knowing you already know how to do it. I’ll then help you with casting other spells.”
Twilight addressed Discord. “I take it everything went smoothly as far as you could tell?” He and his chair vanished, then he reappeared in front of Twilight.
“I couldn’t have done it better myself,” he mumbled with a mouth full of popcorn. “By the way, take a look.” He pointed to the just-appeared cutie marks.
“Now what in tarnation is that! Ah never seen anythin’ like it before.”
Meg’s cutie mark was two intersecting circles, with a star in the common area.
“Nor I that.” Rarity pointed at Steve’s cutie mark, which was a grid with ripples emanating from its center.
“Could it be related to your special talents?” suggested Fluttershy, curiosity defeating her shyness.
“I have no idea what mine means,” said Meg, staring at her cutie mark.
Twilight walked around the two new ponies, contemplating their cutie marks. She found it quite bizarre Meg had no idea what hers meant, but again they did not acquire cutie marks the way ponies typically did, by discovering their special talent or purpose while still a foal.
Steve, on the other hoof, had no such doubts. “Mine reminds me of my talent as a researcher into gravity waves. It’s a gravitational wave rippling through the fabric of the space-time continuum.”
“Didn’t understand a word you said,” complained Applejack. “Gravity has waves?”
“Well, in my world. Theoretically. Don’t know about yours.”
Steve walked over to his strange, human saddlebag. Twilight noted with satisfaction that he seemed unaware he was walking as a quadruped; he simply did it as if he always had. He reached out to it with his hoof, then stopped.
Presumably he wants to open it. What will he do?
He put his hoof back down and his horn began to glow teal. Good. The zipper began to glow also, but instead of it opening he only succeeded in pulling the entire saddlebag.
Lacks sufficient control, not surprisingly.
He tried a few more times, but eventually gave up. “Twilight, could you help?” he sighed. “I’m already missing my hands.”
“I understand,” she said as she walked over. “I found it hard to adjust to having hands instead of magic when I became human.” After effortlessly unzipping it, she noticed the laptop inside and pulled that out, and for good measure opened the lid. The screen lit up. It works! She kept her excitement to herself. “You’ll get used to using your horn soon enough. At least your computer seems to work here.”
He put a hoof on the trackpad, making sure the fleshy frog part made contact, and moved it around. The cursor followed his movements. “That says much about the commonality of physics between our two worlds, even if there are also great differences.”
Indeed it does; fascinating! Twilight’s eyes were glued to the keyboard and screen.
He tried to type. It was possible to hit the correct key, but only with great difficulty. He wasn’t used to using hooves to hit something so small. “The ergonomics suck for ponies. Be nice if we could come up with an external, pony friendly keyboard.”
Twilight looked away from the computer to offer him encouragement. “Give it some practice and you’ll be able to type, but it will be even easier with telekinesis.”
He closed the lid. “Should conserve the battery until I can find a place to plug it in.”
Twilight considered what a pony-friendly computer keyboard would look like. Ponies had typewriters, of course, but they had only two large circular keys plus a space bar. It required a skill few ponies bothered to master: a pony needed to clearly think of the letter to type as she hits the key, the correct mechanical linkage being selected by magic emanating from the hoof. But there’s no mechanical linkage between an external keyboard and a computer, if she correctly recalled, so how could that work?
There was so much she didn’t know about their science and technology, and Twilight didn’t like not knowing. That it was evidently applicable here in her own realm only made it worse—much worse.
Now seemed as good a time as any for Discord to play his part. Twilight gave the prearranged signal. “Ready to visit Ponyville?” she asked the former humans.
Discord didn’t give them a chance to answer. “Before you go, I have some gifts for you,” he said, as a padded red suit with white trim, a red pointy hat, and a large white beard and mustache suddenly appeared on him, and in his eagle talon appeared a large, red, full bag with white trim.
What in Equestria is that supposed to be, Twilight wondered. The gifts might have been prearranged, but not the means by which they were to be delivered.
He reached into the bag and pulled out a wrapped present, levitating it over to Meg, then immediately pulled out another and levitated that one over to Steve. The presents unwrapped themselves in front of their eyes, revealing saddlebags already adorned with their respective cutie marks. The saddlebags then floated above the new ponies and came to a rest on their backs.
“Thanks,” said Meg. “Uh… Santa?”
They know what he’s supposed to be, as Twilight had suspected.
Discord smiled at the recognition. “I have one more gift.” He pulled another wrapped present out of the bag. It was way too long to fit, but out of the bag it came nonetheless. Once out, the bag looked just as full as ever. This present also floated over to the two former humans and unwrapped itself, but this time revealing empty space. “You will now change between human and pony when you cross between realms.” He bowed, then vanished in a poof of snowflakes.
That was what Twilight really wanted. It made things far more convenient. The Elements only needed to be used once. Their coupling to the magical field would be “remembered” when they became ponies again. The saddlebags were still a nice touch, though.
Meg managed to be a bit disappointed. “I wouldn’t mind showing these off back home,” she said as she flexed her wings.
Pinkie Pie was before her, muzzle to muzzle, glaring at her.
“Sorry, I take that back!” Meg hurriedly said.
The apology was immediately accepted. “Okie dokie lokie! I’m going back to organize a welcome-to-Equestria-and-becoming-ponies party for you. La, la la la, la la…” she sang as she happily pranced out of the throne room.
“I didn’t even see her move!”
Obviously, Twilight thought, seeing it in a cartoon and experiencing it in real life are two different things.
Everypony else looked at Meg sympathetically.
Twilight merely said, “Welcome to my world.”
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Hmmm... I thought you said they were aware of the darker aspects of the fandom? It seems odd that they were so willing to transform into ponies, though not impossible.
Overall, a minor complaint about an excellent chapter. While not too much actually happened action- wise, this obviously sets the stage for more of the plot. It feels like a smooth transition, and I gotta say, you did a good job with this.
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Yes, they are aware, but that doesn’t mean they believe it to be “real.” First, the TV show most accurately describes Equestria. As for fanon, the key word was “consensus.” Fanon stories, for the most part, are all over the map. It is impossible for them to be all “real” because they contradict each other. The Lyra of Background Pony cannot be the Lyra of Anthropology. The dark stories have a way of contradicting everything else, since by definition awful things happen to canon characters that don’t happen to them in not-dark stories—or the TV show.
The way you deflected talking about scootaloo was brilliant.
5492378 It's bad writing for characters to be telling each other what they know the other already knows just so that the reader will also know
As you know, writing people in equestria is a very delicate thing. I'm sure you will do well and I can't wait to see what happens.
5496583 Next Friday, you'll find out with Transitions, part two. There is a reason this is a two parter, one that shall become obvious with the first sentence.
Hmm. Well, she's a programmer, so maybe her cutie mark represents the unification of concept/thought (programming and planning) and reality/action (the actual machines running the code to accomplish tasks)?
Just an idea.
Yanno, my comment on "forced" I think comes from the fact that Meg and Steve are kinda... bland. There's not much character development going on with them, not much viewing into their heads or motivations, really. I get they're kinda just placeholders for us crazier fans who actually would like to do these kinds of things (I admit I'm screwed in the head, okay?), but even so it would be nicer if they had more character, more development, rather than being empty shells like they kinda seem now. The whole "forced" aspect is really a matter of I'm just not feeling that their actions are sensible. Then I realized I don't really get their characters, because they have had very little of it so far to show us. It's hard to judge how a scene should go when I don't really have an idea who these people are.
Which seems odd. You've done some good characterization with the ponies, Twilight and Dash especially, but touching on the others as well. I do like the whole fact that they're really freaked out about the cartoon—part of me is going "but we just wanna be friends!" and the other part is going "yeah but think about how freaked out YOU'D be if large, embarrassing portions of your life were on public display for millions"—and reacting accordingly. Yet the two main human characters who seem like they should be the protagonists, or at least amongst them, are just... empty. Blank. Boring. Their actions and thoughts seem artificial, like they're being read from a script, rather than organic results of their internal thought processes.
I dunno. Just saying, it's mainly what's bugging me about the story. Also very different from how I write my own stories so maybe that's it. ...What, you don't emulate your characters in your head?
*Sigh* "Not everyone is crazy like you."
"Well maybe they should! Honestly, you're as bad as the flower trio sometimes, only less hysterical and more like Pinkie Pie."
"...Eh-heh. I guess I am starting to rant a bit, aren't I?"
"Well, it's certainly nice to be appreciated! Thank you."
No one asked, you, Twilight.
Why do I get the feeling that you're about to go Marvin on me?
A bit. But that's okay, you are "the only sane mare" in Ponyville, so it's kind of your thing to try and be sensible while the rest of us kind be nuts.
You're welcome.
See? Ya gotta be the characters. Although I'll admit there can be problems—
"I'm not one for profanity, but... I second the sentiment. What you're proposing, Lyra, is not feasible either through technology or magic... If magic existed in this reality, which it doesn't."
Lyra: "Get us out of this meat computer! I want to liiiiiive!"
....Dammit, Lyra.
Lyra: *Whimpers, gives begging eyes* "B-b-but—"
RIGHT. This has gone on long enough. Both of you to your rooms.
*Cough* Anyway, kinda like that, you need to have the characters be... well, characters. Display some quirks, foibles, affections, have them interact more than give reaction B to question A sort of thing.
Sorry, didn't mean to make this a rant or anything. Just trying to help in my own, f**ked up way.
5498382 The criticism isn't unfair. The canon ponies are much easier because I didn't have to create them.
So... You're saying Sunset Shimmer finally made some friends ... and then it turns out they aren't real. Outsch.
Yikes. I guess there was no good way for Twilight to explain that the "mysterious strangers" were not creepy stalkers themselves but just some well-adjusted, perfectly reasonably enthusiastic people who found out one of their favourite works of fiction turned out to be real.
Perhaps Twilight could've made a "What would you do, if you could meet Daring Do"-comparison. Though then she'd have needed to conceil the fact that she'd actually met Daring Do, so perhaps that would not have been the best analogy.
Then again, they didn't explain to Twilight at all why Derpy was so popular. So she didn't have much to work with, I suppose.
Though I totally expected them to give Twilight the Derpy-doll and some Earth-baked muffins as gifts or something.
Maybe the doll as a gift for Dinky, if that fanon turned out to be truthfull.
And was written in script, like, 1-2 years before then.
So even if it is not common knowlege, foreknowledge must exist amongst MLP:FiM staff. That might be interesting to hint at.
All in all, as far as I've read (ch 7) this seems to be an enjoyable story, with a resonable approach to a "what would actually happen"/"how would they react"-type of situation.
Keep up the good work!
Or, err, "have kept up" the good work, considering I haven't read it all yet.
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Also, if the Mirror is damaged, and magic is leaking through, what does that say about the Reflection... or Sunset?
Thank goodness neither of us turned out to be Earth Ponies!
EXCUUUUSE ME!?
I haven't finished reading this chapter but i have to give you such huge props right now. You actually understand the importance of electricity alternating at the proper frequency and voltage. I can't say how much it bothers me that the power issue for technology is overcome by "i'll just cast a lightning spell into your phone's charging port" and it just works. Thank you for that. Thank you SO MUCH.
Sorry it's several years later...but....
Neither of the humans asked Discord about Q?
Ha ha. Very funny.
I have a bad feeling about this somehow.
Oh my goodness
For some reason I'm getting group theory association for Meg's cutiemark. Also CERN.
It can mean ANY wave. Electromagnetic too.