Trying to Get Out
Crash! Thud! Crash!
And just black. Nothing to see with her closed eyes as the pain surged throughout her whole body.
“Uh...my head….”
She rubbed her head—
“Argh! What’s on it?! Hope it’s not one of those fake arrows from theater class....”
Tried to pull it out of her head.
No good. Even more pain.
“Ow! Ugh...first I slip and crack my head, and now someone’s put strong tape on an arrow I didn’t even see! I don’t remember making a spy play in medieval times!”
She slowly opened her eyes, though blurry, seeing purple and green around her with a hint of brown there, head still aching.
Massaged her eyes, blinked rapid.
Clearer now, she saw a table before her.
Or the broken fragments of what used to be a table, now that it was smashed in half.
“Woah!” Lyra blurted out, seeing the splinters before her. “Did I go into a coma or something? ‘Cause I don’t remember going here!” She looked to her left and right, seeing crystal walls and bookshelves. “OK, maybe it’s the other theater class. Don’t know, but...whatever. Better than being stuck in maintenance.” She sighed. “How c-come I don’t remember getting here?” She shook her head. “I’ll find my w-way out.” She took one leg on the floor. “Gotta stand—“
And flopped to the floor.
“Ouch!” She looked at her arms. “My head hurts, my legs don’t work, and now—“
Didn’t see her hands. Just hooves.
Her eyes opened wide. “What?! What’s going on?!”
Lyra turned them around, turning her left hoof around and then turning her right hoof around, seeing those green hooves move right before her eyes.
“No...no way! Don’t tell me I stumbled into the magic world!”
Then, she looked behind her, seeing her hindhooves. She looked at her forehooves again, seeing her green coat of hair all around.
She breathed heavy, faster and faster as she struggled to get up on her four legs.
Then, she was standing on her four hooves, biting her lips in terror.
“OK, L-Lyra,” she muttered to herself, mouth trembling, “you’re officially a pony now. Too much pain in a dream, worse than a pinch!” Took a huge breath in. “How do I get out?!”
She turned her head around, seeing the strange portal contraption.
“Didn’t Sunset say i-it had something to do with mirrors?” she said to herself as she took one step forward.
And tripped.
She groaned, standing back up again. “Why...why didn’t I pay attention to Fluttershy when she told me how horses move?! Could’ve been the most useful conversation in my life!” She examined all four of her hooves as she stood still. “OK...OK...let’s see...front right hoof….”
And she put her right forehoof in front, stretching a bit.
“Next…back right hoof?”
Lifted her right hindhoof forward, only to feel a bit squished on her right side. Moved it back.
“No, no...can’t use my left forehoof...so….”
Lifted her left hindhoof. Put it down forward.
“OK,” she said, her voice shaky as she looked at her hooves. “What’s next?...wait, don’t wanna trip again...so, front left hoof?”
She moved it, but felt her right hindhoof sagged behind.
“Agh!”
Put it back to where it was.
Lyra analyzed where her hooves were on the floor. “I-I think I got it. Right hoof front, left hoof back, left hoof front...uh, right hoof back.”
She moved her left forehoof and then her right hindhoof forward.
Raising her head, she noticed that the portal was closer now.
“Yeah!” she said, smiling and tried to raise a fist, but instead raised a hoof. Then, sighing, she repeated the tedious process of walking at a slow pace, trying not to trip again and taste the floor. Right forehoof, left hindhoof, left forehoof, right hindhoof….
Though she stumbled, she did not trip, and she finally reached the steps of the mirror.
There, she saw a reflection of herself: a green unicorn with spiky green-white mane and similarly spiky tail. She saw her cutie mark which was a lyre, and the horn on her head, too.
She gasped at the sight of herself. “OK, Lyra, stay calm!” She breathed in, breathed out, trying to look away from herself. “All you gotta do is get through the portal. Easy-peasy, right?”
Then, she trotted into the mirror.
Bumped into the reflection.
Then, she looked at the mirror again, seeing herself.
Seeing her face morph into an expression of dread.
She touched the mirror, then banged on it. “No, no, no! This...this can’t be happening...stuck in ponyland with no way out...no, no!” She placed a hoof on her cheek. “How’re they supposed to know I’m all the way over here?”
She placed a hoof to her neck, trying to calm herself down.
Looked up, saw the horn on her head. “Don’t know how you’re gonna kick in, but I got self-defense on me...somehow.”
She turned around and saw the big library doors at the other side.
And gulped. “You’re in big trouble, Lyra, but you need help. Serious help. I can’t do anything unless I reach out!”
With a slow and clumsy gait, she clambered her way to the doors and wrapped her hoof around the door handle. Pushed it, almost pulled herself forward into another stumble, but regained herself as she opened her way into a crystal hall with lots of other identical doors.
Lyra gulped again. “Gotta find my way out of this place first.”
She passed by the doors, hearing nothing but her hoofsteps as she looked here and there, expecting that voices would appear, but they did not. She gave herself a breather as she went by another corner and saw a foyer, an intersection of sorts with bigger double doors at the end.
And she hid back behind the wall when she saw another pony there, seeing that other unicorn float her hat around and pulling a few cards from the headwear.
“Let’s see if the Great and Powerful Trixie has all her fifty-two cards,” Trixie said, her voice echoing all the way down to Lyra’s triangular ears.
“Trixie?!” Lyra whispered to herself. Then, she smacked herself on the hoof. “Right, Sunset said a thing about other selves...” and a smile formed. “Then, that means there has to be a pony version of myself living in town, and they wouldn’t know the difference!” Then, her smile vanished. “But, that does mean I shouldn’t run into myself...they’ll find out, and...what will they do with me?!”
“Hm?”
Lyra covered a would-be scream with her hoof as she crouched down behind the wall.
“Who’s there?” Trixie asked by the front doors, turning around. “Spike? Yes, Trixie would like your help in finding my missing card! It’s a ten of clubs!” She pulled her hat around, but the elusive card was still missing along with the dragon himself. “Spike, don’t tell me you stole my card—oh, found it!” She floated it up from the floor.
Lyra’s eyes dilated at the sight of Trixie levitating the card, seeing the card covered in a pink aura as it went up in the air and into a floating stack of cards which Trixie straightened up with no solid surface.
“Nevermind!” Trixie yelled, swinging the doors open with her magic and feeling the brisk evening air. “The Great and Powerful Trixie has found her card with her amazing finding abilities!” She pointed straight outside. “Onward, everyone, to one last show in Ponyville before Manehattan!”
This supposedly great and powerful magician galloped out of the castle, letting the doors swing close.
Lyra held her breath, then stepped out into the main corridor. “Guess that’s my way out.”
Lyra felt the chill breeze as she sluggishly trotted down the path, looking here and there for anyone who might see her. She heard the rushing of waterfalls; sure enough, she turned her head farther to the left and saw the School of Friendship. All the lights were off though she could hear loud snoring from inside. Then, she caught a glimpse of something shiny, so she turned around and saw the castle in all its size and crystal radiance, seeing the great star structure on top and another familiar six-pointed star on a purple banner.
“This can’t be real,” she murmured, quivering. “It can’t be real, but it’s too real!”
Then, tons of laughter.
She leaped to a nearby bush, tumbling around in its branches and feeling them prick her coat and horn and her snout. “Ow, ow, ow!”
More laughter.
She poked her head up, saw the building before her.
It looked like a burger bar, resting by a streetlight. However, she saw the billboard on top which depicted two ponies’ heads laughing at a microphone. The curtains were closed and she could see nothing past them.
Lyra’s eyes half-closed in confusion. “They have...comedy clubs?”
Then, the doors opened.
She poked her head down, though she brought it a little forward so she could see who it was.
There, a gray pony wearing a blue shirt trotting out, showered with applause from inside as she left.
Lyra blinked in more surprise. “Maud Pie? She’s actually funny?!” Breathing slowly: “OK...you got this, Lyra. All you gotta do is find someone who knows something about Sunset’s portal, and you’re home free...you’ll b-be home free soon….”
The doors closed.
After waiting several seconds, she tip-hoofed her way out of the bush and to the comedy club. She plastered herself onto the wall, doing her best to flatten herself there as she poked her head out once again.
Saw no one there but some ponies in Ponyville proper. She took a few moments to take in the architecture of the town: cottages with thatched walls and hay roofs, appropriate for a small hamlet.
She gulped again, feeling her legs shake in fear. “Stay cool, Lyra; stay cool. All I have to do is act normal. Blend in, act like I have some business.” Breathed in, breathed out. Breathed in, breathed out.
Breathed in a lot, breathed out a lot.
Breathed in once more.
“Now or never, Lyra!”
And she trotted almost to the doors. She poked her head out yet another time though just enough so she could see what was happening inside the club.
Past the ponies seated on the tables in the dimmed lights and candles, she saw Pinkie—not exactly the Pinkie she knew, though, even with the bow tie and top hat. She could hear muffled words but her lips moved so fast, the poor mare found it impossible to decipher the joke.
Which made the laughter from the audience feel sudden to her, enough to almost make her trip backwards.
Then, after getting her stance back, she trotted past the comedy club, whispering to herself, “Please don’t spot me, please don’t spot me, please don’t spot me, please don’t spot me!…”
The street network of Ponyville, to the untrained pony, was an issue. It was not the network itself that caused a lot of tourists to become lost for the third time in a row despite the aid of a map. It was the fact that many of the structures there looked pretty much the same. Sure, there were landmarks like the gingerbread-house bakery known as Sugarcube Corner or the carousel-inspired boutique which was aptly named Carousel Boutique; however, if one did not pay attention, it would be too easy to go astray.
Sadly, Lyra suffered the same fate. She kept up a smile as she passed by ponies walking in the night, some giving her a wave with her reply being an awkward wave back. She also saw a couple of familiar faces in an unfamiliar light: There was Trixie, of course, who was setting up her stage and her stage equipment in some open space, levitating things here and there; there was Cheerilee, who bought a couple of flowers from Rose by a flower stall, and—
“Oh, uh, evening, Lyra!”
“Ah!”
Lyra jumped in surprise and then tumbled to the ground.
A hoof helped her up. “Are you alright?”
Lyra nodded, looking at her hurt hoof. “Yeah, I think I’ll be fine.” She then faced her helper.
A unicorn mare of a darker pink and a curly mane with a concerned bigger stallion of red coat; she noticed the yoke around his neck.
“Oh, uh...hi, Sugar Belle,” she managed to say as a greeting. Faced the stallion. “H-Hi, Big Mac!”
Big Mac’s “Hi” back was not verbal; it was a simple smile and a longer blink.
Sugar nodded, extending a hoof to her. “Nice to meet you, Lyra! I’m still getting used to Ponyville, really, so Big Mac here’s helping me out by meeting the locals.”
Lyra put on a wide grin as she extended her own hoof for the hoofshake, then felt the loose yet workable grip on it. “Yeah, th-that’s...great!” She tried to give Big Mac a thumbs up, but, with the lack of thumbs whatsoever, that proved to be a challenge. “Um...uh, I see you’re treating her right, w-which is always a good thing.”
Big Mac grinned, unable to contain his romantic feelings. “Heh-heh. Eeyup!”
Sugar gave her boyfriend a lovely grin. Then, turning back to Lyra: “So, what do you do around here? Like, your job, your hobbies...you know, uh, everything?”
Lyra’s first response was darting her eyes all around. “Uh, I...I...knit?”
Sugar smiled. “Like scarves?” She glanced at her boyfriend, and then back at Lyra. She held up a hoof to indicate a piece of cloth. “Well, winter’s still far away, but would it be nice if you were to make us a love scarf? You know, a scarf long enough to hold the both of us together?”
Lyra almost belched at that mushy question, but she kept up the smiling facade. “I don’t know since...we’ll have...lots of orders from other ponies l-like you! Hah, uh...yeah!”
Sugar Belle and Big Mac then gave other strange looks, nudging them towards Lyra.
“B-But,” Lyra cut in, becoming more nervous, “I’ll be sure to...give you two l-lovebirds something by the holidays!”
“You mean by Hearth’s Warming?” Sugar asked. “Sure! I understand; lots of workload and demand for scarves and beanies. Don’t wanna stress you out.”
Lyra smiled, raising a hoof to wave at them. “Yeah. I’d love to ch-chat, but I gotta go somewhere really important.”
Sugar nodded, and held Big Mac’s hoof. “Alright. It’s nice knowing you!”
And the two lovebirds trotted out of her way, walking under a streetlight as they nuzzled each other on their snouts.
Lyra gritted her teeth. “Can’t believe I escaped that one!”
After more stumbling around and greeting various ponies she thought she knew but really did not, she finally encountered something more than just a cottage.
A lit-up boutique as if it came out of a pink circus. Carousel Boutique.
She gulped, standing before the establishment’s door. She heard the humming of a seamstress from inside, perhaps humming to herself as she worked. Then, Lyra looked through the window.
She saw the very pink and very purple interior of the boutique. While the gaudy columns and decor were par for the course for a clothes store, what took her back was the sight of the mannequins; they were that of ponies, wearing dresses and suits that looked like dresses and suits but somehow modified to fit an equine.
But, more than that, she saw two white unicorns. She could see Rarity and Sweetie Belle with their distinctive hairstyles but as manes instead, knowing that they were not the Rarity and Sweetie Belle she knew as well.
“I still can’t believe you want salad for breakfast,” Rarity said as she inspected her broken sewing glasses. “But, if you insist, Sweetie….”
“Applejack grows carrots, too,” Sweetie stated. “I’ll help you cook!”
Rarity frowned, putting the glasses into a teeny-tiny felt box. “I still have nightmares about your utter undoing of a toast.”
Sweetie laughed at herself. “I learned a few things from Apple Bloom through the years. I’m sure I’m at least qualified to make a daisy sandwich!”
Rarity spat on the floor. “Everypony knows how to make a daisy sandwich. Real cooking involves a skill often unheard of—“
“I’m not into gourmet stuff, Rarity,” Sweetie whined, stretching a hoof to make a point. “I’m just asking for a salad, or if you don’t like that, an omelet.”
“You do know the stove isn’t working, right?” she asked. “I did tell you before, right?”
“Uh, you did...a few times already, actually.”
Rarity gasped dramatically, straining her throat as she lengthened the gasp over the course of five seconds. “Am I growing old?!”
Lyra snickered. “Still overemotional!”
The sisters’ heads turned towards the window.
“Eep!”
And Lyra ducked down.
She looked to her left, saw the door, heard the hoofsteps. “Is there anyone outside?” Rarity asked.
The door opened.
Lyra shot back to her four hooves, standing for Rarity who then spotted her.
“Ah, it’s you, Lyra!” Rarity said, smiling. “Your dress for the Grand Galloping Gala is going on quite nicely, though my glasses aren’t in good condition; it might get delayed by a day or two.”
Lyra kept smiling, doing her best to hold back any sweat on her face. “Y-Yeah...the Grand Galloping Gala!”
Rarity frowned. “Darling, you sound like you don’t even know the Grand Galloping Gala is!”
Lyra’s heart skipped a beat. “Uh, of course, I know what it is!”
Rarity made a little knowing giggle. “Well, of course, you do! Don’t you remember the few times we met last year and the year before that?”
Lyra nodded, trying to make her trembling lips unnoticed by this Rarity. “Yeah...with those, uh, red carpets—“
“And how I was able to sew an emergency dress out of those carpets!” Rarity interrupted, adding in a posh laughter worthy of her status. “Ha-ha, if only Fancy Pants would’ve seen that!”
“F-Fancy Pants?” Lyra repeated, thoughts now wondering about her world’s Fancy Pants.
“Who else, darling?” Rarity asked. “Just because I continue to accept my place here doesn’t mean I wholly abandon my high-life aspirations—I chase after them from time to time, which is a consequence of owning a boutique in Canterlot.”
Lyra then stopped herself from asking why she owns a boutique in some place called Canterlot.
Rarity blinked pretty and fast, her long eyelashes making even her blinks more beautiful. “So, what can I do for you? I could give you a nice chapeau—oh, wait right here! I know one that fits you so well!” She turned around and ran back inside. “Sweetie Belle! Can you be a dear and fetch me the yellow cloche hat?”
Now back alone, she craned her head backwards and saw few other ponies milling around. “She’s...sh-she’s a friend of the Twilight Sparkle here, if S-Sunset’s right. All I have to do is a-ask where Twilight is, then I’ll go explain e-everything to h-her,” as sweat poured down on her face.
Then, Rarity was back, levitating a yellow hat that looked like a bell and putting it on her head.
Lyra looked up, seeing her hat sit on both her horn and the top of her head.
“Not exactly fancy,” Rarity commented, walking a circle around her client, “but it does accentuate your eyes.”
Lyra did her best to look straight at Rarity’s eyes, to maintain eye contact. “Uh, th-thank you! I wasn’t expecting this from you!”
Rarity smiled, stopping right in front of her. “Always willing to help others shine, that’s all.”
Lyra was at a loss for words, crossing her hooves in anxiety. “Uh, how much do I pay you?”
Rarity gasped, almost punching her own cheeks. “Darling, that’s a gift! You must keep it gratis!”
Lyra took the hat with her hoof, tried to hold it.
No good as it fell to the ground.
Rarity looked awkwardly at the fallen hat. “Is there a problem, Lyra?”
Lyra smiled though that was faltering. “Um, I-I’m very t-tired from my...knitting…?”
Then, the hat glowed blue and it was put back on her head; Lyra saw Rarity’s horn glowing blue, too. “At least it’s not crochet, so you’ve made a good choice in that regard.”
After a gentle nod, Lyra backed away, nervously looking back at the cottages there. “Uh, th-thank you for picking it up for—uh, well, thank you, Rarity for your, um, being so generous!”
Rarity gave her an odd look but waved at her regardless. “You’re welcome!”
Lyra got out of her sight, trotting back towards the main parts of town. “I need to get to Twilight—wait!” and turned around and yelled, “Where’s Twilight?!”
“Oh, she’s attending Trixie’s show along with everyone else but me and Applejack,” was her shouted answer from afar. “I got some orders to fill and Applejack...actually, she might be there, too, but only as a vendor!”
“Thanks!”
“You’re wel—“
But Lyra trotted as fast as she could without tripping.
Lyra trotted about, trying to search for the rumble of a gathering crowd. Having gotten that, she got closer, hearing it louder with each turn of the road as she passed by sleepy houses and closed or close-to-being-closed shops. She then saw more and more ponies going around, chatting to each other, until she finally turned one more corner and saw, by the river, a huge stage and a modest crowd with all standing. The lights were blinding, the speakers were ginormous, and the atmosphere was as palpable as could be with the small number of ponies fielded.
The mare held her breath at the sight of two other ponies—one with curled mane that looked like candy and another with green hair.
Spiky green hair that looked just like hers. She even had a horn on her head.
Lyra bit her nails, but since she did not have nails, she bit her hoof instead. Biting too much of it, she tasted dirt and spat it out. “Eww!”
Those familiar two disappeared into the crowd.
“My other self’s there!” Lyra whispered to herself in a frightened tone, clattering her teeth. “And Bon Bon, too! H-How am I supposed to get to Twilight without—“
Ring!
As microphone feedback blasted throughout, causing everyone, including Lyra, to cover their ears, though Lyra then lost balance and fell to the ground.
She got back up quick, and trotted towards the crowd but did not enter it. Keeping her distance, standing by a closed stall of vegetables, she watched Trixie jump up to the stage, dressed in her wizard’s hat and cape.
“Yes, it is I, the Great and Powerful Trixie!”
She let her cape flow as fireworks spread from the floorboards and exploded in the sky. The crowd erupted into applause, with even Rainbow Dash, hovering over the rest of the audience, clapping her hooves at the spectacle.
“Now, Trixie is feeling a little different today,” she said in her haughty voice, pacing the stage. “For her opening act, she shall perform card magic upon every single pony she can see!”
And the crowd went with their “Ooh!”’s.
With Lyra whispering, “Twilight, please do something!”
Trixie cleared her throat, looking down on her audience like a queen. “I shall first select...hah, Lyra Heartstrings!”
Her eyes dilated. Her ears drooped. Any semblance of a smile melted away.
As she saw her other self walk through the crowd and up to the stage, she then breathed a sigh of relief.
Pony Lyra smiled, feeling perky as she stood on stage and against the scrutiny of the not-so-massive masses.
Trixie levitated a table from the backstage and then a full set of cards from her hat. “So, Lyra—“ spread the cards face-down on the table. “Pick a card.”
She took one out, saw what was on it.
“Alright, since you cannot normally show the cards to such a huge audience fitting for the Great and Powerful Trixie, she shall put on her total-deaf earmuffs as you shout your card.” With that, she put on her earmuffs which contained Trixie’s face on each cup.
Twilight, who was part of the audience and standing beside a pie-eating Pinkie, rolled her eyes and smiled. “Classic Trixie!”
“Trixie shall not even look at you!” the magician then said, pointing at Lyra the volunteer—not Lyra the pony-in-hiding, not Lyra the pony trying to escape notice, not Lyra the pony who wanted to talk Twilight in a quiet place.
As for that pony-in-hiding, she grabbed a cabbage from the stall and held it up to her face.
“Just face everypony else and shout your card!” yelled Trixie as she turned her back to the crowd.
Pony Lyra turned to the audience, seeing them all and also the stragglers there, too, the ponies that were past the group and watching Trixie’s great and powerful magic show from a distance.
Including another Lyra though trying to hide behind a cabbage.
Then, Pony Lyra gulped, catching sight of her, pointing at her. “Wait...is th-that...me?!”
And everyone except Trixie looked at this poor other Lyra, who was shivering and trembling with all eyes on her.
She fell to the ground, hit her head on the dirt along with her cabbage. Her vision dimmed to black once again.
Fainted.
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Pony Lyra: Is that my counterpart from human world? That... that means she must have HANDS!
...I am honestly surprised Lyra wasn't jumping for joy at being a pony.
Well, this should be interesting.
I swear that if this devolves into a human obsessed pony Lyra, then I'm done with this story.
I wonder how pony twilight is going to react to knowing a human fell into the pony world accidentally. Maybe she'll freak out over the idea that this might happen again.
> Recognizes that she needs to get help immediately.
> Runs into half the town, and asks exactly nopony for help.
Lyra's just not firing on all cylinders today, is she?
Oh no...THAT could’ve gone better. BUT I LOVE THIS STORY!
Well, that could have gone better. Lyra should have just stayed in the castle and waited for Twilight or someone.
Also, maybe I missed something, but why wasn't Lyra able to just walk back through the portal?
9060171
well she did take a pretty nasty crack in the head, perfectly understandable.
9060346
Last chapter Dash claims she only wrecked the horse statue part of the portal.
Apparently she did a little bit more.
Twilight, covering: Behold! The great and powerful Trixie has done it again! She has made a duplicate of Lyra!
Oh.
heckin' darnit, lyra
You're a wreck, kiddo. Stay in school.
HOW. HOW does this keep working?
SNERK.
Eeyup, figured she'd be found out by herself.
9060941
Human Lyra is part of the knitting club from the Queen of Clubs short. To her, if she likes knitting, then her pony self must like knitting, too.
Of course, that will only work consistently if pony Lyra actually likes knitting.
9063367
I'm multiple hours behind thanks to missing every single short since last year. Oof. I need to watch those...
Okay, something tells me that SMILE are going to burn out the batteries on a few dozen neuralisers for this one!
9060171
I can get it if she's wrong-genre savvy into horror movie logic. But her thought processes don't really tend that way. Weak chapter, but can read on anyway. It happens.
Excuse me, but what the heck?
Uh oh. There it goes.