0: The Fool
She awoke to find herself floating in nothing. Below(?) her she heard waters churn and crash. Her mind questioned how there could be water in nothing, but she found she could not voice her confusion.
‘Where am I?’
Her world was suddenly filled with light. Bright and warm and powerful. The light pushed aside the darkness. The light and darkness separated into a clear night and day, circling around her.
“Welcome, scholar.”
The voice was loud, but gentle at the same time. Like a teacher addressing their class. Around her she could hear other voices, but they were too faint to make out specific words, only the emotions behind them. Anger, Joy, Curiosity, Fear, Annoyance.
‘Who are you?’
The water separated, creating a great sky overhead and a vast ocean beneath her.
“I am the watcher. You have been chosen to take part in an experiment.”
‘What do you mean? What kind of experiment?’
Land suddenly rushed out from the waters, until she was standing on a shoreline, facing a large landmass with the ocean behind her.
“Individuals have been gathered from all corners of reality. Some of whom you know…”
The light in the sky condensed into one place, creating a sun to light the day.
“…and many who will be strangers to you and to your kind.”
The sun flashed, and a crescent moon appeared above the sun. While the sun moved with the day, the moon stayed where it was, waxing into its full beauty. Once it had taken its place in the night sky, stars twinkled into existence around it, forming many constellations, some familiar, some not.
“You will have one goal. To leave the simulation.”
‘What simulation?’
“The one being made before your eyes.”
The waters began to team with fish, and birds flew over her head before landing in the trees.
‘Why have I been chosen?’
“Because you have determination. You have spirit. And you have an intelligence very few can hope to match. That is why you have been chosen, Twilight Sparkle.”
A chorus of calls erupted from the forest. Livestock gathered in the cities. Creeping animals moved through the underbrush. And wild beasts roamed far and wide.
“Now, awaken.”
[??? Sunrise]
Twilight’s eyes snapped open. She was lying on her back staring at a wooden ceiling. She should have been in her castle, getting a good night’s rest after the failure of a camping trip the night before. She rolled over to sit up and discovered three things. One: her forelegs were attached to the sides of her shoulders. Two: she was missing her wings and tail. And three: her forelegs were much longer than they should have been and ended in hands, not hooves. In a word, she was human.
This wasn’t too frightening, as she had been turned into a human before. This time was unique, however, in that it didn’t involve a magic mirror and horse statue. More shocking was that her skin was a pale pinkish tone as opposed to the violet color it previously was. A quick check of her hair confirmed that it, thankfully, was still navy purple, it even retained the odd purple and magenta stripes.
Upon standing up she discovered she was also quite naked, an extreme taboo in human culture. Fortunately, there was what appeared to be a closet in the wall. A quick peek confirmed that it was a closet and contained a set of clothes seemingly custom made for her.
As she got dressed, her memories began to catch up with her. ‘That voice. It said I was going to take part in an experiment. Is this the experiment?’ Getting turned into a human didn’t seem like much of a test. Then again, she hadn’t been awake for more than five minutes, maybe the real experiment would begin once she got outside?
“Only one way to find out.” She said out loud. A full body mirror hung from one of the walls, which she used to examine herself. Her upper body was covered by a violet folded robe, held to her body by the waist cloth of her baggy pants which were dyed a bright magenta. White socks covered her feet. On the outer fold of her robe was printed a string of symbols made up of different lines and strokes intersecting each other. She couldn’t read it, but somehow knew that it was her name. Her cutie mark was stitched into her left pant leg.
Satisfied that she was fully clothed, she proceeded to leave the room. To her surprise, the door didn’t open like a door should have. Instead of swinging open towards her, it rolled along a channel in the floor, until it was stacked neatly over the wall.
“Fascinating.” She mused, sliding the door back and forth a little. “It fulfills the purpose of acting as a temporary room divider, but without the need for metal hinges. And it doesn’t take up space when open.”
Fascinating door technology aside, Twilight hadn’t quite left the building just yet. As she walked through what she now confirmed was a house, she was struck by more unusual variations in design. There was a distinct lack of furniture. The kitchen table was unusually short, with small cushions in the place of chairs. The walls seemed to be made of paper over a wooden frame. Finally, she found the front door. In front of which was a pair of wooden sandals which she put on.
Stepping outside she found herself facing an absolutely gorgeous sight. Each of the buildings was similar in design to the one she had stepped out of. The roofs shingled in bamboo tile. Paper lanterns hanging from building’s corners. Twilight had never seen architecture this -she struggled to find the right word- artistic before.
“Twilight!” There was a familiar voice. Stumbling down the street, though she was certain she would deny it later, was a familiar looking woman. She wore the same clothes as Twilight, but with a white shirt and purple pants. Her hair was the same royal purple it always was, and her skin was a delicate shade of creamy white. And there was no mistaking the diamond cutie mark she displayed. “Oh, thank Celestia I found you.” Rarity said, “I believe I could use some assistance on learning how to be human.”
“You seem to have the clothing part figured out.”
“Naturally, darling.” She stumbled forwards again, only by wrapping her arms around a wooden post was she able to keep herself from falling. “It’s the walking on two legs that’s tricky.”
Twilight moved to help her friend. “Keep your feet flat against the ground, that will give you more balance.”
Rarity corrected her stance, and indeed, she felt much more stable. “I must say, from your description of them, I expected humans to be more, unnatural.” She took a good look at Twilight’s new body. “But I must say, there is certainly a level of elegance to them. Or, should I say us?”
Twilight allowed herself a small giggle, “Come on, we can’t be the only ones in this city. And if we’re here, it’s pretty likely that the rest of the girls are here as well. Let’s go find them.”
“I’m right behind you darling.” The two girls began to explore the city. As they did, Twilight’s mind began working. ‘The voice had said this was an experiment. What kind of experiment? Seeing how ponies got along in human form? But it had also said that we’re supposed to leave. Leave how? Is this city a kind of maze?’ With that thought in mind she began keeping a very close eye on the path they were taking.
[??? Dead of Night]
Fluttershy looked out the window at the city before her. In the torchlight she could make out white brick walls, clay roof tiles and cobblestone roads. Beyond the buildings she could hear the pounding of water and could smell the strong scent of salt; so this was probably a coastal city.
She backed away from the window. As she did, she looked down at her hoof, only to realize it wasn’t her hoof. Where should have been yellow fur and keratin was instead creamy skin covering five delicate digits topped by a flat, trimmed nail. They reminded her of racoon hands, for hands they were. Upon realizing her hooves had turned into hands, she checked over the rest of her body to see if it had changed too. Sure enough, it had.
Her fur was completely gone, leaving her skin exposed to the elements. Her main body felt longer, as did each of her limbs. Except for her wings, which were missing entirely along with her tail. Her rear hooves had turned into thick paw like features, again ending in five toes. Very surprisingly, her teats had moved up her body, so they were now over her chest region. That was definitely going to require some clothing. Using her hands to feel her face, wow these digits were a lot more sensitive than hooves, she discovered that her face had changed as well. Her muzzle was non-existent, and her nose was built like a small pyramid sat on the front of her face, with her mouth just below that. Her ears were now just small, immobile disks of flesh on the left and right side of her head. Her long pink mane had remained as it was. A mirror on the wall let her see just what her new body looked like in full. It actually wasn’t that scary, once she got past the shock that she was looking at herself.
She turned to the bed where a collection of garments was laid out. First among these was a white linen robe that hung off her shoulders and ended just above what had been her fetlocks. Next was a soft yellow shall or cape-like cloth the same color as her fur and feathers. It only fell to her lower back, but it did a good job of covered her shoulders and upper arms. Lastly was a teal blue headband, patterned with the butterflies from her cutie mark; in addition, there was a string of symbols that looked familiar to her: “Φλυτερχι”. Fluttershy didn’t normally wear headbands, but these were the clothes being offered to her, so she might as well wear them.
Finding nothing else in the room, she walked towards the door. She had found that it was easier to move upright on solely her hind legs. Exiting the room, she found herself in a small courtyard. Overhead, the moon shone down, bright and silver. “Um, hello.” She gave a small call to see if anyone else was at home. Hearing no reply, she walked over to a large gate and opened it. Now on the streets, she could see others like her wandering about, some talking to each other, others calling out names.
A great racket suddenly arose as a wooden cart suddenly came barreling down the street. In the cart were two pink haired girls, one of whom called out “HiFluttershyByeFluttershy!” as they passed. She realized that that was probably Pinkie Pie just as a great crashing sound could be heard.
[??? Midday]
Applejack was not having a good time. First, she was snatched out of her bed by some voice. Then that same voice said she was supposed to take part in some, game thing. Then she had woken up in this fancy house, in a hu-mane body, if Twilight’s stories were to be believed. And now she couldn’t even open the door!
“Hey! Can anypony hear me!” She yelled, pounding on the door again. “I can’t open the door!” She was about to pound on it again when a knock came from the other side. “Hello?”
“Hello.” A young stallion’s voice came from the other side. “Are you alright?”
“Am I alright? I don’t know where in the world I am, and I’ve been turned into a creature I ain’t never seen before.”
“Turned into a different creature? What do you mean?”
“Well, I used to be a pony, but now I’m a hu-mane, I think.”
“A pony?” he asked in confusion. “Pony, pony… like a kind of horse?”
She sighed, “Close enough.”
“Okay, I’m going to open the door for you.” The gold sphere attached to the door (which Applejack guessed was some kind of door handle) rattled as he grabbed it from the other side. “It’s locked.”
“I know it’s locked. How do I unlock it?”
“Okay um… Do you see something that looks like the backside of a key on the doorknob?”
“Yeah.”
“Good. Now grab that key with your fingers, wait, do you favor your left hoof or your right hoof?”
“Mah right hoof.”
“Okay, pinch the key between the two leftmost fingers of your right hand.”
Applejack looked at her hand. At first it looked like the suggested fingers wouldn’t be able to touch, but she found that the longer finger naturally curved back, forming a perfect pinching motion with the shorter finger. In less than a second, the door was unlocked.
“Alright.” The door was pushed in from the other side. The stallion was about the same height as she was. His hair was black and hung in jagged angles. His teeth were quite prominent. “Now you’re AAAAHHHHH!!!!”
“Why are you screaming?”
“Why are you NAKED?”
Indeed, while the boy was wearing a white short-sleeved shirt and black short pants, Applejack’s only clothing was the brown Stetson she wore on her head.
“I said I used to be a pony. We don’t wear a lot of clothes.”
“Well now you’re a human and we were clothes at all times.”
“What? Why would ya’ll do that?”
“Well, do you want people looking at your breasts all the time?”
“My what?” The boy lifted a finger and pointed at her chest. This caused AJ to realize a particular anatomical difference between Ponies and Humans.
“What in the Sam-Heck!? Why would you put them there of all places?”
The boy had partially closed the door, “If your house is like the one I woke up in, there should be some clothes in the bedroom. I’m going to go find another girl to help you put them on.”
“Th-Thank you, mister-“
“It’s Sero, Sero Hanta.”
[??? Sunrise]
Eventually Rainbow was able to break open the door. In truth she accidentally leaned on the door handle and fallen out of the room, but since no one had seen this happen she got to decide what was truth and what was fiction. Standing up, she brushed down the clothes she was wearing. It was a pair of tight black shorts and a black sports bra underneath a sky-blue tank top with her name and cutie mark printed on it. She had also found a pair of plastic sandals but decided not to wear them, a habit from having lived on clouds most of her life.
Looking around she found that she was apparently in a hotel or apartment building, the room she had just exited being identical to every other room along the hallway. She ran down to the end and found a stair well and an elevator. Rainbow had been in elevators before and know that she really didn’t like them, they were too slow and cramped. Looking at her back, or as well as she could with this stupid monkey neck, she confirmed that she still didn’t have wings. So she began the long walk, ‘Me, Rainbow Dash, walking!’ down the stairs.
Twelve minutes and three floors later she exited in the lobby of the building, where a good many other hairless apes were milling. One of them was a young brown skinned female with a familiar purple mane. “Rainbow Dash!” She said, jogging over.
Scootaloo gave her adopted big sister a quick hug before Rainbow began to fall over. “Woah! Squirt, watch it there. I’m still not used to these freaky leg things.”
“Yeah, it is a bit weird. But I’m sure you’ll get the hang of it.”
Rainbow smiled, “Thanks for the vote of confidence kiddo.” Having regained her balance, she took a better look at the Pegasus filly. Like Rainbow her mane was exactly the same as before. Her wings were also missing. Strangely, while Rainbow’s skin was now a pinkish white, Scootaloo’s was an almost golden brown. Her clothing looked different too. She wore an orange sleeveless shirt, also decorated with her name and cutie mark, that didn’t reach the hem of her purple skirt, leaving her stomach and bellybutton bare. She also was wearing sandals.
“So, have you seen anypony else we know?”
“No I haven’t. And no one here knows anything about where here is either.”
“Well we won’t get any answers standing around here. Let’s go find out where in Equestria we are!” She said full of confidence as she made for the exit. She made it about two steps before she tripped and fell down.
“Maybe you should focus on figuring out walking first.” Someone in the crowd said.
“I hate this place.” She murmured into the carpet.