> An Equestrian Fairy Tail
>  by themultiversewatcher
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Prologue-Taking the Job
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	In the noontime sun, seven figures were walking towards a town in the distance.
“I don’t understand why I have to come with you on this stupid job,” complained Gajeel. The iron dragon slayer was leering at Natsu, who was grumpily staring back. They had left the Fairy Tail guild just hours before.
“According to Master Makarov, you need to build a better relationship with the rest of the members of the guild,” said Erza matter-of-factly, “Besides, this shouldn’t take too long. All we have to do is investigate a cave where there may be a band of thieves hiding.”
With that, the party continued walking in silence, with the tension between the two dragon slayers growing. It was only a matter of time before a fight broke out, which would ultimately result in Erza ending it early, as usual.
“Look,” said Happy, “There’s the town!” The cat started flying just a little bit faster, trying to be the first one there. The group was relieved that they reached their destination. As they walked towards the town hall, they noticed the sheer cliff walls surrounding most of the town.
“At least we don’t have to walk very far,” commented Lucy, looking tired from walking, “If only Natsu didn’t get motion sick, we could have saved time getting here, and my feet wouldn’t hurt so much.”
“Well, we don’t know how deep the caves are going to be,” said Gray, “so it’s a little too early to be thinking about how much more walking we need to do.”
At town hall, they met up with the mayor. The short, stocky man greeted them, “Hello, you must be the Fairy Tail members who took the job. We’ve been expecting you.” He led them inside the Town Hall. “Let me explain the job, just so you understand why I called you here. Lately, there have been people stealing important magical items from the town, and it’s become quite a nuisance. We managed to track them to a cave system not far from here. According to town lore, the caves are cursed, and the townspeople are afraid to enter. I called you here to investigate the caves, and hopefully force the thieves out of hiding, and, if possible, subdue them for us. You will get a reward of 120,000 Jewel for successfully completing the task. Once again, thank you for coming to our aid.”
“Its no problem at all,” said Erza, “You can count on us."



The cave was huge. Branching off were three paths, each leading in a different direction.
“Juvia thinks we should split up to cover more ground,” said Juvia.
“Great idea,” said Erza, “Natsu, Gajeel and Happy, go down the right path. And no fighting, we don’t know how stable the caves are. Gray and Juvia take the center path, and Lucy and I will take the left path. Let’s all meet up here when we’re done. If one of you finds something, then come straight here, and when we meet up, then report. That way we can all take care of these thieves. Got it?”
When everyone nodded, they all set out into their respective tunnels.



The tunnel was lit with strange, blue lanterns, giving it an eerie glow. On the ground were bits and pieces of valuable things, which were obviously not treated with any care whatsoever. Natsu, Gajeel, and Happy were walking down the tunnel in an uneasy silence. Gajeel broke the silence by muttering, “I can’t believe I have to be stuck with you.”
“Yeah,” said Natsu, clearly annoyed by his fellow dragon slayer, “I didn’t want to get stuck with you either.”
The two mages stared each other down with angry glares. Happy, not wanting a fight to begin, for fear of Erza’s wrath, decided to intervene before it could escalate.
“I don’t think it matters who we got stuck with. Natsu, calm down! What if Erza finds out?”
That caused a shiver down Natsu’s back. Gajeel, on the other hand, simply huffed angrily. After a few more minutes of uneasy silence, the small group of three reached the end of the tunnel, where it opened up into a large, dimly lit cavern. The whole space was covered in hardened gold. At the opposite side of the cave, against the back, stood a large archway with a swirling black vortex of powerful magic, with pedestals holding glowing lacrima. They gasped in awe at the large space.
“I think we found what we were looking for,” said Natsu, “I guess we should go back.”



At the entrance to the cave system, the team met together.
“So,” began Erza, “What did everyone find? Lucy and I didn’t see anything of interest. How about you, Gray?”
Gray looked up from subconsciously taking off his shirt, “Nothing of interest on our end. Just a cave filled with junk.”
“Gray, stop taking off your clothes.”
“Aah,” screamed Gray, who just noticed that he was down to his boxers, and started to get dressed, with a disappointed looking Juvia looking on.
“Now, how about the last tunnel. Natsu?”
“Um,” said Natsu, “I think you may want to look at this.”
He led them down the tunnel. When they reached the room, they all gasped. Erza walked up to the portal.
“It looks like the thieves were trying to either bring something here, or go somewhere else. Be careful not to…touch it,” Erza said, face palming as Gajeel stupidly came in contact with the vortex. He was suddenly sucked in and disappeared. “I guess we should follow and make sure he’s alright.” With that, they all took the plunge into the unknown. They travelled through the portal, which was a flashing tunnel. Upon exiting, the last thing they saw was a pedestal with five branches before fainting from the stress of space travel. When they woke up, they had the biggest surprise of their lives.
> Waking Up
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	"Wake up, Natsu," said a voice. Natsu groaned.
"Five more minutes, Happy."
"Wake up! I think something strange is going on. Come on, open your eyes."
Finally awake, Natsu stretched. The bright light of the afternoon sun shone right in his face. In front of him, his companion and friend, Happy, floated. The blue cat had a look of fear in his eyes.
"What's wrong Happy," said Natsu questioningly, "You look like you've seen a ghost."
"What happened to you," asked Happy, "You look different."
Looking around, Natsu couldn't see anything wrong. He said as much. Then, he looked down. Lying directly underneath his gaze were two red hooves. Then, he knew something was wrong. He had been turned into a horse! All around him, the sounds of his guild mates being woken up reminded him of the portal that brought them there. Looking around, he could not find the vortex anywhere.
"Oooh," groaned Lucy, "What happened? Where are we?" She looked around. In front of her was a dark red stallion with a pink mane and tail and a tan Fairy Tail guild tattoo on his front right leg. He was wearing Natsu's scarf and clothing. She knew that the pony had to be Natsu, as he had never lent his scarf to anyone. "Natsu? What's going on?"
"Your guess is as good as mine. Heh, you should see yourself. You look like a miniature horse."
"What?!?" She looked around, and sure enough, she was a small unicorn. Her coat was a pale pink, almost white color, while her mane and tail were both blonde in color. She was wearing her casual clothing. "What happened to my cute body? I can't be attractive looking like this!"
"Gajeel," said Erza, now a cream colored unicorn mare with a fiery red mane and tail wearing her Heart Kreuz armor. She seemed completely unfazed by the situation. "Next time, listen to me when I tell you not to touch the transportation portal, okay?"
Gajeel, now a grey stallion with a black mane and tail, with metal piercings all over his body, grunted out a rough apology. Off to the left of him were two pegasi, one a sea blue-green mare with a cerulean blue mane and tail, who could only be Juvia, and the other an ice-blue stallion with a black mane and tail, who had to be Gray. They were looking at each other questioningly. Juvia and Gray spoke simultaneously.
"Gray?"
"Juvia?" 
"What happened to you," they asked simultaneously.
"Well," said Erza, "It appears that we have all been transported somewhere that is not in the Fiore kingdom and transformed into ponies. First order of business is a roll call."
As she listed the names and the respective new ponies answered, they couldn't shake the feeling that they were being watched. Shortly thereafter, the group decided it would be best if they moved on.



"Master," a shadowy figure spoke, "We have found that, as you predicted, a guild has been sent after us. We should be able to commence the coup."
"Which guild was it?" asked a hulking figure, just out of the reach of the light.
"Fairy Tail, sir."
"Wonderful. Let us begin with our plan. Sheeheeheehee."
> The Everfree and the Town Called Ponyville
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	Once they all got acquainted with their new bodies, the mages looked around at their location. They were in an old, decrepit castle of worn stone in the middle of a clearing in a dark forest. On one end was a pedestal that looked like it used to hold five idols. On the other was a doorway into the forest. The group decided the best thing to do would be to find civilization, if they could. Just outside the door was an old, rickety-looking bridge.
"We should go across one at a time," said Erza with her usual authority, "I don't think we could trust this bridge with more than one person's weight. I suppose I shall go first." With that, she began walking carefully over the bridge. It wobbled a little, but not as much as one would suspect. "Well, come on, its safe."
Most of the travelers made it across the bridge without a hitch, save for Natsu, whose acute motion sickness made the crossing just that much harder. Once he was across safely, they began moving again. Soon after, they came upon a river that ran swiftly past. While the water was calm enough to swim through, they didn't know how far they would have to walk before they arrived at a town. It was time to see whether their magic worked or not.
"Juvia will move the water," said Juvia. Low and behold, the water in the river began to part with space enough for the travelers to stand in, so that the water could still get past. Now Gray doesn't have to get wet, she thought.
"Juvia," said Gray, "We need you to concentrate." Juvia noticed that the water was closing in on them. She blushed when she realized that she was fantasizing about his human body. The water once again resumed making way for them.
They forded the river quickly and safely. They were glad to move on. On the other side was a trail that led through an even darker part of the forest. Within, they couldn't see anything. They kept bumping into each other. Finally, Natsu decided to light a dried stick for a torch, which brought relief to all of them. They reached a grove in the middle, where there were creepy faces etched into the trees, as if a child had decided to scare his friends into thinking that the forest was haunted. The faces scared Happy and caused him to hide behind Natsu for fear of being attacked by ghosts. After passing through that area, they reached a brighter part of the forest, which seemed to be dominated by thorny bushes. Juvia then put out the makeshift torch.
The clearing was beaten down as if a large animal had been there recently. The mages were on their guard as they passed through this area. The path continued after the clearing. Somehow, they could tell they were arriving at the edge of the forest. Unfortunately, they ran into a cliff. Luckily, the remnants of a landslide made it easy to climb up what would have been a very hard climb indeed. Once at the top, they resumed following the path again. Soon, the group noticed the thinning trees. By this time, the sun had started to fall below the horizon. In the low rays of the sun, they noticed a town shining in the distance. Unfortunately, it was still a ways away. The long, dirt road was hard under their hooves as the group walked in silence, which was unusual. Lucy suspected it was because they were still in shock over the transformation. She also thought it could have been the danger they felt was imminent in that old, dark forest.
Soon enough, though, they reached the town. It was a small town, there couldn't have been more than fifty people* living there. The general atmosphere was friendly, as if waiting for travelers to arrive. It reminded the mages of the town of Magnolia. As they entered, they noticed that the town was made up of ponies. It was at this point that they knew they weren't on their planet anymore. Walking into the town, the group found themselves startled by a pink mare with a poofy pink mane, who looked extremely happy to see them. She ran into a building that looked like a gingerbread house. They looked at each other with confusion, seeing as they didn't even know her.
"That was weird," said Natsu.
"Look who's talkin'," said Gray, clearly trying to coax a response out of his friend.
"What was that, ice for brains?"
"I said look who's talkin', flame breath!"
"Would you two knock it off," said Erza, taking charge, "The first thing we need to do would be to find out where we are."
"Where do we begin, though," asked Lucy, "It's not like we can tell them that we came through a portal, they'll think we're crazy."
"The best place to start would probably be the town hall. They've got to have information of that nature."
With a plan in mind, the seven travelers wandered through the town trying to locate the town hall building. Eventually, they found it. The tall, brown building was built near the center of town in an open plaza. Walking into the building, they found a map showing the town and the surrounding areas. It did not, however, tell them of a place where they could stay the night for free, as they didn't have any of the local currency. They decided that the next best thing to do would be to find someone who knew the town well. When walking out the door, they met up with a purple unicorn mare with a dark purple mane and tail with a pink stripe running through it.
"Excuse me," said Erza, "Would you perhaps know of a place where we could stay the night? We don't have any money with us."
The mare looked a little unsure of what to do. It seemed she was thinking about their predicament.
"Well...I think I know somepony who could help you," she said, still a little put off by strangers asking for a place to stay. She led them through town until they reached an apple orchard. They talked while they walked.
"My name is Twilight Sparkle," said the mare, "We're going to see if my friend Applejack would be willing to hold you until morning. You'll probably be staying in the barn."
"It's nice to meet you, Twilight," replied Erza, "We should probably introduce ourselves. I'm Erza, the red one is Natsu, the grey one is Gajeel, the white one is Lucy, the blue one is Gray, the greenish one is Juvia, and the cat's name is Happy. Also, thank you for helping us. I understand it's short notice."
"Those are interesting names. I don't think I've met anypony with names like yours, except maybe Gray. Where are you from, anyway?"
"We're from Magnolia."
"Strange, I don't believe I've heard of it. You must be from far away, then."
"You could say that, yes."
"We're here." The group had arrived at a large barn, with a small farmhouse attached to it. Twilight went up to the door and knocked. A few moments later, an orange earth pony mare with a blonde mane and tail opened the door.
"Hey, Twi," she said, "Can I help you?"
"Yeah, I met these ponies near the town hall, and they simply need a place to stay for the night. I hope you don't mind."
"Sure, I suppose they could stay. But, they'd have to sleep in the barn. There's simply not enough space in the house for them."
"Thanks, Applejack." Once they introduced themselves, they were led to the barn. Inside, they found an assortment of farming implements.
"Well, here we are," said Applejack. She began gathering hay into seven different piles. "Ah'm sorry about the small space, but it's the best Ah can do fer you."
"Not at all," said Erza, as the weary travelers settled down for the night, "Thanks for helping us out."
"If you need anything else, sugarcube, just ask." With that, Applejack left them alone for the night. It's truly been an interesting day, thought Erza, as she fell asleep, hopefully tomorrow we can get some answers.