It was late in the evening. The school was quiet, as it tended to be any time after school when there wasn't an event going on. Sunset and Twilight both frowned at the statue that absorbed their attention.

Twilight tapped it with a pen, only for the pen to sink several inches. "How long is this supposed to stay open?"

"About five days." Sunset crossed her arms. "People are getting more nosey about it. I'm afraid someone will just, you know, fall in."

"I would be lying if I didn't admit to being one of them." Twilight raised a brow. "To think there's another me, and you--"

"There's no other me," assured Sunset.

Twilight blinked in confusion. "How can you be sure?"

Sunset hiked a thumb at the statue. "I'm from there."

Twilight made a quick note. "Then the other you has to be here, but wait... Does that mean you're a horse?"

"Pony," corrected Sunset with a sigh. "A unicorn, to be specific."

Twilight leaned towards Sunset. "Fascinating! Well, you said the other... me... had a way of opening it whenever she wanted?"

Sunset gestured up at the school. "Her diary is linked to my diary, so they form a sort of bridge across worlds. She uses it to power a fancy contraption that lets her visit even when the time's wrong. How does that close it though?"

Twilight got a triumphant smile. "Well it's a simple matter of harmonics. If we make the portal not tied to Equestria, then it should close, like a hole with no other side."

Sunset hiked a brow. "Alright, I think I'm with you, so how?"

Twilight tapped at an elbow with the opposing hand a moment before she snapped her fingers, face lighting up with an idea. "We give it something else to harmonize with."

Sunset looked around, even if she wasn't sure what she could offer. "Like... a football?" She picked up the discarded ball.

"Well, maybe." Twilight frowned. "I think we need something with a bit more... resonance." She pointed up at the school. "What about the fake crown? It's like the Equestrian crown, but off just enough that it might mess with things and produce the desired effect."

Sunset raised a brow back at where the crown hid. "I was happy not thinking about that." She gave a soft and insincere laugh. "But if you really think it'd work..."

"I can't promise, but it's worth a try, right?"

With a heavy sigh, Sunset approached the school. The doors would be locked of course, but she'd worked really hard to make up for her demonic possession of the school. The principals trusted her, perhaps a bit too much. She produced a key and was inside in a hurry, dashing to where the crown was stored. It was nice of Twilight, er, the Equestrian one, to bring the crown back, as silly as it was.

She held it up and turned it around. It really was a lousy imitation. It barely looked alike except for the superficialities. Ah well. It was the best they had. She jogged out of the school and locked the door before descending the stairs towards Twilight, waving the crown.

Twilight had not been idle while Sunset was fetching the crown. She had a curious looking device assembled using the parts of a phone with a space for the crown to rest.

Sunset raised a brow at it. "You did not just build that."

Twilight blinked softly. "But I did... I've been considering the ramifications of this portal for a long time. This is just the first time I went ahead and put my theories to the test." She accepted the crown and slotted it into position. Her device lit up, casting light on the crown from below. "Are you ready?"

Sunset rolled a hand. "You clearly are. Go ahead."

Twilight smiled with eager anticipation and pressed the large red button without reservation. The device gave a soft hum before it jumped right out of her hands. The crown began sparkling and jumping, but it remained clipped to the odd device. The portal opened visibly, a deep purplish color that darkened to an impenetrable black shade as an odd throbbing noise filled the area.

Sunset's gaze darted between the portal and her friend. "Is it supposed to do... that?"

"I think so?" Not that Twilight knew for sure. When her phone got sucked violently into the portal and vanished, she knew. It wasn't a good knowledge. "No..." She took a slow step, only to collapse as a tremendous force pulled at her and left her clinging awkwardly at the sidewalk to avoid being sucked in.

Sunset reached to grab her friend even as the wind rushed past her into the portal. Her shoes slid across the ground and she lost her footing, managing little but to fall forward onto her belly with a shrill cry. The intense force plucked her from the ground and hurtled her to the portal as she screamed, "Help meee--" Her cry was cut short as she vanished.

Twilight looked around in a panic. Their friends were nowhere in sight. No one was in sight. She lifted a hand and lunged forward, trying to get away when the force hefted her right up off the ground and she was sucked into the voracious portal.

They fell into the space between spaces. Their bodies reconfigured in a haze of pain and discomfort, but they couldn't see each other, let alone themselves. They were both close and so very far away, but they could hear screaming. Was it their own, or that of their friend, that they couldn't tell.

They fell roughly to grassy turf with a chorus of grunts of pain.

Sunset raised a... hoof? to her head. She realized the limb-mismatch quickly and blinked. "Did we go to Equestria?"

Twilight slowly sat up, blinking through her thick glasses. She was still wearing the same clothes she had been before, and they fit well enough for her equine frame. "What happened?" She rose up on two legs, wobbling in place as she tried to stand as a human might and even managing it with direct attention. "Oh..." Her eyes swept over her transformed body. "T-this... I'm a horse."

"Pony," offered Sunset as she rose to her hooves, looking around. They were not in the Crystal Empire, not by far. She couldn't tell where they were at all. She had also come with her clothes, which was not normal for the portal. Her leather jacket fit quite nicely despite her having become a pony. "Where are we?" They were in a forest, but not the center of one. She could see a small town nearby, mostly quiet and still. It had torches for lights, scattered about. Not electric lights. Not lanterns. This was... not Equestria, or so she figured, or maybe it was a little town?

Twilight fell to all fours with a soft oof. "How do we get back?" She looked around a moment and gave a happy noise as she approached her fallen phone. She reached for it, but it fell apart the moment she attempted to pick it up. "Not... this..." She looked around suspiciously before her eyes settled on a small figure lit by a torch. "Look, a little pony kid!"

Sunset turned quickly. The proportions were wrong for a foal. "It's just a little pony." She stepped forward. "Maybe they can at least tell us where we are."

Twilight quickly scooped up the remnants of her phone and the faux crown, stuffing it in a pocket as best she could with a hoof she had no practice using. She had to, um, well, she tried to run and fell back down to all fours. She only moved forward by merit of having four legs to balance on as she awkwardly ambled along after Sunset. "Wait up! How do you move like this?"

Sunset resisted a moment of annoyance. This was human Twilight. Why would she know how to be a pony? With a forced smile, she lent a hoof back to Twilight and helped encourage her forward. "It takes some practice, but it isn't nearly as bad as human moving."

"S-sure, I suppose." She could walk along at a slow rate. "I have a tail," she said as if she had just noticed, but she did have one. It even swished as she looked over her shoulder at it. "Do I look horrible?" Sunset opened her mouth to reply, but Twilight didn't stop, "Oh of course you wouldn't think so. I mean you are a pony."

Sunset went red at the accusation, as true as it was in some ways. "You're really not bad looking. You're even cute."

Twilight flushed red and laughed a little. "I'm a cute little pony. Of course."

"Hello?" The small pony approached with dull pink fur and darker red mane and tail. "Oh, hello!" He scampered, his legs seeming too short to really reach the ground. "Are you from Turves?"

Sunset tilted her head. Where was Turves? "Afraid not. Nice to meet you, mister...?"

"Oh, I'm Rose Petal." He gestured to himself, then spread his hooves wide as he sat down. "Welcome to our village. Did you come to join the spring festival? You're just in time for that!" He sounded quite happy to see them, his face split into a huge smile.

Twilight was even more lost than Sunset. "Do you know the way back to Canterlot High?"

Rose blinked softly. "Where? Is that in the mountains?" He rose to his hooves. "Nevermind that, come with me. It's too late to be wandering out. A forest animal might try to take a bite out of you."

Sunset tapped her chin as she looked around the town they were approaching. The homes were little more than straw and thatch huts, with only a meager few being ritzy enough to be made of wood, and not a single one made of stone or brick. "Oh, I'm Sunset Shimmer, and this is my friend, Twilight Sparkle."

Rose smiled at the introductions. "Nice to meet you both. I figured you just didn't want to say. Some people prefer to keep that sort of thing a secret around the spring festival." He did a slow turn. "It's too late for most people... want to stay with me?" He pointed at himself. "My place isn't very big, but enough for three ponies to sleep the night safely."

Twilight shook her head. "We should really--"

Sunset clapped a hoof over Twilight's mouth as she leaned in to whisper, "Look, we should take what we can get. We won't get anywhere in the dark. Let's get some sleep and consider this in the morning."

Twilight cleared her throat as the hoof was removed. "As I was saying, we should accept your kind invitation, um Rose, was it?"

"Rose Petal," he reminded with a chipper tone as he led the way to a small hut and nudged open the door to it. "I don't normally wander this late, but I had a feeling, I did, that I should take a look, just one, and there you both were!"

Author's Notes:

And so the adventure begins! Surely this can't go wrong...

Twilight makes a slight typo in her device to get things started.