Hooves, Paws, and Magic

[zorayda]

Twilight Sparkle had had just about enough.

The argument that had started with mention of her powerful magic began as it usually did when somepony mentioned Twilight's abilities: she'd blushed shyly and scuffed her hooves, embarassed but flattered by the attention. But when Rainbow Dash challenged her, Twilight's shyness had quickly radiated into full-blown anger and a thirst to prove herself.

Various magical effects surrounded the violet pony--Spike was now transformed into a colt pegasus temporarily, Rarity had her wings back (she was currently fluttering in the air, giggling to herself like a silly filly), bugs were dancing in a conga line, and one of Pinkie Pie's famous cupcakes was engorged to twenty times its size. But that wasn't nearly enough for her brash pegasus friend.

"You seriously want more, Dash? You're gonna get it!" Twilight ground out between her teeth, sweat pouring from her face. With tremendous effort, her horn glowed with her own brand of magic. With a high-pitched sound, something broke inside the pony, and she immediately blanked out, magic expanding. Her normally sparkling purple irises disappeared, replaced by a white glow, and as everypony watched the spectacle, her body began to float seemingly on its own. Her mane began to drift as if carried by an invisible breeze...

Fluttershy, who had been softly protesting against this argument, had her hooves to her mouth as rays of pure magical energy emanated from Twilight's horn, frightening everypony around them. There was a sudden loud sound, as if Derpy had dropped another heavy delivery, and a strange, circular thing appeared before them. All the ponies backed away from it in fright as it began to swirl strangely, emitting more sounds like crackling electricity.

Then, like a shot, things tumbled out of it and onto the ground. The ponies began to panic, some running away, some frozen in fear, as the things moved and shifted, making noises...

It was then that one of them opened its eyes, looking around sluggishly.

It was a lion. Twilight Sparkle had opened a portal... into a whole other dimension.

[SnowyCheetah]

Rainbow Dash watched with a smug smirk on her face as Twilight spewed magic all over the room, turning things into other things in attempts to outdo her.

"That all you got?" Dash sneered, her wings raised as she poked Twilight's flank with a forehoof. No later than she had said that was Twilight gearing up for an amazing grand finale. As Twilight spoke with clenched teeth, Rainbow backed away just a little as anger became evident in the unicorn's eyes. "I-I'd like t-t-to see that..." she said, still trying to sound brave but in reality shaking with fear as Twilight's horn began glowing again, brighter than ever and with a frightening noise to boot.

Bright light shone from Twilight's previously anger-filled eyes, making all the others around her squint as she blacked out, mane blowing in mysterious wind. The resulting circular formation ejected several figures which seemed to be alive. As the formation disappeared, Rainbow looked in awe as one of them rose to their feet. A lion! Perhaps Twilight had outdone her after all. Rainbow Dash stared, frozen, at the lioness as she looked at Rainbow with equal amount of shock, frozen as well. Meanwhile Rarity rushed to her fellow unicorn.

"Twilight!" she exclaimed, in her usual accent, "Darling, are you alright?!"

[zorayda]

Twilight's form stuttered and twitched as her magic stopped as quickly as it had started. She collapsed tiredly onto the ground, panting and sweating profusely, not quite comprehending what had just happened. Her eyes slowly met Rarity's, and she nodded sluggishly before closing her eyes in a dead faint. The amount of effort she had just put forth had exhausted her. With a shaky gasp, her friend Fluttershy came forward, all but shoving Rarity away in a moment of anguish for Twilight.

"Oh, goodness--poor Twilight! I'll take care of her," the winged pony said in her sweet voice, and with Rarity's help, they got the purple unicorn away from the hubbub and off to the side.

Meanwhile, two of the figures that had dropped from the unicorn's portal stirred, blinking confusedly at their surroundings.

The adult, Simba, noticed how very... colorful everything seemed. Strange animals, reminiscent to brightly colored zebras, only smaller, surrounded them, their eyes widened in fear and curiosity. The large lion king got shakily to his feet, his hazel eyes meeting first a pink 'zebra's', then a strange, googly-eyed gray one's.

"Wh-what... where am I?" he asked groggily, addressing no one in particular but expecting an answer all the same. Truthfully, he was slightly confused and somewhat nervous about his new surroundings... but then he saw Nala, his mate, and relief engulfed him. No matter the situation, he could endure anything with her... at the moment, she seemed to be staring down a particularly obnoxious-colored 'zebra'--and that one had wings. What the heck was this place?!

A tiny groan alerted him to the presence of another lion--one of the cubs from their pride. Taro, he recalled. The small male opened his green eyes and almost immediately shrank down behind Simba's foreleg, frightened terribly by all the noise and colors and smells...

"What... are you?" Simba asked a bit more loudly, now addressing the strange animal... herd.

[SnowyCheetah]

Pinkie Pie had just recovered from her stupor as the events unfolded in front of her, and as Simba uttered the words "what are you?" she looked over to him. She put on her famous glareface and walked up to him, looking him directly in the eye. She did this for a good 15 seconds, making the situation thoroughly awkward. Rainbow Dash, expecting Pinkie to say something, looked over to her out the corner of her eye, waiting nervously as the huge lion stood before her.

Without warning, Pinkie leapt into the air and let out a huge gasp, legs flying everywhere and a cloud of dust appearing as she whizzed off to an unknown location after her dramatic gasp.

Rainbow, being left alone with the lions again, gulped and opened her mouth. "W-w-w-we're ponies..." she said, stuttering, her ears folding back and her wings drooping down to her sides, but not folding. She backed away a couple steps, thoroughly examining the three lions before her. "Where did you come from?! How did you get in here?!" she asked, nopony else with her. Where is Applejack when you need her? Then she remembered Derpy was there. Out the corner of her mouth, with clenched jaws, she whispered loudly, "Derpy!! Get over here now!!"

Nala shook her head a bit, recovering from her daze. "Ponies?" she asked perplexedly, looking over the colorful creature before her. "Interesting..." she said, looking at Simba and leaning to whisper into his ear. "How did we get here?" she asked, wrapping one forepaw around Taro as he cowered behind Simba's leg.

[zorayda]

Simba's hazel eyes widened imperceptibly as a bright pink creature scrutinized him thoroughly. Though she was much smaller than he was, she gave him the feeling that she held the power in this situation with her sharp blue eyes. He flattened his ears in both nervousness and annoyance. Didn't she know that he had the ability to take her down with one swipe of his paw? But, of course, he did no such thing, waiting for her to pass judgment. It was their world, after all...

He flinched when she gasped animatedly, then scooted off to some unknown destination. He exchanged looks with his mate before turning his attention to another of the creatures. This one answered one of his questions... they were, apparently, ponies. They came in all colors, some winged, some with a single horn like some weird antelope, and some like candy colored zebras. With a huff of air, his brows furrowed. Now he was even more confused. What the heck was a pony? And what was with all of these weird structures everywhere? The things that surrounded them were more colorful and confusing than the ponies themselves.

"I... I have no idea," he stammered in answer to Nala's question. "But we definitely need to figure out how to get back." He had a kingdom to rule, for Ahieu's sake!

A small noise sounded, and Simba's ears flicked as he turned his attention to Taro. Despite being frightened by all the noise and sensory overload, he was giggling quietly at the behavior of the bright pink (and somewhat poofy) pony. The cub looked up as another gray pony sidled up to them at the request of the blue winged pony in front of them, her eyes crossed in a comical way.

"Muffins?" she queried, before boldy fluttering up to Simba and poking him in the nose with a hoof. Taro's mouth hung open in surprise as Simba simply stood there, dumbfounded by the daring of the dim pegasus. Derpy paid no heed and laughed gaily, now working her hooves through his mane like a curious baby cub.

At this, Taro finally lost it, and rolled onto his back, belly laughing at the helplessly confused look on Simba's face.

--------------

Twilight groaned as she came to, vision blurry. An image of yellow and pink focused in front of her, and she recognized Fluttershy. The pegasus pony looked concerned.

"Are you all right?" she asked softly, touching a forehoof to Twilight's. The unicorn tried to nod, but her head hurt too much.

"Mhmm..." she hummed quietly. "What... happened?" she asked. The look on Fluttershy's face as she exchanged alarmed looks with Rarity sent a spike of fear into her heart.

"Well, dear," Rarity began, as if speaking to a child, "You got a little carried away... we think you made a portal into another dimension...?" the end of her sentence went up into a question-like tone out of nervousness for Twilight's reaction. "And you, er, might have summoned up a few creatures from that world. Lions, namely," she finished matter-of-factly, as if it wasn't strange at all.

Twilight's face was one of shock and horror. She could do that with her magic? And she'd torn innocent creatures of another universal plane into Equestria?! Oh Celestia...

And speaking of the princess... how was Twilight supposed to tell her about all of this?! She'd been so irresponsible, and now look what had happened!

"Ohhhh no, no, no..." the purple unicorn moaned. Rarity chewed on her lip and glanced at Fluttershy. "Guys, we've got to figure out how to get them home," Twilight said, voice cracking. She tried to get up, but her exhaustion was just too much.

"No, Twilight... you have to rest before you use your magic again," Fluttershy chided gently, pushing her friend down with a hoof.

"Ah... yes, you're right... but I need to at least talk to the lions before I do that," Twilight said firmly. Rarity and Fluttershy reluctantly agreed, holding the pony steady as she wobbled towards Simba and the others.

[SnowyCheetah]

Nala scowled at Taro and quickly scooped him up with one paw, bringing him up to her level and whispering harshly, "Taro! Such a scene is hardly appropriate here! Who knows what these... ponies... will think of us! Even if we don't know them we need to make a decent, dignified... and strong first impression."

Setting the cub down next to Simba, Nala stepped forward slightly, her nose nearly touching Derpy's as the grey pony ran her hooves through Simba's mane. Clearing her throat implyingly, she glared just a little at Derpy. "This is my mate, if you are curious to know." she stated, gently pushing the pony back a little bit, confident that if any sort of scuffle were to arise, she and Simba could handle it. Rainbow Dash watched in horror as Derpy was pushed back slightly by the lion, who was appearing angrier by the second.

"Don't make them mad!" she whispered into Derpy's ear, hoping the googly-eyed pony would take the hint to back off. "I'm so sorry about her, she doesn't mean any harm." Rainbow said, taking charge of the situation and exploring the very most extreme limits of her bravery. "My name is Rainbow Dash, and this is Derpy Hooves." she said in her squeaky, projective¹ voice. She hoped dearly that Derpy would not make any further mistakes.

Meanwhile a short distance away, a snow leopard/cheetah hybrid with a few differences from both species had ended up on his back behind a bookcase. He woke up with a start, although in a daze, as a book tumbled off the top of the bookcase and landed square on his belly. Nearly knocking it over as he rotated to his feet, he sprung out from behind it and nearly fell over as he came to a stop behind the two ponies. Rainbow Dash spun around with a start as Snowy appeared behind her. Yelping in surprise, she backed up, ran into Simba and fell on her butt as she realized another creature was present.

Snowy was dumbfounded at the strange creature, but even more frightened by the presence of lions. Knowing only to run from them, ran to the nearest window and leapt out, not realizing he would fall an entire story to the ground below.

Stormy, just arriving to the house with Applejack, was nearly squashed when the new creature fell right in front of him with a large, dull thud.

---

Rarity watched carefully as they re-entered the room. Rainbow Dash was peering out the window, having completely forgotten about Derpy and completely ignoring the lions. "H-h-h-h-he jumped out! He jumped out the window!" she exclaimed.

"Who did?" Rarity asked with curiosity.

"The... thing. I don't know what he was!" Dash exclaimed. "Come see for yourself!"

"I am a bit busy." Rarity said with mild frustration, still helping Twilight keep on her feet.

---

¹ Yay for making up new words! :D

[zorayda]

Taro immediately sobered up as Nala, his lion queen where he was from, demanded dignity from him.

"Oh, y-yes ma'am," he replied sheepishly, getting to a sitting position after she set him down.

Simba had a very compelling urge to burst out in hysterical laughter and to maul the goofy gray pegasus in from of him. He restrained himself on both accounts, trying to come up with a way to get the pony to stop without hurting her. However, his mate came to the rescue as she came face-to-face with the gray pony.

Derpy didn't seem intimidated at all by Nala's glare, her eyes trying to focus on the lioness's face. She seemed to comprehend that touching Simba was wrong in some way and she dropped her hooves, backing away to hover next to Rainbow Dash and looking disappointed.

"Fuzzy..." she said sadly, but kept quiet after that.

Simba cleared his throat, trying to retain some dignity even as his mane stuck up in weird places where Derpy had messed with it. He came to a standing position, which drastically changed how big he looked. Being a full grown male lion, he was absolutely huge, with a great shaggy mane and a majestic golden coat to match the entire picture. He was at least three times the size of Rainbow Dash, who seemed to comprehend all of this thoroughly.

Good, at least one of them understands just what we are, Simba thought to himself, his muzzle curling into a secret smirk.

"Hello, Rainbow Dash, Derpy. My name is Simba. I am the king of the Pridelands, which is where all of us come from. This is my mate and queen, Nala, and this is a cub of the pride. His name is Taro," Simba introduced all of them politely, his voice sounding significantly more regal in the face of girlish pony voices.

Things were interrupted, however, when a white, extra-furry cheetah burst in, startling the one calling herself Rainbow Dash. Sighting the group of lions, it then leapt up and out of a hole that was covered in some strange field that shattered upon impact. Taro's ears were perked up in surprise, as well, his fright momentarily forgotten.

"Oh, no! That poor creature... he's frightened, and I think he's going to hurt himself," Fluttershy exclaimed in a voice that was loud for her. Looking at Rarity and Twilight in concern, the latter nodded her head.

"It's okay, Fluttershy. Go tend to the new visitor, Rarity and I will be fine," the unicorn reassured her, now a bit more stable than she'd been. The yellow pegasus left the building, and Twilight Sparkle turned to her fashionista friend.

"Okay, Rarity, let's do this..." she said. The two of them hobbled over to the lions, and Twilight reminded herself to stay calm in the midst of the chaos. The lions--or, at least, the two adults--were very large and menacing in appearance compared to the ponies, but she knew that looks weren't everything. Looking at Rainbow Dash quickly and giving her a reassuring nod, she turned to Simba, Nala, and Taro, telling them the story of what had happened so far, as well as a brief explanation of magic.

-------------

Applejack was having a strange day.

Just a few minutes ago, Pinkie Pie had shot past her, pausing briefly to give the orange pony a very confusing and brief synopsis of what was going down in Twilight's library. Concerned and more than a little curious, Applejack began trotting that way, accompanied eventually by Stormy Seethe, one of the pegasus colts. She wasn't entirely sure why he was there--perhaps to get a book or to check out what was going on--but she gasped in surprise when a big, spotty, four-legged thing landed right on top of him.

"What 'n tarnation...?!" she exclaimed, green eyes wide. Her muscles tensed in preparation, ready to defend or attack the thing that had seemingly come out of nowhere. "Whoa, Fluttershy? 'Zat you?" Applejack said as the yellow pony flew to meet the spotted cat, soft eyes concerned.

"Yes, Applejack. Twilight accidentally warped some creatures from another dimension into our world... this one was frightened away and needs my help," Fluttershy explained, turning to Snowy. "It's okay... we won't hurt you," she said slowly, keeping her distance and looking the cheetah in the eyes.

In the meantime, Applejack approached Stormy, who seemed worse for the wear.

"You a'right?" she asked him, holding out a hoof to help him up.

[SnowyCheetah]

Nala was thoroughly surprised to hear from Twilight everything that had happened. Realizing that the creatures meant no harm, she sat down and hoped Simba would do the same. She wanted to inquire as to when and how they would be sent back to the Pridelands but could see Twilight, the one who had brought them out of their home in the first place, wasn't in a very good state. Apparently "magic" took a lot of energy.

"If you all are needing a place to stay for awhile... I do have some spare rooms. I would also simply love to try some of my designs on you but I can see you are tired so that part can wait!" Rarity volunteered, still helping to support the tipsy Twilight Sparkle.

Nala knew now that her hopes for any sort of speedy return to the Pridelands were dashed. Trying to keep up a refined and ambassadorial appearance, she kindly thanked Rarity for the invitation and nudged Simba with her elbow to chime in.

---

Stormy grabbed Applejack's hoof and pulled himself up. "Uh, yeah, I guess..." he said, two ponies he hadn't met before and a strange snow cheetah making him a bit nervous. "I'm Stormy Seethe." he said, managing a nervous smile as he did his best to be polite. Normally he spent a lot of time in the clouds, not dealing much even with his pegasus peers.

Meanwhile Snowy was waking up from a temporary daze. "It's okay... we won't hurt you," Fluttershy's words echoed in his head as he only saw a yellow and pink blur moving in front of his eyes. He moaned a bit and struggled to his feet, wobbly managing to remain standing as his eyes focused on the pony in front of him. This was a strange creature, but her warm, comforting eyes and special touch with animals kept him from spooking and darting again.

"W-who are you? Where am I? ...what happened?" he said, rubbing his head with one forepaw and sitting down to take a quick look at his surroundings.

[zorayda]

Simba breath caught at the ponies' explanations. So they would not be going home for a long while... meaning that he'd be leaving his subjects behind to fend for themselves. He gnashed his teeth silently for a moment, fuming. How horrible was this predicament they were in? Would they ever go home, where they belonged? Growling sharply, he glared at Twilight. She flinched at the severity in his gaze, and he spoke through his pointed teeth.

"You will work as hard as you can to take us home and fix your irresponsible mistake. We do not belong here," Simba said with harsh authority. Twilight Sparkle nodded miserably, feeling both terrified and guilty. Her ears drooped to the sides and her violet eyes could not hold Simba's gaze.

"I... I promise I will. I'm so sorry," she said quietly.

Turning to Rarity, he nodded. "I appreciate your generosity. We will most definitely need somewhere to stay, so we accept your offer. Thank you very much," he said, his voice considerably softer than when speaking to Twilight.

***

Applejack wholeheartedly took Stormy's hoof, shaking it vigorously and smiling in a friendly way.

"Well it shore is good t' meetcha, Stormy. Ah'm Applejack," the sherbert-colored mare said warmly. "Ah kin in-ter-doose ya t' mah friends, too, iffin' yeh'd like," she added, dropping the pegasus's hoof and pushing her hat up a bit.

****

Fluttershy automatically checked Stormy's head as he rubbed it, speaking in her soft voice.

"My name's Fluttershy--oh dear, it looks like you have a mild concussion--and you're in Ponyville--you should probably get some ice on that--which is in Equestria," she said, simultaneously checking Snowy's pulse and staring into his pupils to check for dilation and signs of injury. She prodded various bits of him with a gentle hoof, practiced in veterinary knowledge.

"Mr. Snowy, would it be okay if you came with me to my house tonight? I have some supplies and medicine you might need for your injuries," she finished. Fluttershy seemed to feel much less shy when dealing with non-ponies, or when she had a job to do... Snowy fulfilled both, so the yellow mare didn't have any qualms with asking such questions.

[SnowyCheetah]

Nala's heart sunk as Simba spoke to Twilight in such an authoritative and pushy manner. She mentally facepawed and her facial expression showed it as she hung her head in embarrassment. She tried to discreetly whisper to him not to be so harsh with the ponies, but it seemed that he was too busy snapping to hear her.

Rarity was equally surprised and, had it not been for the lions' immense size and well-known carnivorous tendencies, would have rebuffed him in defense of Twilight with a hearty, "Well I say!" But, knowing that he could devour she and her fellow unicorn in less than a minute, put all of her mental effort toward holding her tongue. She was beginning to regret having invited the lions into her home.

When Simba was finished Nala quickly walked to Rarity under the guise of hurrying their departure to Rarity's store. "I'm very sorry about him, he has a tendency to act without thoroughly thinking sometimes... I do hope you'll understand and um... don't take it personally?" she pleaded quietly with Rarity and Twilight before, in a louder voice saying, "Where is this room you have? The three of us are quite exhausted."

Relieved that at least one of the lions was friendly enough, Rarity's hopes for a tolerable set of house guests was somewhat restored. "I'll be more than happy to show you to it, my dear; just allow me a few seconds to get Twilight situated here and we'll be right on our way!" she said cheerfully, helping Twilight off to her room where, hopefully, she could get some much-needed rest before beginning on a solution to the most unusual predicament at hoof.

Meanwhile, Nala stayed behind to make sure Simba didn't try to follow them or pull any similar stunts to follow through on his bossy treatment of Twilight. She would be giving him a stern lecture later on.

----

Stormy rubbed his head a little with one hoof after Applejack let go of it. "I'd, um..." he stuttered nervously, "Sure." he managed, not really wanting to engage in more social interactions but deciding he should be nice to Applejack, who had generously helped him up and been more than a little friendly in the process.

----

Snowy, in his dazed state, struggled to keep up with what Fluttershy was saying to him as she spoke quickly, darted between sentences simultaneously and gently prodded him in various areas with her hoof, which was a type of appendage he had never felt or seen before.

By some sort of miracle, although barely keeping awake, Snowy managed to discern that he was in Ponyville, which was in a larger area called Equestria... odd names... and that he had some sort of condition whose name he couldn't pronounce nor did he know what it meant, but he knew it was making his head hurt quite a lot. "I... guess..." he muttered quietly in response to Fluttershy's inquiry about taking him to her house for the night. He didn't fully understand the question or what he was getting into but Fluttershy seemed nice, and she seemed to care quite a lot about his well-being so he figured it was more or less a good idea to let her take charge. He was at least able to tell that he wasn't thinking at full throttle.