Chapter 2
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The quartet of three girls and a dog were seated on a bus heading into the city. The youngest of the three humans was sitting with her arms folded.
“Twilight, how many times do I have to say I’m sorry?” Sunset asked for what felt like the hundredth time.
Shortly after walking away from their friends, Twilight had squirmed out of Sunset’s arms and shouted at her for treating her like a foal.
Sunset was ashamed to admit that, in those few seconds she’d picked up her fellow Equestrian, she had completely forgotten that, just because Twilight looked like a child, it didn’t mean she should be treated like one.
Twilight snorted, looking down at the floor of the bus with a glare.
Sunset sighed and looked to Twilight’s older counterpart, who just gave a small shrug herself.
“How come you smell the same?”
The sudden question made the little girl look to the dog sitting in her older self’s lap. “What do you mean?”
Spike scratched behind an ear with a hind leg, before returning his gaze to the younger version of his owner. “Well, you’re a pony in your world, right?”
Young Twilight nodded slightly.
Spike cocked his head. “Well, shouldn’t you smell a little different than my Twilight? But you smell just like her.”
“Well, that makes sense, when you think about it,” the child replied, lifting a finger and adopting a lecturing tone that was honestly amusingly adorable. “Despite our species difference, when someone goes through the portal, they’re bio-scripted into a species better suited to whichever world they’re entering. When Sunset and I travelled through the portal, we both became humans due to them being the dominant species on this planet and that our counterparts are such a species.” The little then frowned, putting a hand to her chin. “Though that doesn’t explain why a dragon would turn into a dog upon entering this world. I never did understand that.”
“Wait,” Spike’s eyes widened. “You mean, if I went through the portal, I’d turn into a dragon?”
“Well, a baby dragon, but, yes, you would,” Twilight nodded.
Sunset looked to her friend’s older self and both wore a satisfied smile. Spike had managed to make her forget her anger with the thirst for knowledge.
After a few more minutes, they all got up, the buss having reached their stop and they got out, Spike now being held in the arms of the younger Twilight as they chatted about dragons and what similarities he shared with his own counterpart back in Equestria.
They walked up the street towards one house in particular. It was a two story house, with white painted walls, a white picket fence and a driveway that currently was holding two cars.
As they neared, however, it was apparent something was off. All four could feel a tension in the air. Walking up to the front door, the sounds of voices inside could be heard.
The older Twilight took a key out from her shorts left pocket, unlocked the door and let the others in.
Upon entering, the younger Twilight’s eyes widened as she registered the voices speaking.
“... really sorry about that,” a calm and sooth voice was saying. “I told him I had the recordings, but he wouldn’t believe me and I had to give them to another of the officers.”
“It’s fine, Cadance,” another female voice replied. “I’m sure once he hears them himself, he’ll apologize.”
“We know how much he beats himself up whenever he does something wrong,” a male voice answered. “Remember the wedding?”
That was as far as things got. Before Sunset or her older self could do anything, Spike was dropped as the little girl barrelled through the entrance hall and into what was clearly the kitchen. However, upon entering said room, Twilight became frozen in place at what she was seeing.
Gathered around a small table were three people. One was a woman with pink skin, blue eyes and hair that was a blend of a deeper pink than her skin, purple and yellow hues, wearing what the Equestrain could guess was a business suit coloured a bluish-green, with the image of a crystal heart on the upper left of her suit and a light blue flared skirt.
The other was a tall man with blue skin and dark-blue hair, yellow eyes, wearing a blue long sleeve shirt was wearing and white trousers, with the cuff-link in the shape a yellow crescent moon with a smaller white crescent moon in the empty space facing in the opposite direction within the first.
The third, however, was one of the biggest draws to the regressed Equestrian. She was a woman with fine grayish-white skin, kind blue eyes, purple and white hair, wearing a long pink skirt and a long sleeve slightest purple top with three purple stars in its centre.
For several long seconds, all four stared, three staring at Twilight and her staring back.
Suddenly, something began to bubble up from within Twilight. Her lips began to quiver; her eyes began to tear up. Before anyone could react and beyond Twilight’s ability to comprehend, she wailed.
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This... won’t end well, Sunset thought gloomily as Twilight dropped Spike and rushed towards the sound of voices.
The older Twilight kneeled down and picked up her dog. “Are you alright, Spike?”
“Um... I think so,” he said, giving his head a shake. “What just happened?”
“Twilight heard Twilight’s parents and thought they’re hers,” Sunset said, pausing after finishing her sentence.
The other two just looked weirdly at her.
“That... honestly sounded better in my head,” the yellow girl replied.
Before either dog or girl could comment and loud wailing scream erupted from the kitchen, followed by the sound of smashing china.
They all hurried into the kitchen, only for their eyes to widen. Three humans Sunset could guessed were Twilight’s parents, plus Dean Cadance from Crystal Prep, were hiding under a table as crockery and other kitchen utensils were flying around the room in an erratic manner.
However, what caught all their attention was that each item was glowing with a purple aura.
And sitting with her legs splayed out in the middle of all the chaos, tears streaming down her face, was the younger Twilight.
Now, logically, the first thought any being would have when seeing a crying child is to comfort said child. But, that idealism never took into account that said child would have hands with a glowing purple aura, or that the kitchen itself was attacking under the influence of her sorrow.
“What do we do?!” Spike cried in alarm as the three dropped to the floor to avoid several flying saucers that almost smashed into their heads.
“I don’t know!” Twilight cried out.
Sunset couldn’t agree more. This wasn’t something she’d anticipated. Sure, they’d all started developing their magic more, but Princess Twilight hadn’t even Ponied Up and even when she had in the past, she’d never been able to do this kind of magic before. It was almost as if she could still use her magic like back in Equestria, but that couldn’t be... could it?
She wanted to think more on this, but the very real threat of the young Twilight’s outburst of both emotion and magic was a risk. She needed to figure out how to calm this situation and fast.
Chancing a look towards the three adults cowering under the table, her eyes fellow on the woman who was clearly this world’s Twilight’s mother.
It was a slim chance, but, maybe... Oh, who was she kidding? Who cares how likely it would work? It was all she could think of on the spot and if it saved their lives, good, if it didn’t... well, they were in danger already, so it’s not like they had anything to lose.
“What’s your mother’s name?!” Sunset shouted to the girl next to her.
Twilight glanced at her in confusion. “Twilight Velvet!” she shouted back, cocking an eyebrow. “Why?”
“Mrs Velvet!” Sunset called out, getting the attention of the three adults, Cadance’s eyes widening in recognition. “Hug her!” she pointed to the crying child.
The three looked at her in absolute bewilderment.
“I’ll explain later. But you’re her mother. Hug her and it should calm her down. Trust me on this!” Not that Sunset trusted herself, if she were being honest. Of all the weird shit she’d had to deal with since the Fall Formal, she wasn’t at all prepared for this kind of situation. It honestly made the Midnight Sparkle thing seem normal in comparison. At least then she had some idea what to do, whereas now she was pretty much going blind.
Velvet looked uncertainly from Sunset to the little girl clearly causing the chaos in her kitchen. However, she had been confused when the little girl had come in and she did look familiar.
Whatever the case, it was the only idea she’d been given, crazy as it sounded.
Carefully, Velvet crawled out from under the table towards the wailing child. She had to duck a few times to avoid incoming kitchen projectiles, but, after about half a minute, she’d made it to the distraught child.
With nothing left to lose, she followed Sunset’s advice and wrapped her arms around the crying child and, for reasons she didn’t understand, found herself speaking as if to her own daughter.
“Shh. Twilight, it’s okay. It’s okay. Mommy’s here. Everything’s going to be alright.”
It was gradual, but, as the seconds ticked by, the objects flying around the room began to slow down, before eventually stopping altogether, some crashing to floor and shuttering, whilst others tumbled around or made a mess.
After several moments of stillness and quiet, save the sound of Twilight Velvet’s voice gently hushing the child in her arms and said child’s sobs and sniffles, Sunset, Spike, Twilight, Dean Cadance and Twilight’s father got up, moving over to the two.
It was as they neared that Sunset noticed the young Twilight had fallen asleep in her inter dimensional mother’s arms, her face still stained with tears, though looking exhausted.
Velvet looked up at Sunset, then to her daughter standing right next to Sunset, before back to the human Equestrian. “Could someone please explain what’s going on?”
Both Sunset and Twilight gave nervous laughs.
“Well, you see...” Sunset trailed off, really not sure how to respond, her body still recovering from what she’d just been through.
“It’s kind of a long story,” Twilight finished for her, looking just as anxious.
“I can help with some, I think,” Dean Cadance said, looking from the girls to Velvet, more specifically the younger looking Twilight held in Velvet's arms. “Though clearly there are a few things I need explaining of myself.”