Rarity wondered if she had stopped into Golden Oaks Library at a bad time. Spike, laughing uncontrollably, bounded down the stairs as if he were running away from something. He skidded to a stop in front of her, breathlessly. "Oh man, Rarity! You should have seen Twilight - she had one of the boxes stuck on her horn. It was hilarious!"
The purple dragon fell to the ground, flailing his arms about and laughing. Rarity frowned. "One of the boxes? Hanging off of her horn? Spike, please tell me you are not referring to my delivery. I simply cannot afford the time ordering more right now. Cadance would be simply furious if I were late." A stern expression crossed her face. Spike, with considerable effort, calmed himself and took a breath.
"I don't really know what happened. At first she said she was stuck, but that didn't make sense. She had barricaded the door to the storage room with the boxes herself, as far as I could tell, so there's no reason she couldn't have moved them back. I told her to just teleport out if she was having problems, but instead she just seemed to get mad and started kicking them until one of them broke." A smile crossed his lips again as he recalled the memory. "And then, she pulled the entire stack down on top of herself! You should have seen the look on her face when she got the box off of her horn."
Rarity sighed and trotted upstairs to the storage closet. Twilight was sitting there on her haunches, her expression distraught, tears welling up in her eyes. Rarity was immediately taken aback, not only because of the tears, but because her irises were blue instead of the usual purple. Given the circumstances, she omitted her normal formality to not agitate her friend further, "Twilight, dear, whatever is the matter? You look absolutely miserable."
The teary-eyed face that met Rarity's gaze was filled with abject terror. Rarity immediately knew something very horrible had happened, but without Twilight speaking, she couldn't be sure what. Twilight's mouth opened a few times and closed again, but each time, no sound was uttered.
"Speak to me, dearie, what is wrong? Is there anything I can do?"
"You shouldn't talk." The response was quiet, almost a whisper.
"I beg your pardon?"
"You're a horse with a horn. A unicorn. Unicorns don't exist. And you're talking?" Rarity was getting progressively more confused. Twilight was dropping into what seemed like her usual lecture mode, though she was getting unusually worked up, seeming both morose and confused. "Your mouth isn't built for making human sounds. Your vocal cords shouldn't be able to make human sounds. It's not physically possible." She looked herself over. "Then again, it seems I'm now a horse too. This doesn't make any sense."
Rarity was completely dumbstruck. Twilight clearly wasn't joking, but Rarity was sure that she was suffering from some sort of mental manipulation. The Princess was going to need some form of intervention as soon as possible.
"Spike? Go get Fluttershy, please." She flicked her tail harshly to emphasize that this was not a trifling matter. Spike took the hint, immediately hopping to his feet.
"I'm on it!" he called out, as he ran out the door.
Rarity sat down carefully, trying to avoid direct eye contact; she didn't want to be staring at those distracting blue irises. "Okay, Twilight. It's clear something is bothering you. Would you care to talk to me about it?"
"Don't call me that."
"Pardon?"
"My name isn't Twilight. It's Rebecca."
Rarity blinked, shaking her head. "I'm sorry, I don't understand. We've known each other for years, and you've always been Twilight Sparkle. You mean to tell me, after all this time, that was never your name?"
"I ... don't know. You've known me for years? To me, we've only just met."
The strange situation was starting to bother Rarity. Unfortunately, the only pony she could think of that would be helpful was the one standing in front of her. "So you don't you remember?"
"No, I don't. I don't even know what I am. I mean, I'm a horse. But I have wings. And a horn."
"Horse is such a ... crude word, darling." Rarity had to resist the urge to call her Twilight, as she wasn't sure if it would set her off again. She decided it was better to simply answer questions instead of ask them until she had a better understanding of what was going on. "It's unbecoming of a proper pony to call oneself a horse. And you are an alicorn princess, the most magnificent of ponies!"
A perplexed expression crossed Twilight's features. "Alicorn? I've never heard of an alicorn before." She looked up with a hesitant expression. "Wait, princess? Me? You mean to say I'm a princess?" She began laughing nervously. "A princess!" She began laughing louder.
Rarity stared. Twilight was clearly not herself. Quietly, she watched as her friend's laughter shifted from a nervous titter to a maniacal outburst. As Rarity waited for Twilight to calm down, the wood behind her friend began to distort and warp in strange ways, shifting and twisting until it resembled a crude throne. The throne slowly took a more defined shape, not entirely unlike Celestia's throne as a strange laughter permeated the air, and the sound complimented Twilight's own laughter in an strange and unsettling fashion. Fluttershy and Spike popped into existence on either side of the chair as a portion of the ceiling swung open like a door. Discord strode through the door and into the room, walking down along the wall with a wanton disregard for the usual rules of gravity.
Twilight went silent, her laughter catching in her throat as she stared at Discord. She took a few steps backward before falling onto her haunches, her eyes betraying a sense of confusion.
Discord continued to laugh heartily as he strode onto the back of the throne that had formed from the wall and seated himself, his legs jutting into the sky, and his head sticking just under Twilight's chin. "Oh, Celestia, you amuse me so with your old forbidden toys!" His neck then stretched and bent at a 90 degree angle out toward Twilight's muzzle, and having passed that milestone then bent again straight up, his head turned backwards entirely so he could look her in the eyes. "And that, Rebecca, is the best part!"
Twilight recoiled and tried to scoot backwards on her rear, only succeeding in tumbling backwards. She righted herself again and pressed against the wall, trying to keep her distance. After a moment, her voice returned. "What in the world are you?"
Fluttershy gasped. "Discord! What did you do to Twilight now?!"
Discord laughed a deep laugh as the alicorn princess stared at him in a complete panic. "I did nothing, my dearest friend. Twilight did this to herself! Allow me to explain." Two cups popped into existence in front of him. He grasped one in each hand, a torrent of pure blue water pouring from the ceiling. The liquid neatly filled each cup without spilling a drop. "Think of these cups as bodies. The purple one here," he lifted one of the cups, a golden goblet, "is our beloved princess." A grape dropped into it from nowhere, and the water in it turned a brilliant purple as the grape dissolved. He lowered the other cup, a silver goblet, down to the floor. "This one, this crystal blue water is one Rebecca Williams."
He poured the water from the golden cup into the silver cup. As the incoming fluid displaced the blue water below, the blue flowed straight up into the air, pooling into a shining orb that hovered gently, looking like a blue sky. All the water displaced and gathered, the azure orb slowly flowed into the golden goblet. The blue liquid was now in the golden goblet, and the purple was now in the silver goblet. "You see, little ponies, they are not in their original bodies anymore!"
He suddenly disappeared and the cups dropped to the floor, landing perfectly upside down, both orbs of liquid orbs now sitting balanced on the bases of the goblets, defying physics. Discord rematerialized in two places at once, one right in front of Rarity and in the other in front of Fluttershy, putting a claw to Rarity's nose and a paw to Fluttershy's. "And that, my friends, is what makes it so fun." He laughed again, and sat on the wooden throne twice, each body melding with the wood before the entire chair began to reform back into the original wall.
Discord now absent, silence fell upon the remainder of the room. Twilight stood, eyes wide open, her mouth working up and down silently. Rarity sighed heavily. "I think we might have a little problem. I mean, if she's not Twilight, then ... where is Twilight?"
Twilight - no, Rebecca, Rarity reminded herself - shook her head and stomped a hind hoof. "I ... think. I mean, I don't believe anything going on here yet. It can't possibly be real. But I think that weird thing meant that your Twilight is where I am supposed to be."
Fluttershy trotted over to Rebecca and laid a reassuring wing across her back. "There, there, we'll get this sorted out. You'll be back to your old self in no time." She smiled gently. "I promise."
Spike scratched his head and spoke, a sense of doubt in his voice. "What do you mean when you say we're not real?"
Rebecca eyed Spike. "Well, where I come from, magic isn't real. But I'm pretty sure I just saw it. And we all are talking, too, but horses," Rebecca paused, seeing Rarity's raised eyebrow. "... sorry, ponies. They don't talk where I come from." She shook her head. "I'm not sure what to believe right now. None of this should be able to happen, and yet I'm seeing it happen. I don't think I can readily accept all this. Can you give me a bit of time?"
<><><><><>
"Okay." Twilight said out loud. "I've opened the door. I think."
"Yes, you did. Are you alright? It took you forever to get to the Comms room. Is everything okay in there?"
Twilight tensed up. How should she respond? She seemed to be fine herself, physically at least. As far as she could tell, this body was uninjured. But she also knew that she was going to stick out like a zebra socially. She had spent some time dealing with diplomats from other countries, and had once even had the displeasure of being sent to the Grand Roost to renegotiate a trade agreement.
While there, Griffin relations had taught her much of how awkward it could be dealing with other racial customs and mannerisms. That had proven to be difficult for her to adjust to, and in that case she had even had the advantage of meeting griffons and reading up on their society prior to travelling. Conversely, she knew nothing about this species, and Twilight was also fairly certain she wouldn't use this body as naturally as she ought to, which might tip somepony off as well. Should she pretend to be injured, or have some illness? She wasn't confident she could bluff convincingly; it wasn't her strong suit. It was obvious that, whatever she was, she was called Rebecca, so Twilight decided that was how she would continue for now.
"Uh, yes. Everything is fine. I mean, I am fine. There seems to have been some caving in, though. What should I do now?"
"Well, Sarah is coming to the Comms room right now, just stick around there and help her out if she needs anything. We're all coming inside now. I'll see you in a bit."
The voice-producing mechanism went silent as Twilight watched the other figures slowly walk off the edge of the display. As instructed, she simply waited until the one named Sarah showed up. This one, Twilight noted, had a very long, brown mane. She wasn't sure about the body she was inhabiting, but the mane wasn't long enough for her to see anything more than the forelocks above her eyes.
Sarah smiled in greeting. "Well, Becky ... It seems as though our positions are reversed for a bit." Twilight immediately realized Becky must be a nickname, but wasn't sure if it was supposed to be intimate, flattering, or insulting. She opted for a neutral reaction, feeling it was probably the safest approach.
"Hi, Sarah. I have no idea what I am doing here." It wasn't a lie by any stretch, but it surely had deeper meaning than this other creature could possibly know. "You're going to have to help me help you."
The one called Sarah laughed, a rich sounding laugh that Twilight could imagine any upper-class pony in Canterlot making. "I'm just glad you're okay. I thought you were going to die after the stone zapped you. I couldn't believe it when your voice came back over the intercom system. It was like a miracle!" She sat down in a chair and sobered slightly. "But this is a serious problem. We need to get in contact with HQ as soon as possible. You can start by getting more light in here. The switch for the lamps is over there." She pointed behind Twilight.
"Alright." Twilight turned around. In the dim light from the reading lamp, perhaps two pony-lengths away, she could see the word 'lights' on a label underneath a switch. She reached out with her magic and flipped the switch and the room instantly became brightly illuminated by a small assortment of other lamps around the small room. She turned back around, waiting for Sarah's next request.
Sarah's back was turned, hunched over part of the control panel, pushing buttons with a dexterity that surprised Twilight. Sarah flipped up a secondary panel that lit up with white letters rapidly scrolling along the display. Below that second panel was a myriad group of buttons, many of them labelled with letters, numbers and symbols Twilight recognized, though the arrangement was beyond her comprehension. Eventually the display started showing a wealth of brilliant colors and information. Twilight watched, entranced, as Sarah pulled up panel after panel of charts, statistics, numbers. She didn't understand any of them but she was too busy being fascinated by the device itself to be concerned with what the information meant.
Twilight was interrupted as Sarah turned to look at her. "Are you sure you're okay? You act like you haven't seen a computer before."
"It's amazing," Twilight breathed. "How does it work?"
"What do you mean, it's amazing? It's just a normal computer." Sarah's eyes narrowed. "Are you alright? You seem really, really out of it. Maybe all that chaos affected you more than you think."
Twilight realized she might have stepped on some sort of social landmine, but she couldn't be sure what it was. She quickly scrambled for an excuse. "Yeah, I sure am out of it, I guess. I'm not even sure what happened to me back there." It was an honest answer, though it was far from complete.
"Well, truthfully I probably won't need you for much. Why don't you go to your room and lay down for a bit? We can have Drake check you out after he's tended to Talia."
Her room? Twilight didn't know where her room was and she didn't want to risk causing another scene. She forced herself to smile, "No, I'll be alright. I want to help you."
"Well, alright. Just try not to get in the way. There's not a whole lot of space in the room." She gestured around the small room, and then she picked up a strange device shaped roughly like a semi-circle and set it on her head. Now that it was on her head, it strongly reminded Twilight of earmuffs with a small, thick wire extending forward from the earpiece to Sarah's mouth. Sarah leaned forward, punching at some numbered buttons. Twilight assumed it was a coded sequence, but she hadn't paid close enough attention to catch what the code was. They both waited, though Twilight wasn't sure if something was supposed to happen or not.
"We have a situation." Sarah suddenly spoke, leaving Twilight confused. "Yeah, code 164. We aren't sure what triggered it, but one of the researchers got hit by some sort of massive electrical blast right before it happened, and another one sustained injuries as we were evacuating." Was she recording a message? "Rebecca." A brief pause. "No, she's fine. As far as I can tell, she's just a little woozy." Twilight was no longer certain of the nature of Sarah's speech. It was sounding more like a one-sided conversation. "She's right next to me actually." Twilight suddenly had a bad feeling about the direction the conversation was going. "Sure." Sarah took off the earmuffs and extended them towards Twilight. "HQ wants to ask you some questions."
Realizing she had no easy out, she grabbed the earmuffs with her magic and placed them on her own head. It was much heavier than it looked. Sarah gasped. "Hello?" Twilight spoke, unsure of what else to say or what to expect.
A voice sounded in her ears. "Ah, Miss Williams! Can you try to explain exactly what happened? Sarah said you were electrocuted or something?"
Twilight went silent. Williams was clearly a form of address for her, and this was clearly some form of communications device. What was she supposed to say? Was there proper protocol for this? Twilight hated protocol. Sarah, in front of her, appeared to be completely unresponsive - her hands were still extended, her eyes locked on the earmuffs and her mouth was open slightly; no answers could be found there. Was she just being polite, so as not to interrupt the communication, or was this some sort of social ritual?
"Miss Williams?"
Twilight realized she had to say something. "Um, I really have no idea. I can't remember anything before waking up." It was probably the closest she was going to be to the truth anyway.
"You have amnesia?"
This was probably the best opportunity she was going to have to get out of this line of questioning. "I ... guess? I mean, that's usually what amnesia is, right?"
"Uh, alright. Alright. We need to get you looked at. Go over to Drake in medical and tell him to call us. Can you put Sarah back on the line?" Twilight nodded her head, not realizing that the person on the other end of the line couldn't see her. Then, she lifted the earmuffs off her head and floated them back to Sarah. Sarah's hands grasped the earmuffs lightly, but she didn't put them on.
"He wants to talk to you again," Twilight urged, hoping that Sarah would respond in some fashion.
Sarah screamed. Twilight could hear a muffled panic emitting from the earmuffs and a loud pattering of footsteps and concerned shouting came sounding from the corridor. She could feel tears threatening to well up in her eyes as her heart sank. What had gone wrong?
<><><><><>
Rebecca scanned her surroundings as the two other strange horses - ponies, she sharply reminded herself - spoke in hushed whispers at the other end of the room. The building she was in was clearly nature-themed, with every wall, floor, and ceiling carved from the same wood. It was also designed such that it felt as if the entire place was carved out of the inside of a huge tree. The room was also a library; a small school library, she guessed, judging from the volume of books shelved about. According to what she was told, Twilight lived here. But, if she was a princess, why had she been stuck in a small closet in a tiny library of all places? And why would she live in a library? Nothing seemed to fit together right.
The other ponies had seemed kind enough. The white one, Rarity, had a gorgeous purple mane and tail, styled in a way that reminded her of vaguely of popular fashion from a few decades ago. She also noted that Rarity's coat had a strange set of tattoos on either side of her body, just above the hind leg. They were all baby blue diamond shapes, three on each side. She had also noticed the white pony's horn occasionally glowed with a blue aura, though she hadn't figured out why.
Then there was the other one - the yellow one that had appeared with the impossibly strange ... whatever that cryptic monstrosity was. Her mane and tail were pink with a soft wave to them, tapering into a curl at the end. She sported similar tattoos, though instead of blue diamonds, she sported a trio of blue and pink butterflies on either side, each pointed a different direction. Apparently, her name was Fluttershy. It seemed to be an apt name, as the pony seemed rather skittish. Despite the fear, however, Rebecca felt an air of kindness around the pony that put her mind at ease a little bit whenever Fluttershy's blue-green eyes stared into her own.
She had also determined from context clues that the small purple reptile currently perched on Fluttershy's rump was male and went by the name Spike. What kind of creature was he supposed to be? Was he a pet? Her brother's dog was named Spike. Rebecca had a lot of unanswered questions about the creature; not that she had any real answers about anything else yet.
Rebecca cleared her throat. "Excuse me?"
Rarity turned away from Fluttershy and trotted over. "Yes, darling, can I help you?" Fluttershy followed behind her.
"I'm feeling very out of place at the moment, and I have a lot of questions." Rebecca closed her eyes and nodded slowly. "I don't mean to pry, so I apologize if this is rude, but occasionally I've seen your horn light up. What exactly is that?"
"My horn?" Rarity's eyes crossed as she looked up, focusing on the tip of her own horn. "That's normal when unicorns are using magic. It is a rather beautiful effect, if I do say so."
Rebecca shook her head, something she found herself doing a lot of. "You can use magic? I'm sorry if I seem skeptical, but as I've mentioned before, it's hard for me to accept something that isn't supposed to be real."
Fluttershy spoke up. "I'm sorry to interrupt, but ... I don't understand. Magic is everywhere. How can you come from a place where magic doesn't exist?"
Rebecca nodded. "Where I come from, magic is something that only exists in fairy tales. Like in children's stories and stuff like that. But here you ponies are telling me magic is real, and that's hard for me to simply accept at face value. There's certainly a lot of things going on that I can't explain, and I don't know what to think right now. I mean, that weird creature you came in with? I saw him do all sorts of things that should be impossible, but I was so shocked by it that I really didn't ..." She frowned, unable to find words to properly express the way she had felt. "I mean, if magic is real here, can you show me? I'd like to be able to see it with my own eyes again."
Rarity laughed softly. "Certainly." She started walking toward the stairs and added, "Follow me."
Trotting behind Rarity, she was led back upstairs to a modest bedroom. Rebecca wasn't sure what she had expected from a bedroom for a pony, but she was startled to see that it was rather normal looking. "Is this ... Twilight's room?" she asked, cautiously.
"It is." Rarity walked over to the dresser, her horn beginning to glow blue. A hairbrush lifted off the dresser, encapsulated in the same glow as Rarity's horn as Rebecca watched, fascinated. "Come and sit in front of the mirror if you would, dear."
She complied, walking to the front of the dresser. She carefully sat down on her haunches and watched the mirror intently. The hairbrush, levitated in that soft aura, passed gently through her mane. Rarity continued wielding the hair brush with a remarkable dexterity as she brushed out all the messy tangles.
"I admit, I expected something more flashy." Rebecca smiled. The sensation of her hair being fixed up after she had messed it up so badly with her flailing about was wonderful. "But this is quite nice. You seem to be really good at this."
Rarity giggled lightly. "Oh, you have no idea how fun this is. Twilight almost never lets me touch her hair. She's just always so busy."
Another question had been burning in her mind. "Twilight is a princess, right? I know you said she lived here instead of a castle, but why? I mean, this really doesn't seem to be a fitting home for a princess."
Spike responded before Rarity had a chance to speak. "Twilight prefers it here. I mean, she could have lived in Canterlot, but she stays in Ponyville because this is where her friends are."
"Ponyville? That's the name of your village?" Rebecca shook her head. 'Humanville' seemed like an equally silly name for a town.
"Oh yes," Spike continued. "Ponyville is small, but it's very important to us. We get regular visits from Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, and six of the biggest heroes of Equestria live here in Ponyville, so it is pretty important."
"Heroes? You mean heroes - like 'they saved the world' - heroes?"
Spike held up a claw. "Well, I don't know about the world. But the land of Eques..." He cut off abruptly, choking for a moment before he belched a puff of green fire that formed into a sealed scroll. Rebecca stared at where the fire had licked at the air, and then down at the scroll on the floor. Did that scroll just un-burn? Spike picked it up as if it were completely natural, broke the seal on the scroll and started reading out loud.
To My Dearest And Most Faithful Student, Twilight Sparkle,
I have sensed something terrible happening in the Everfree Forest - a great evil has awakened; one that will jeopardize the safety of every living creature in Equestria. Please, gather your friends and come to Canterlot as soon as you can.
~ Princess Celestia
A familiar laugh filtered through doorway to Twilight's bedroom. "As soon as you can? Oh, excellent. I just can't wait to see the look on Celestia's face when she finds her precious student has mishandled one of her forbidden artifacts!" The voice belonging to the creature called Discord laughed heartily. "Oh, it will be simply hilarious!"
"Discord..." Fluttershy frowned at the door, which broke from its hinges, forming into the strange creature that had appeared before. He walked over and patted Fluttershy on the head.
"What is wrong, my dear Fluttershy? I'm just having a little fun with the situation. I haven't even done anything wrong myself, you know. Am I not allowed to enjoy the chaos that happens naturally when I'm not involved?" He laughed again. "Here, I'll even help you."
Rebecca suddenly felt the entire world swirling around her and found herself stuck in a whirlpool formed from her surroundings, including the floor, dresser, bed, the other ponies, Spike, and the strange creature called Discord. It felt as if she becoming submerged in water, and she sensed herself spiraling inward until she reached the center. She began to sink slowly, and without any way to fight back against the current, she held her breath and closed her eyes as she was pulled under the surface. A falling sensation overtook her for a moment, before she splashed into a pool of water. Before she had even oriented herself again, she felt the water drain away and she opened her eyes.
Despite the strange experience she had just had, she seemed to be completely dry. A powerful presence seemed to loom over her as Rebecca looked around the room. She couldn't immediately identify where Spike and Discord had gone. On her left stood Fluttershy, and behind her was a pony whose color scheme could only be described as 'pink'. The pink pony's mane seemed wildly out of control and she seemed far too excited for her own good. Rarity was on her right, and beyond Rarity was an orange pony with a Stetson hat and a long blonde ponytail, a term Rebecca wasn't sure applied in the same fashion here. Beyond the orange pony was a light blue winged pony with a rainbow colored mane, who seemed agitated, confused, and tired. All five of the other ponies seemed to be just as disoriented as Rebecca was.
Her attention was drawn to the room around her. At her feet was a red carpet embroidered with gold trim, sitting on a black and white checked floor that was clearly made of alternating white marble and obsidian, both polished to a perfect shine. The carpet itself led up to two absolutely gigantic doors in front of her, set into a very high wall which stretched around to both sides. Her eyes followed along to the left of the door, where three strange stained-glass mural filled most of vertical expanse of the wall. She continued following the wall with her gaze. After the third mural, the wall gave way to decorative tapestries that made up the backdrop of a dais with two elaborately crafted thrones on it.
Two pairs of guards were posted on either side of the thrones, all four of them certainly alert, but not overtly hostile in any sense. In front of the thrones, however, stood a massive white pony, a long and wickedly sharp-looking horn protruding from the top of her head and large white wings half-extended on either side. She wore gold colored accessories that Rebecca couldn't immediately name on her hooves and her neck, and a bejeweled crown adorned her head. Her mane and tail were stunningly gorgeous, painted in pastel colors and waving as if they were flowing on a gentle yet otherworldly breeze.
The aura given off by the majestic pony was immensely powerful, and it made all of her senses scream out in fear. The great white pony's magenta eyes stared at her, narrowing as if reading her very soul, and Rebecca could sense a fiery hatred burning within them. Rebecca stood trembling, transfixed by the terrifying yet divine beauty standing before her, their eyes locked on one another. After several moments, the regal pony opened her mouth, her pronouncement laden with furious import, yet with hints of a heavy, resigned sadness.
"You are not one of my little ponies. You do not belong here, human."
Rebecca froze in terror. She knew.