//------------------------------// // Interdimensional Meetings // Story: Flipped // by zyr1987 //------------------------------// Nowhere in the guest hall was the screaming louder or more varied than Fluttershy and Fleur de Lis' room (though the screams coming from Rarity's did give them a run for their money in the loudness department). When the screams subsided two guards rushed in to find two unicorns taking defensive stances against each other, with angry glares on their faces, a pegasus cowering in one corner of the room and a third unicorn looking for a way out. The guards tried to place the intruders under arrest, which didn't go as expected as they couldn't agree on who the intruders were. One guard tried to arrest Fluttershy and Fleur de Lis for trespassing by order of Prince Crescendo, and the other tried to arrest the stallion and mare that had appeared in the room in the name of Princess Cadance. When the guards heard each other, the turned to face each other and the one who was trying to arrest the two ponies who had appeared in Fluttershy and Fleur's room asked in an angry tone, “What did you say?” “I said I was arresting these two ponies in the name of our rightful ruler, Prince Crescendo, not this pretender to the throne you speak of.” “Liar! Princess Cadance is the rightful ruler of the Crystal Empire, having taken the throne after the defeat of King Sombra almost a year ago! This 'Prince Crescendo' you speak of is the pretender to the throne!” From here, things started going downhill. After several minutes of arguing, when it looked like the two guards were going to break out the hooficuffs or worse, a third guard burst in and said, “By order of Princess Cadance and Prince Crescendo, all guards in the castle are to report to the throne room immediately for a briefing on our situation. All guests of Princess Cadance and Prince Crescendo are to report to the dining room in one half hour.” “What for?” The stallion who had appeared asked. “For breakfast and to be briefed on the situation as we know it,” the guard said, “in the meantime. If you cannot tolerate each others' presence, we ask that you move to different rooms. Any crime committed, including assault and murder, will be punished to the fullest extent of the law.” As the three guards left the room, the four remaining ponies gave each other confused looks. As no one decided to leave, minimal movement occurred over the next few minutes, mostly consisting of Fluttershy moving to Fleur de Lis' side. Eventually, the silence was broken by the mare who had appeared in the room. “So, uh, nice weather we're having.” “Yes, much cooler than Canterlot this time of year,” Fleur said looking over this strange pony, as the other pony did to her. The mare in question was a tall, white, blue maned pony with a build nearly identical to Fleur's, but a mane and tail that look like they were stolen from Fancypants and feminized to a great degree. The other interesting thing Fleur noticed was that this mare was apparently in the middle of putting on or taking off a tightly fitted tuxedo, with the bow tie hanging loosely around her neck, several buttons undone, and the collar in mild disarray. “Honestly, I think it's too chilly,” The stallion said, causing everyone else to turn and look at him. He was a tall, handsome, if rather effeminate, unicorn stallion, with a white coat, moderately long pink mane and tail, striking purple eyes, and a rather healthy build. Fleur thought, why do I think that I would look just like this stallion if I were male? “What? I prefer warmer weather is all,” the stallion said, looking confused. After a moment of awkward silence, the stallion spoke up again, saying “anyway, since we've decided we don't mind spending time in the same room as each other, why don't we introduce ourselves?” “Good idea. You can go first,” Fleur said. The stallion said, “as you wish. I am Ecusson, a resident of Canterlot here at the invitation of Prince Crescendo. And you are?” “Fleur de Lis, also a resident of Canterlot, but here at the invitation of Princess Cadance.” The blue maned mare spoke next, saying, “My name is Regal Splendor, and I am Ecusson's lover and roommate in Canterlot, as well as a successful businessmare.” All eyes then turned to Fluttershy, ho meekly said in a voice just above a whisper, “I'm Fluttershy.” “What was that?” Regal Splendor asked. Fleur spoke for her, “She said she's Fluttershy. She's an animal caretaker in Ponyville, and my marefriend of almost a year.” Regal, as Fluttershy had taken to thinking of her, raised an eyebrow at this last statement, asking, “So, how many ponies know about your relationship?” “It's not widely known but it is public knowledge. All of our friends here, as well as Princess Cadance and Prince Shining Armor, know all about it, and don't care. Also, it was a mutual friend of ours who set us up in the first place,” Fleur said, sounding rather annoyed. “Sorry, I didn't mean to imply...” “Don't worry about it. Anyway, what can you tell me about this Prince Crescendo?” Meanwhile, in the royal bedchambers, Cadance and Crescendo were busy trying to figure out who had arrived in whose castle, having just cleared out everyone who had burst in to report an “invasion” of “pretenders.” Their spouses, Shining Armor and Shimmering Shield respectively, had already left to brief the guards on the situation as known. They had already come to the conclusion that the only items that had gone on the trip were those that were being worn, based on the fact that there wasn't twice as many beds or wall hangings as before. With that knowledge in hoof, they decided to check both closets for the one item that could only belong to one pony: a wedding dress. Depending on whose closet it was in, that pony would be the one whose universe the other had arrived in. Cadance quickly started sorting through what was either her or Crescendo's closet while her counterpart did the same with Shining or Shimmering's. Due to the sheer amount of stuff in both closets, though, it took a few minutes before Cadance said, “I found it!” Crescendo turned around, a slightly defeated look on his face, as Cadance removed it from the box it was in and held it for him to see. He said, “Well, with that established, now what?” “Hmm...Well, I think we should start by figuring out the extent of the damage.” “By which you mean determine how far out from the castle the interdimensional teleportation occurred?” “Exactly. Also, I think we should have princess Luna and um...your version of Princess Luna-” “Prince Nocturnus.” “-Thank you. Prince Nocturnus fly out for Canterlot and speak with Princess Celestia about what could have caused this and how we can fix it,” Cadance said. Crescendo asked, “Why don't we just ask Luna and Nocturnus if they have any ideas on fixing it first?” “Good point. Let's do that now.” It was a fairly short walk through the surprisingly empty hallways to reach the room Luna had been given. When they arrived, Cadance remarked, “it's awfully quiet in there.” “I know what you mean. I expected more of use of the royal Canterlot voice.” Crescendo knocked on the door, and was soon greeted by a rather annoyed looking Princess Luna who said, “If you are here about the sudden appearance of a male version of myself, then I must inform you I am well aware of his existence.” “Actually, we're here because we thought you might be able to help us figure out how to get him and everyone else who appeared in the castle back to their own dimension.” “I see,” Luna said, as a burly dark blue alicorn stallion wearing what looked to be a partial set of armor, presumably Prince Nocturnus, appeared next to her. As her expression softened, she said, “Well, I am not as well versed in interdimensional issues as my sister is. You would be better off asking her.” “Well, in that case, could you head back to Canterlot and speak with her? I'm afraid I'll be needed here if the empire's population has doubled.” “Do you not have the magical fire mail system set up?” Luna asked. “Eh...I may have run out of the required reagents for maintaining it last week, and forgot to ask for more, which may also be why you received your letter through the regular mail.” Luna facehoofed, as did Prince Nocturnus, who said, “Let me guess, you ran out of reagents too, Crescendo.” “Um...yes. I meant to ask for more, but I've been so busy that I forgot.” Another pair of frustrated sighs later, Nocturnus said, “In that case, we will fly out to Canterlot and speak with Princess Luna's sister this evening. We will also bring back the reagents you need for the mail system. In the meantime, you should learn the full extent of this issue and take steps to keep chaos from descending on the empire when the citizenry learns what has happened.” “That's the plan,” Cadance said. “Also, you may wish to check up on Rarity. I heard loud screaming from her room shortly after the light faded,” Luna said. “Of course. We'll talk more later.” Luna nodded and shut the door again. The two pink royals went to Rarity's room, right next door to Princess Luna's, and found her and her apparent male self awkwardly trying to ignore each other, as they did what looked to be sketching on opposite sides of the room. The two royals watched for a moment before Cadance loudly cleared her throat, drawing the attention of both ponies. Upon seeing them, Rarity said, “Oh, hello Princess and um...prince.” “We just came in to see if everything was okay. Princess Luna said she heard screaming,” Cadance said. “We're fine. I just got scared when this stallion appeared in my room,” Rarity said. “Yes, we're fine, thanks to the timely appearance of the guards. By the way, since when are there two of you, Prince Crescendo?” The stallion asked. “Since that flash of light erupted throughout the castle. And it's not just two of me, but two of every pony in the castle, as near as anypony can tell. Including you, Elusive.” The stallion opened his mouth, then shut it again. Rarity filled the silence by asking, “So, wait, he's...me?” “As near as we can tell, yes,” Cadance said, “Just as Prince Crescendo is me from another dimension. Anyway, if things are under control here, there are things we need to do. We'll offer a more complete explanation at breakfast.” “Okay. How long until breakfast?” “About twenty minutes,” Cadance said. Twenty minutes later, Twenty ponies were gathered around the large table in the castle's dining hall, which still had seating for ten more. Cadance had expected to see the two groups seating themselves amongst those they knew before the incident, but Pinkie and her opposite sex counterpart ensured that wasn't going to to happen, as said counterpart sat himself between Fleur and Twilight, who had been the first to seat themselves, and Pinkie sat next to the blue maned mare from Fluttershy and Fleur's room. From there, and with some encouragement from both of the non-royal pink ponies, seating was largely first come first served, aside from ponies in relationships sitting together, and Rarity talking her way into a seat next to Fancypants. After everyone was seated, the food was served. The meal was less extravagant than yesterday's dinner, partly because it was breakfast and partly because they were feeding twice the ponies. Twilight, who was eating a bowl of cinnamon oatmeal, and sitting next to a very purple stallion, asked, “So, Cadance, what's going on? Why are there suddenly ten more ponies here, who seem to think Prince Crescendo is the rightful ruler of The Crystal Empire?” “I was about to explain that actually. Or at least what we know, which, unfortunately, is very little.” Cadance went on to explain the sequence of events that had led up to breakfast, putting special emphasis on who had arrived where and what evidence there was for this revelation. When she finished, Prince Crescendo said, “There are still several unanswered questions, of course, including how this happened and how we're going to get back. However, we do know that we are perfectly safe within each others' vicinity. There have been no negative reactions beyond screams and annoyed squabbles. Do try to keep it that way, please. In the meantime, Prince Nocturnus and Princess Luna will travel to Canterlot to speak with Prince.. er Princess Celestia about how to get us home, and we will be determining how far out the flash of light that brought us here reached and how many of us were brought here. Also, none of you are to leave the Empire without permission from Cadance or myself. Am I clear?” Getting affirmative answers from around the table, Crescendo nodded and ate another bite of his cereal. As Cadance said, “I hope we can fix this quickly.” “So do I,” Shimmering Shield said darkly, “so do I.”