Another World, Another Life · 12:23am Dec 19th, 2021
A hook for a story never finished. Delightful in its way.
Around a table, two ponies sat. Both were purple—lavender, to be specific, though they rarely used a descriptor they considered pretentious. Both had a dark blue mane, streaked with purple and pink, and both had a cutie mark depicting a purple star surrounded by five others. Both had a horn and both had wings, and in the flesh—such as it was—they were perfect twins. But it would have been hard to mistake them.
It was, as Rarity would have said, the accessories that made the statement. The Twilight on the right wore a crown of gold, topped with five little purple gems. The Twilight on the left wore a circlet made of steel, adorned only with the seal of Equestria. The Twilight on the right drank tea, while the Twilight on the left drank coffee. The Twilight on the right smiled. The Twilight on the left didn’t.
Though admittedly, even the Twilight on the right was smiling a little stiffly.
“Your palace is beautiful,” said Steel Twilight, when the lull in the conversation had grown overly long. She sipped her coffee, and then turned her head to look up into the castle’s crystal branches. “I hope you will not think it offensive if I say I find it quite strange. There are no buildings such as this in my Equestria, and the style of construction is unknown to me. It gives the structure an enchanting feeling.” She turned her head back down to her counterpart, and after a small pause added: “Like a faerie tale kingdom.”
“Oh uh... thank you?” said the Twilight with the golden crown. Her smile grew stiffer, and her gaze went quickly between her counterpart, the table, and her crystalline castle. “It’s um... not exactly normal for my Equestria either. The rest of Ponyville is a lot more normal.” She gestured out the other way, and the other Twilight looked where she pointed.
The two were seated on the balcony of Ponyville Castle, with the sparkling crystal tree on one side, and a sweeping view of Ponyville on the other. It was a dazzling spring morning, warm but not hot, with not a cloud in the sky to obstruct the sun’s brilliant illumination of the town and the surrounding orchards. Below them, ponies merrily went about their business, bringing their goods to market or just enjoying the town.
“Normal for you, perhaps,” Steel Twilight replied. “For me, it’s just another kind of strange. In my version of Equestria, there hasn’t been a village like this for centuries.” She paused, letting her eyes sweep over the scenic little valley town, and the vast fields that surrounded it. “But, I think it is beautiful as well. And it has such a pleasant name. Ponyville. It’s whimsical.”
“What’s it called in your Equestria?” Gold Twilight asked, slowly.
“Alpha-122,” Steel Twilight replied. “Because it is the largest settlement in District 122, which I think is roughly analogous to the greater Ponyville area. It’s bordered by the river in two sides, the original border of the Everfree Forest on another, and the original far border of the swamp on the last.”
“That’s about right, yeah,” Gold Twilight replied. She tapped the table, once. “So you don’t have names in your Equestria? For towns, I mean.”
“Important towns have names,” Steel Twilight said. Then, she added a bit faster, “or old towns. Changing a name is a lot of work, so old communities are more likely to keep their original titles. Cloudsdale, for instance. Or Trottingham.”
“Or Canterlot?” Gold Twilight asked.
“I do not know of any town named ‘Canterlot,’” Steel Twilight replied, but when her counterpart pointed at the distant mountain and the barely visible city atop it, her ears perked up. “Oh. Yes. We just call that ‘The Capital.’” She glanced across the table at her counterpart, and then added, “Though if you enjoy names, it is also sometimes also called the ‘Radiant Demesne.’ The title is somewhat archaic, and not technically correct, but some ponies use it when they want to sound officious or pious.”
“I don’t ‘like’ names,” Gold Twilight replied. “It’s just strange to think of an Equestria without them. That’s all. Numbers are kind of cold and impersonal. Aren’t they?”
“Yes. That is the point,” Steel Twilight said. But her ears folded back a few degrees as she said it, and her tail swished once. Then, she asked, “Do I make you uncomfortable?”
“A little, yeah,” Gold Twilight admitted. She levitated her teacup from the table, but swished it without taking a sip. “I’ve had experience with alternate worlds before, but running into another version of myself is... weird.”
“I am sorry. It was not my intention to cause you any discomfort.” Her own horn came alight with the same shade as her counterpart, taking a cookie from the center. She started to turn it in the air, before her eyes went to the other Twilight’s swishing cup. With a small, chagrined smile, she put the cookie down. “If it is any consolation, you are not what I was expecting either.”
“You thought I was going to be your evil clone?” Gold Twilight asked, hurriedly putting her teacup down. “I mean. That’s what I thought too. It made me a little nervous.”
“Well, if you would prefer, I do think there may still be time for us to fight to the death,” Steel Twilight answered, eliciting a small smile from both of them. “But I would rather not.”
“No no. Talking is good.” Gold Twilight agreed, with a little nod. A pause hung in the air between them, and then they both moved at once. Gold Twilight sipped her tea, and Steel Twilight ate her cookie. Each took their time, enjoying the gentle spring breeze and the tweeting of the birds around them.
“May I ask how it is you came to be in Ponyville?” Steel Twilight said, when the moment had passed. “In my world, my responsibilities as a Princess keep me in the Capital nearly always. Or, in Canterlot, as you might say.”
“I used to live in Canterlot,” Gold Twilight answered. “But after the return of Nightmare Moon, I came to Ponyville to study friendship. I met my friends here. Rainbow Dash, Applejack...” Gold Twilight paused. “Actually,” her ears perked up, “now that I think about it, what are your versions of them like? Or do you have a different circle of friends?”
“I think the difference between our worlds is showing again,” Steel Twilight said. But she leaned forward slightly over the table, and it was with noteable curiosity that she asked: “Who is ‘Nightmare Moon’?”
“Oh uh... you might know her as Princess Luna?” Gold Twilight suggested. “She was Princess Celestia’s sister, but she was corrupted by darkness, and...” She paused, as the quizzical expression on Steel Twilight’s face grew “Uh... Princess Celestia had to banish her to the moon for a thousand years. Does that ring any bells?”
Steel Twilight lifted her head, her tail swishing from side to side. “Yes, but many of the details are very different. In my world, Princess Luna was a debased tyrant, who drove all of Equestria to ruin. She created Celestia to serve as the instrument of her will against the population, but Celestia saw that her wicked creator was indeed wicked, and slew her in single combat.” Steel Twilight sat back, tapping her hooves together gently. “She has ruled Equestria ever since.”
“In your world Luna created Celestia?” Gold Twilight asked, her ears and tail up. Then it was her turn to lean over the table, and to curiously stare at her counterpart. “She raised her as an alicorn?”
“She shaped her body out of steel, and gave her life with moonlight and a bolt of lightning,” Steel Twilight answered. “Do you know the word ‘golem’?”
“Yes!” Gold Twilight said, leaning in closer as her tone grew eager. She caught herself after a moment though, pulling back with a small blush in her cheeks. “I mean, yes. But in my world, golems are mindless. They can’t think or... or do magic. Does your Celestia control the sun?”
“And the moon, yes,” Steel Twilight said, a blush appearing in her own cheeks as well. “And most golems are mindless in our world too. Luna took the secret of making intelligent machines to her grave. Empress Celestia can sometimes endow her bureaucrats with some measure of reason, but only in a very rote way.”
“That’s still amazing,” Gold Twilight said. It took her a second to force her gaze down to the table, where a sip of tea forced her to take a breath. “And do you think I could meet her?”
“I can ask if you would like,” Steel Twilight said, ears folding back a few degrees. “But Empress Celestia endeavours to limit our contact with other worlds. A short visit for self-edification is one thing, but history is littered with the remains of those who sought to build empires or fortunes across worlds.”
“Of course. I didn’t mean to put you on the spot. I’m just so...”
“Curious?” Steel Twilight asked. They both smiled. “Well, when I give it thought, you are the only other alicorn I have ever really met. So perhaps I would not mind meeting your Celestia as well. If that can be arranged.”
“I can ask if you’d like,” Gold Twilight replied, making an effort to mimic her counterpart’s formal speaking style. “But Princess Celestia endeavours to limit our contact with other worlds ever since they turned out to be 99% jerks by volume.” The smile on each mare's face grew, and they shared a short bout of giggling.
“Then I should be glad to be one part out of a hundred,” Steel Twilight spoke next, with a lightness in her voice. She picked up another cookie from the table, and this time dunked it in her coffee. “And contractions make you sound like a peasant.”
“No, they make me sound like somepony who talks normally. You sound like you have a grammar-school ruler stuck up your...” Gold Twilight trailed off, as Steel Twilight stared at her in shock. Her eyes were wide, and her motions frozen, her cookie frozen in place in the air with a line of coffee still dripping from it. “Um...” Gold Twilight coughed. “Yes.”
A few moments of long silence passed between them, each pony staring at the other. Then they both laughed, and quickly looked away, Gold Twilight’s hoof lifting to her face.
“I am so sorry,” she spoke quickly, “I didn’t even think—”
“No no. It is quite alright.” Steel Twilight insisted, laying a hoof upon the table. “I think it was obvious that you meant it with affection.” She smiled, looked back across the table, and gave an energetic little flick of her tail. “And of course, a degree of culture shock between worlds would be expected.”
“Well I’m still sorry,” Gold Twilight insisted, though she gradually lowered her hoof from her face. “I don’t normally talk that way. I’ve just been hanging out with Applejack a lot these past few weeks.”
“Yes, you mentioned them earlier,” Steel Twilight replied. “Who are they?”
“You don’t know Applejack?” Gold Twilight asked, earning a shake of her head. “Rainbow Dash? Pinkie Pie? Fluttershy? Rarity?” Again, her counterpart shook her head. “Wow. They’re ah... they’re the friends I made here in Ponyville when I defeated Nightmare Moon. They’re the ones who helped me understand the magic of friendship.”
“You said earlier you relocated here to study friendship,” Steel Twilight noted. “Are you studying sociology?”
“No. I study sociology for fun sometimes, but I came here to study the magic of friendship itself.” Gold Twilight paused, as her counterpart across the table gave her a quizzical stare, eyes slightly narrowed. “The magic of friendship,” she repeated, but her counterpart’s expression did not change. “Do... you not have friends?”
“I have little time to socialize,” Steel Twilight answered. “I suppose you could say that-”
I imagine Celestia making a bemused comment about a world in which Luna is her mother.
Jubal sang of the golden years
When wars and wounds shall cease—
But Tubal fashioned the hand-flung spears
And showed his neighbors peace.
New—new as the nine-point-two,
Older than Lamech’s slain—
Roaring and loud is the feud avowed
Twixt Jubal and Tubal Cain!
P.S. -- this is a nine-point-two:
upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ec/9.2_inch_howitzer_Carnoy_Valley_September_1916_IWM_Q_1294.jpg
...
Well, it certainly seems to work as a hook, based on how jarring that abrupt end was. :D
Never to be finished it may be, but delightful in its way too, aye; thank you for sharing it. :)
This is something I love. . . alternate worlds coming into contact, reacting with one another. And it's nicely done. There's some implied world-building that's very intriguing.
All that said, I think I can understand why this is not likely to be expanded into a full story. I would be hesitant to tackle it.
I wonder if Steel Twilight's world had a Celestia, something happened to her and that's why her Luna built another Celestia of her own? A replacement for the sister she lost. It would be fitting if Luna was the one who killed her sister, created a replacement in guilt perhaps, and subconsciously allowed it to defeat her because Luna didn't think she should have won or something? Feelings of inadequacy are trademark Luna.
Sorry this little bit lures me right in and has me asking so many questions!
Just a quibble, but three or more sit around a table: two sit at, across from each other or perhaps just across it--unless you are Rodney Dangerfield and you're making a fat joke.
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Well, if they're ponies, they could be doing the ponyloaf thing.
In all the fics where alternate twilight's meet, you still rarely see interactions as good as this