//------------------------------//
// A Whole New World (Of Pretty Much the Same Thing) 
// Story: An Alternate Universe Where Everything Is Moved Slightly to the Left 
// by _NAME_ 
//------------------------------//

Twilight Sparkle stood there, in the middle of a throne room that was both not hers, but also hers at the same time.

For a short moment, she was dazed, confused, momentarily stunned by the sudden and abrupt interdimensional travel she had just gone through.

She blinked again and took a slight step backwards, only to immediately bump into one of the machines she had set up.

Briefly, before the rest of her mind caught back up to her current situation, the only thought that went through her head was that she could’ve sworn that the machine was just a little further away from her than it apparently was.

And then everything fell back into place.

The Cutie Map.

The accident.

The portal.

She was now in an alternate universe, once again. 

Her eyes hurriedly glanced about the room, scanning for any potential threats. There was no telling what sort of dangers there could be here, in this new universe. An offensive spell crackled to life on her horn, primed and ready.

But, there was nothing. Nopony was in the room except her.

She allowed her spell to die off and relaxed some, dropping her immediate defenses. With a deep breath, she straightened up and took stock of her surroundings. Now that she was sure she wasn’t about to instantly get attacked, it gave her ample opportunity to think about her situation.

She was still in her castle, that was obvious. The bright purple crystal was as unmistakable as it was really, really gaudy. Her friend’s cutie marks were still etched into their thrones. A quick look at the Cutie Map showed that Fluttershy’s and Pinkie Pie’s cutie marks were still there, as they had been in her world.

So far, all the readily available evidence pointed towards the possibility that this universe wasn’t all that different from hers. At the very least, it seemed she and her friends had still defeated all of the catastrophic threats to Equestria, and history turned out more or less the same. The Tree of Harmony had obviously still created her castle.

This was not at all like the other universes she had visited. There, the differences were startlingly obvious, or, at any rate, it was obvious that there was some sort of change.

Here, though? Not so much.

So what was the difference then? Where had the timelines diverged?

Twilight would have to investigate, it seemed.

Perhaps everypony was a different species, similar to the world through the mirror? Or maybe everypony was the opposite gender? The possibilities were, almost quite literally, endless.

It would be rather nice to observe a universe where things, at least as they appeared so far, were not so drastically different from her own reality, or potentially life-threatening. Sure, large events such as Nightmare Moon defeating Celestia and ruling over all Equestria were horrible, but even seemingly smaller things, such as two ponies not meeting, could potentially prove to also have drastic results.

She relished this sort of thing.

She was loath to admit it, even to herself at times, but the past couple of years had really made her into a bit of a thrill-seeker. The rush of adventure was addicting, it turned out. Occasionally, if she could find any free time between all her other duties, she would disguise herself as an earth pony and go do something exciting like skydiving or rock climbing or scuba diving.

And, of course, being trapped in an alternate dimension with no back-up also really scratched that itch. Doubly so when there was something to be learned and research to do.

Nevertheless, all that considered, she wasn’t really in any danger of being trapped here. She could easily get back home anytime she wanted, so long as she still had access to the Cutie Map. The altered version of Starswirl’s time travel spell that Starlight Glimmer had created was simple enough to memorize, after all.

But for now, she was curious about this new world. And Twilight Sparkle did not like not knowing things.

“Hello?” Twilight called out, her voice echoing across the empty room.

There was no response.

She knew, of course, that she would have to be at least somewhat careful here. Things could easily go from good to bad with little warning. Any manner of creatures or bad guys could get the jump on her. 

There was even the possibility that she could run into this universe’s version of herself.

Now, while Twilight was a very smart mare and had a fairly solid grasp on theoretical time travel magics, and though she was fairly certain that meeting herself would not cause the destruction of the entirety of reality, she figured it would probably be for the best if she avoided such a situation for the time being.

That being said, however, there was the strong likelihood that her counterpart in this universe was currently in another universe as well, having experienced the exact same chain of events that she had. 

That would be good. Then she wouldn’t even have to worry about meeting herself. One less thing to worry about.

So, if that was to be believed, then all she had to do was sneak around the castle for a bit and check things out. If everything seemed mostly normal enough, in comparison to her own universe, then maybe she could venture out into Ponyville proper and investigate there. And hope that that wasn’t some horrible evil out there that would try and kill her.

It was a good plan. A solid plan. Nice and methodical, just like a list. It provided some structure and direction, while also being just open enough to allow for any possible distractions or diversions that could crop up.

The first thing to do would be to check out the throne room here. Twilight had already looked around some, but once more wouldn’t hurt.

And so, she looked. It was virtually identical to her own throne room. The Cutie Map. The thrones. The chandelier made from the Golden Oak Library’s roots. The green stained glass windows. The varied array of monitoring equipment that Twilight had pretty much surrounded the table with.

Everything was exactly the sa—

Wait a minute…

Twilight looked again at the room, concentrating.

Something was off. 

Something felt…

She frowned. All of the thrones were out of place.

If she was standing exactly where she was standing right now, Rainbow Dash’s throne should not have been that close to her, and her own throne was just slightly too far away. She had carefully arranged these thrones to be in a very specific spot, and here they were all just a little too far to the left. 

And, in fact, all of her equipment and machines were as well.

That was…odd. Perhaps her abrupt arrival in this place had shifted them all or something.

Still, an easy enough fix. With little effort, her magic sprung to life and moved everything sans the Cutie Map itself, as it was stuck to the floor, back to where it should be. 

And so that took care of that minor annoyance.

Now it was time to look around the rest of the castle. Twilight made moves to exit the throne room and head over to the library when there was a loud knock at the front door. 

She froze, panic shooting through her system, before bolting behind her own throne to hide, bumping into it as she went, frantic as she was. She had to be careful here. This world was still new to her. It could be anyone or anything at the door.

If everything was mostly the same in this universe, Spike should go and see who was at the door. She could observe and make a calculated choice about whether or not to get involved after that.

For a moment, silence, and then footsteps in the hall that sounded awfully like Spike’s. She couldn’t be certain though.

She heard the front door open and the barest hint of multiple voices, much too quiet to understand what was being said.

And then, “Twiiiilight!” came what was unmistakably Spike’s voice, reverberating through the crystal walls. “Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie are here for the Map thing!”

And the front door slammed shut.

Ah right. 

Twilight smacked herself. She had completely forgotten that the Cutie Map had summoned her two friends. How could she have forgotten that?!

She slowly drew out from her hiding spot and took a deep breath. 

Okay. It seemed she would have to get involved then. She could pretend. It was only her friends. How hard could that be?

Well…it could be potentially very hard. Twilight hoped that it wasn’t, though.

It was showtime.

Spike’s steps grew louder as he came nearer to the throne room, joined now by the clip-clop of her friend’s hooves.

…And…what sounded like cymbals…and an accordion?

Without warning, Pinkie Pie burst into the room, a vast array of instruments strapped to her body. From what Twilight could see, there was everything from a tuba, to a harmonica, a banjo, a kazoo, the cymbals and accordion she had heard, and what even appeared to be a washboard.

It looked like Pinkie had brought back her One-Mare Band.

She hopped over to Twilight, skidding to a halt just in front of her, but slightly further away than she would’ve in the original universe, the instruments making all sorts of clattering noises. Moments later, Spike and Fluttershy came traipsing in behind her, in a much, much calmer fashion.

Twilight smiled. “Hey, girls!”

“Heya, Twi!”

“Hello.”

Before anything else could happen, Pinkie’s eyes and mind wandered. “Ooh! What’re all these machines, Twi?! You gonna make a Frankenpony? You should’ve asked me to come with you when you went to go dig up graves to get the body parts!” She moved to poke at one of the machines.

“Pinkie!” Twilight scolded, pushing the mare away with a light magic touch. “Don’t touch. This is sensitive scientific equipment!”

“Sorry!” Pinkie squeaked, and quickly moved away, as if she thought breathing on them would’ve damaged them. “I don’t think you should be making a Frankenpony though, Twi. That didn’t end up well in the story.”

Twilight decided not to even mention that Frankenpony was the name of the doctor, and not the monster. “I’m not making a Frankenpony, Pinkie. I’m just trying to study the Cutie Map.” She gestured to the object in question.

“Oh thank goodness,” breathed Fluttershy, relief palpable across her face. “I was getting worried…”

Twilight blinked.

“Did you really think I was going to make a Frankenpony?” She frowned, somewhat taken aback that her friend would even think that.

Fluttershy shrugged noncommittedly and gave an embarrassed grin. “I mean…not really. But the thought of bringing a pony back from the dead is scary, I guess...”

At that, Pinkie wrapped a hoof around the pegasus’s neck and ruffled her mane some. “Aww! You have nothing be scared of, silly-willy! That’s just the miracle of life!” she teased.

“Pinkie,” Fluttershy chided, pulling away from her grasp, “I’m intimately familiar with the miracle of life, and I’m very sure that that’s not it.”

Silence hung in the air for a moment.

Then Fluttershy’s eyes widened and she covered her face with a hoof, suddenly aware of what she had just said. “I-I mean, n-not like that! I just… I’ve taken care of a lot of animals in my life! And I’ve assisted with their pregnancies and things sometimes, but… I mean, I haven’t done anything like…” The rest of her sentence trailed off into a quiet squeak.

Twilight blinked.

Pinkie burst out laughing, and soon both Spike and Twilight joined in. Fluttershy looked at the three of them nervously, but then chuckled and gave a weak smile. She knew they weren’t laughing at her. Not like that.

“Flutters!” Pinkie managed to say through her laughter, “I can’t believe you said that! It’s always the quiet ones, eh? Eh?” She nudged her in the side. “Just wait ‘till I tell the rest of the girls about this!”

Fluttershy shrunk back behind her hair. “Oh. Umm… Could you…maybe not, please…?”

At that, almost immediately, Pinkie wiped the smile from her face and sighed heavily. “Fiiiine… I guess…” But she wasn’t really angry about it. She shot Fluttershy a knowing smile.

By now, both Twilight’s and Spike’s laughter had come to a close as well. “O-oh man, Fluttershy!” he said. He chuckled one last time and took in a deep lungful of air, trying to catch his breath.

Twilight smiled at the sight of all her friends getting along. Ever since she had become an alicorn, it had always made her feel good inside whenever ponies were being friendly. Maybe she just had some innate connection with friendship now, as she was the Princess of Friendship? Much like Cadance was with love? That would have to be something she looked into when she got back.

Wait…

Wait.

When she got back?

Her mind ground to a halt. 

She had completely forgotten that she wasn’t in her own universe anymore.

It was all so similar. So familiar. This. The room. Her friends. It was almost surreal.

These were her friends, exactly like she knew them to be.

This was her home, exactly the same.

She shook her head, trying to get her thoughts back into order. This wasn’t her world. She was a stranger here, however similar things may be.

There was still something different here, she knew. There had to be, somewhere.

She looked at her two friends, standing side by side, maybe just a little too far away from her than they normally would’ve been. Fluttershy, all demure, and Pinkie Pie, with all her instruments still. Oh, and Spike as well. He was more family, though.

And suddenly, a terrible, terrible thought occurred to her. 

“Pinkie, why are you wearing all those instruments?” There was fear evident in her voice, her ears played back. “Are there more parasprites in town?!” Maybe that was what was different here. An overwhelming parasprite swarm. That would make sense. That could very easily happen, and almost had.

The mare in question gave a toot on her horn, a flourish of her accordion, and blew on the harmonica before responding with a smile. “No, silly-billy! I was serenading the customers at Sugarcube Corner when my cutie mark went all a buzza-buzza-buzz, so I rushed over here as quick as I could!”

Twilight hummed in relief. She really did not want to deal with any parasprites right now. That had been a nightmare. “That’s…actually really cool. I didn’t know you did live entertainment, Pinkie.”

“Of course, silly! I do a lot of things!” Here she banged the cymbals on the front of her knees together.

Fluttershy spoke up again. “It was rather nice. She played a little for me as we walked over together.”

Twilight opened her mouth to say more, but was cut off when both Pinkie’s and Fluttershy’s cutie marks began flashing again. Pinkie Pie vibrated uncontrollably for comedic effect.

Apparently the Cutie Map was getting impatient.

Right. Twilight had completely forgotten about that as well. Her head was just not in the right place today. She blamed it on the interdimensional travel. It was a bit like motion sickness, but not actually like that at all, in any way.

“Alright!” she said, moving back over to the table, nearly running into it, as it was still slightly out of position.

“Looks like there’s a friendship emergency in—” Her eyes quickly glanced over the Cutie Map, only to see that their destination was the same as it had been in her world. “—Appleloosa!”

Pinkie strode up and saluted sharply, her accordion wheezing softly. “We’re ready for any situation, Twilight, ma’am, sir!” Fluttershy slinked up beside her and didn’t say anything.

Twilight’s horn ignited, and a flash of magic later, a rather large bag of money was floating in the air, just somewhat to the left of where she had intended it to appear. “Here’s your stipend. As always, try not to spend any more than that. It comes right out of the royal coffers.” She carefully handed the bits to Fluttershy, who held them tight. “I think the next train to Appleloosa leaves in about an hour or so, so you better hurry if you want to catch it!”

Before either of them could get a word in edgewise, Twilight quickly ushered them out of the room. “I’ll see you girls when you get back, alright?” A bold-faced lie, as she would hopefully be back in her own world by then, with her own Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie. 

For now, she just really wanted them gone so she could try and figure out this world in a somewhat timely manner, before she actually had to go back.

The two of them walked down the hall together, Pinkie’s instruments painting an amusing silhouette. When they got to the front door, Fluttershy turned and waved awkwardly, still carrying the bits. Twilight waved back, from all the way down the hall.

Pinkie opened the door and hopped through it. “Byyyyyyyyeeee, Twilight!” she called back over her shoulder, her shrill voice echoing all the way down from the entrance. The acoustics in this castle were quite amazing. The Tree of Harmony had at least gotten that right. Rarity and the other Pony Tones had come over to practice many a time now. It was wonderfully crystal clear.

The front door slammed shut.

And so, Twilight was alone.

Completely alone.

“Hey, by the way, I finished putting all of those books back on the shelves,” came Spike’s voice from right beside her. Twilight yelped, nearly jumping out of her skin.

Right. 

Alone, except for Spike. Though, as it was, he hardly counted. He was family—at least, in her own world. Maybe here he wasn’t her number-one assistant and trusted confidant. Maybe he hated her in this universe. The possibility broke Twilight’s heart a little.

He was staring at her now, expectantly. “Uhh… Thank you, Spike!” She forced a smile on her face.

Spike raised an eyebrow, clearly realizing something was up, but didn’t say anything. If there was something vitally important going on, Twilight would tell him, and only then he would begin to worry. Until then, he figured that it was just Twilight being Twilight, worrying about something inconsequential like she was wont to do, and so paid it no mind.

Besides, there were a couple of comic books upstairs in his room that were calling his name. And who was he to deny them?

“Alright then,” he said, “I’ll be going then.” And without waiting for a response, he turned to leave the room, hoping she wouldn’t ask any more of him.

“Spike. Wait.” 

He froze, clenching his teeth together. Great. Of course she world.  There goes the rest of his day.

“Yeah?”

Silence.

Twilight was thinking.

It was time to try and feel out what Spike and her’s relationship was in this world, to see if he could be trusted about her not being from this universe. Maybe he could help her try and figure out what was different here.

Now she just had to figure out what to say, without being arousing too much suspicion. Spike knew her better than anypony else in the world, and Twilight was not the best at being clever or sly when trying to find out information.

Needless to say, this whole thing was a bit of a disaster.

Twilight slinked closer to the dragon, trying her best to pretend nothing was amiss and failing horribly. “Spike… We’re, uhh, pretty close, right?”

“Yeah…?”

“We’ve always had each other’s backs, through thick and thin. I hope you know I trust you more than anypony else I know.”

He frowned at that and crossed his arms, unsure exactly where she was going with this, but was touched just the same. “Of course, Twi. Me too.”

She nodded eagerly at that, glad to confirm what she had hoped was the same. “And that kind of trust requires a certain amount of honesty, right?” She placed a hoof on his shoulder, comfortingly. “We can tell each other anything. There’s no secrets between us, right?” She smiled broadly.

“Right... Of course...”

Here, though, Spike was beginning to get nervous. See, he did have a secret he was keeping from Twilight, one that he was sure that she was going to be upset over. Particularly as it had been a long time since it had happened. Did she finally figure out what he did? He thought that if she hadn’t noticed by now, she was never going to.

This was a classic misunderstanding on his part.

Spike tried his best to act casual. It wasn’t the best attempt in the world, but Twilight was too caught up in her own agenda to take any notice. And, even if she had been paying full attention to him, that still wasn’t a guarantee that she would’ve noticed he was a little tense. Twilight wasn’t the best at picking up on social cues.

So, she continued unabated. “Good. I’m glad. Because there’s something that I feel needs to be said.”

Spike’s entire body went numb. To him, those words told him all he needed to know. She knew! She had figured it out! She was trying to guilt him! That was low, even for her, and Spike felt a little hurt.

Fine, then! A newfound anger welled up inside him, overwhelming his own guilt about his actions. This was such a backhanded way of trying to get him to acknowledge something she obviously knew herself already! If she was trying to con a confession out of him like this, he would just admit to it.

“I’m sorry, Twi!” he hissed out before she could say any more, “I didn’t mean to! It was just an accident, I swear!”

“I—” She stopped, puzzled at his outburst. “Wait. What are you talking about?” This had taken a turn she hadn’t been expecting.

But he didn’t seem to notice her confusion, as he was glowering, irritated at her for how he thought she was going about this whole thing. “It was just a stupid accident! I didn’t mean to burn all those books! I was just carrying them, and, and some dust or something got in my nose, and before I could even do anything, I sneezed!” He made a violent little motion with his hands. “And they were gone! I couldn’t stop it!”

“Spike.” Her voice was firm, grabbing his attention. “What are you talking about?”

He blinked, his anger dissipating. “I…” Did she not actually know? Did he just admit what he had done for no reason? He tried to turn the topic around. “What were you talking about?”

Twilight shook her head. “No no. We’ll get to that in a minute. You said you burned some of my books?”

Spike grit his teeth and glanced down at the floor, suddenly unwilling to meet her gaze. “…Yeah.”

“How long—” She broke off, her voice much angrier than she wanted it to be. She began again, in a gentler tone. “How long ago did this happen?”

“A-about three months or so now.”

…Three months…? Let’s see, if she remembered correctly, three months ago, she was…at the Wonderbolt Academy with Rainbow Dash. Spike, of course, had stayed home to hold down the fort. Apparently, at some point, he had destroyed some books, and he thought he could just sweep the whole thing under the rug.

To his credit though, he almost had. 

Twilight assumed that the same thing probably happened to her own Spike, so she would have to have words with him when she got back about proper document handling. Some of the books and scrolls in the library here were incredibly old. As it turns out, having a room made entirely out of crystal does wonders for preserving old parchment. Quite a few libraries and archives had sent some of their more delicate possessions to her for safe-keeping, sometimes without even telling anypony.

For now, though, there was something more important to talk about.

She smiled at the young dragon and gave him a quick hug, hoping to reassure him, but ended up missing him entirely. She moved slightly and tried again, successfully this time. “Okay, Spike. It’s fine. We’ll talk about this later.” She sighed. “I was actually trying to tell you something important.”

“Oh.” He seemed abashed. “Heh heh… Sorry…”

“It’s fine,” Twilight said again. Then, after a brief moment, “Right. Umm…” She paused here. How does one tell someone else that you’re not from this universe? It wasn’t that big of a deal, but Twilight was still somewhat uncertain on how to proceed. Eventually, she figured it best to just get it over with. 

“I’m not from this world!” she blurted out, with no warning or preface.

His head cocked to the side, confusion now apparent in his features. “Uh? Say again?”

She cringed, mentally berating herself. That was a really unclear way to try and explain it. She tried again. “I’m not from this universe. I’m from a different timeline. Like when…” Some hesitation here, still unsure just what parallels there were between this world and hers. “…Starlight Glimmer tried to get revenge on me?”

He nodded. “Oh yeah. That was just earlier in the year.” It had certainly been an interesting year. “So what then, you came through the Cutie Map?”

She visibly relaxed, relieved that at least Spike seemed to understand, and that the same event had happened here as well. “Yeah. Just a few minutes ago, right after it summoned Pinkie and Fluttershy.”

“So what, did…” He glanced around, looking for somepony in particular, even though they were the only two there. “…Starlight vow revenge on you again or something and try to kill you?”

Twilight shook her head. “No no! I was just studying the Cutie Map, like I said, and it just threw me into this universe! I have no idea why I’m here.” And then she glared at Spike and put on her best authoritative voice. “And don’t say things like that about Starlight. You know she’s good now. She’s trying her best to make up for her mistakes.”

“I know!” he whined. “I just thought that maybe she was still evil in your world or something.”

She scowled at him. “Well you’re lucky she’s conveniently not around right now to hear you say that. She feels really guilty about what she’s done. You know that she sees a therapist.”

“Well, she did try to change history and almost destroyed all of reality in the process, Twi. I’d hope she’d feel guilty. At least Chrysalis had only tried to take over Equestria—Twice.” 

“Okay.” Twilight held up a hoof. “Let’s stop there. We already had this discussion when I decided to let her be my student, and we agreed to disagree about it then. We have more pressing matters to attend to right now.”

“Yeah. Fine.” 

See, Spike had never fully forgiven Starlight for what she had tried to do, even though she’d proven herself many times over since then. Though, he did find the incident when she mind-controlled his friends more funny than worrying, so he probably isn’t the best judge of character. He is still just a child, after all, and a dragon child at that. Dragon ages don’t convert easily to pony years, especially in the eyes of the law, so he was in a weird gray area in terms of how mature he was. Some years back, Twilight had tried to develop a formula to figure out what his age would be in a pony world, but failed miserably when she finally realized that such a thing was impossible.

He continued speaking, his mood shifting. “So what’s different between our two timelines then? Did, like, all of the bad guys we’ve faced over the years decide to team up and destroy everything? Ooh!” His eyes lit up as more possibilities occurred to him. “Or are you a dragon and I’m a pony? Or did other ponies find the Elements of Harmony? Oh! Or is Princess Celestia evil? Or did—mmph!”

Twilight zipped his mouth shut with magic, shuddering at the thought, and then silently mouthed him an apology.

“I don’t really know what’s different. Nothing quite so drastic.” She glanced around the room more, as if to look and see if anything had changed, and then shrugged. “Everything seems exactly the same so far. I was hoping you could help me figure out just what’s different.”

She unzipped his mouth here, and he immediately worked his jaw side-to-side, stretching it. Having your mouth zipped shut was rarely a pleasant experience for anypony. Rarely. There were definitely some ponies out there that enjoyed it… But let’s not get into that. Spike certainly did not appreciate it, but wasn’t going to make a fuss over it.

“All I know is that, for no discernable reason, the Cutie Map created yet another portal to yet another universe, and I got sucked in and plopped down here with no clue what to expect or who I could trust. That’s why I was asking you all those questions. I wasn’t accusing you of keeping secrets from me—even though you were.” A pointed stare. “I was just trying to make sure I could trust you in this world.”

“Oh. I guess that makes sense. You really should’ve just led with that.”

“I know. You can make fun of me later if you want.”

“I’ll hold you to that.” He leaned against one of the thrones, but since Twilight had moved it to her universe’s position, he misjudged the distance slightly and nearly fell. He tried to play it off and leaned against the throne properly this time. “So what’s the plan then?”

“Plan? What makes you think I have a plan?”

He scoffed. “C’mon, Twi. You always have a plan.” He pointed at her. “You’re you.”

“It’s rude to make assumptions, Spike. I’ve taught you better than that. I’ve been too busy to come up with a plan.” 

This, of course, was a complete lie. Practically the first thing she had done was come up with a plan, as seen above. She was just teasing him some.

But he was not so easily dissuaded. “I know you have some sort of plan.”

“Nope. No plan here.

He stared at her, obviously not convinced.

She stared back at him.

“You have a plan.”

She smiled. “Yeah, of course I have a plan. What do you take me for?”

“And? What is it?”

“Well, I figured I would just look around and see if anything was immediately different. Of course, it seems as if that’ll be harder than I thought, so I’m not sure what I’ll do now.”

“So what’s next then? I’m ready for whatever you need me for.” Having to deal with this alternate universe Twilight was considerably more entertaining than how he had expected his day to go. At the very least, she wasn’t making him reshelve more books or helping her respond to various nobles and dignitaries, so he was very happy.

“Next? Next we head to the kitchen.” She began walking, Spike following beside her.

“Why the kitchen?” It was a pertinent question.

“Because it’s next on the list. I have to check out all the rooms here to see if anything’s different.”

“All of the rooms? That seems rather excessive.” 

She shot him a knowing smirk. “Okay, maybe not all of the rooms. At least a couple of them though, and then maybe we can take a look around town.”

“But why the kitchen? What could possibly be different in there?”

An embarrassed grin broke across her face. “Well… I’m kinda hungry.” Her stomach rumbled, as if to prove a point, or just for pure comedic timing. “It’s past lunchtime. I was hoping to get something to eat…”

“Of course.” He chuckled good-naturedly. This was definitely the same Twilight he knew and loved. “You think with your stomach too much. The tabloids already have a field day with your table manners.”

“Yeah yeah.” She rolled her eyes. “At least I don’t seriously buy and read those rags, unlike somedragon that lives here.”

“Hey! I like the gossip. Besides, as your assistant, I have to keep track of what everypony’s saying about you. It’s part of my job description.”

“If you say so.”

“I do say so!”

“If you say so.”

“I do!”

And so, they headed to the kitchen together.

It wasn’t noticed by either of them, but Spike walked just a little too far to the left from Twilight than he would have in her own world. Or, rather, Twilight was just too far to the right than her counterpart would have been in this world.

It was an inconsequential thing, but a thing nonetheless. 




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