My eyes lit up as I thought about the possibilities that had just been presented. Sunny and...well, Sunny, had just proposed the existence of a divergence of massive proportions, one that could very well be pertinent to the nature vs nurture argument. I saw so very many similarities, the snarky humor, the relaxed way of speaking despite the intellect simmering inside, and the look in their eyes when they looked at me or...well, me.
I looked at my counterpart, seeing her eyes lit with the same glow of simmering excitement I recognized from the mirror.
"Do you realize what this means?" I said, hearing an almost a stereo effect when the same words came out of her mouth as well. I looked at her and we both giggled. There was also the mixed groan and sigh from the Sunsets that I recognized when she realized she had triggered a theory in my mind.
"Yours, too?" my Sunny said.
The other fiery-haired woman nodded.
Undaunted, I plowed ahead.
"This proves the multiverse theory," I said, an excited rush I hadn't felt since I had first traveled to Equestria and was taught magic, seeing what was a theory brought to life. "I mean, Equestria alone shows that multiple universes exist, but this gives a second point of evidence! And the fact that you and your Sunset are still operating on regular mana levels means that you haven't been through the same paces we have." I turned to my wife, a cheeky grin spreading.
"Isn't that right, Princess?"
Sunny groaned.
"I told you not to call me that," she said grumpily. "We're on vacation, for Celestia's Sake!"
Sunset’s face paled, but only a little. Twilight’s brows raised and neither of them responded quickly to it. This Sunset was...a princess?
Eventually, Twilight spoke up. “A princess? As in, an Equestrian royal princess?” she adjusted her glasses.
The other couple nodded, this Sunset doing so a tad slower if perhaps sheepishly. She didn’t seem bothered by the knowledge per se, but having it revealed it to the other Sunset was a wild card to her.
“As in coronated in Canterlot by Princess Celestia?” Sunset winced at the thought. Not for this Sunset who would have a different relationship with the old mare, but rather for the idea of herself being in that situation
"I wasnt officially coronated," she said, fidgeting in her seat. "At least, not before the assembled ponies of Canterlot. It was pretty much just Celestia, Princess Twilight, and Starlight Glimmer. I think Spike might have been there too, but I'm not sure."
"Information kind of deseminated the way it does in a small town," I said. "Plus, wings and a horn on a pony are kind of clear giveaways."
"Twi, honey," Sunset whispered, discomfort sliding through the bond. "Could we change the subject?
Sunset decided to turn the tables rather than pretend to pout over her lack of wings as she did before. She looked sideways to her wife, who caught the look and grinned in return. They both had their guesses and synced their thoughts the way so many older couples could do with only a look.
“I gather the two of you used Equestrian magic and possibly a chemical carrier to manifest the fertilization method to facilitate the creation of your children,” Twilight adjusted her glasses with a smug grin.
The other Twilight only had a half-second of shock but then snapped her fingers in realization. Of course, if anyone else would think to look to the other side of the portal for a solution then it would be either Sunset or herself. Her other self.
“That was, of course, a possibility,” Twilight nodded in thought. “However, besides Sunny’s decision on Equestria, there was the concern of the sirens as well. Granted that was more of a lucky afterthought since we wanted a child before Dashie and Adagio got to that point. But cracking Sunny’s Equestrian DNA sequence turned out to make cracking siren DNA a snap. As you might expect, just as all living things of this world, living things from Equestria share an enormous amount of their genetic code in common. Sirens are even more genetically similar to ponies than chimpanzees are to humans,” Twilight continued only to have Sunset pick up her next words.
The slightly taller redhead crossed her somewhat muscular arms over her generous chest. “I think what my dear Watson is trying to say-”
“Hey!” Twilight turned on her wife and playfully punched her in the bicep.
Sunset’s grin only got bigger and she didn’t budge. “-is that you used magic where we used science. You may have more advanced magical abilities in certain respects, but we’ve discovered the secrets of Equestria on the biomolecular level. So there!”
Twilight was somewhat less a braggart about their accomplishment but no less proud. “Genetic splicing based on our Equestrian-Human DNA pairing algorithm has allowed complete assembly of genetic code from couples who are human-pony and even human-siren regardless of the originating sex of the parents. That’s how we had Sunlight. Not to mention Dashie and Adagio’s children!”
I grinned wildly.
"Oh, I have got to see your notes!" I cried. "We went the magic route when traditional methods didn't quite work out. The standard two-ova technique fizzled twice and genetic splicing was decades away from being a possibility. It was an..." I glanced at Sunset, who gave a quick toss of her eyes at the girls before shrugging. "Interesting experience. In many senses of the word. Even comparing it to our regular times, feeling it through the bond was just wonderful both times."
"Bond?" the other Sunset asked.
"Something happened as a side effect to her draining my magic through the portal," Sunny said. "Seems we got hooked together on the mental level somehow. It didn't flare up until the months after our experiences at Camp Everfree and the blossoming of our magic in their own new ways, but it's gotten to the point that we can speak to each other and feel what they're feeling."
I reached up to my shoulder as she spoke, feeling the scar on my shoulder just at the edge of my fingertips. "Fortunately, that didn't come until later," I whispered. Then a statement the other Twilight had said finally bubbled to the forefront of my mind.
"Wait, Dash and Adagio?" I said, sitting forward. "Who else wound up with whom?"
"Well," the more muscular Sunset hedged. "We'll fill you in on that later. What I want to know is how you managed to wind up with scars and what the devil happened at Camp Everfree."
"War," I said quietly.
"War," Sunset parroted and tapped her fingers on her thigh in thought. "It seems our universe has more times of peace to be thankful for..."
Twilight frowned, she never thought she'd be grateful for calm and safety that existed in her universe but not another. She adjusted her glasses and fidgeted. "There's a very real danger to us depending on which version of the multiverse theory is correct. If we have met from drastically divergent patches in a quilted multiverse then there may exist enough differences in our realities to guess within reasonably safe margins that the war and enemies you've faced do not exist in our world. But a quantum multiverse with a recent enough point of divergence could mean-!"
Sunset grabbed her wife's trembling hand in her own and gave her a steady reassuring look. Twilight looked back, searching Sunset's eyes deep and found the calm strength that had grown there ever since CHS. The redhead turned to the other Twilight. Perhaps their otherverse copies had some good news.
"What was the nature of this war? And what are the chances we might face the same in the future?"
"Low," I said, feeling the tinge of sorrow flow from my wife's side of the bond. "You already appear to have missed out on a threat to this world by virtue of the differing mana convergences, and with your apparent disinvestment in Equestria, you'll likely not have to deal with the second and more troubling one.." I stared into the mist of memory, the capture and mental torture I had undergone. "Due to a stopgap measure that Star Swirl the Bearded enacted on a group of chaos entities called harpies, we were all pretty badly beaten up." I saw Sunset rub her scars, catching brief glimpses of her memories of the pain it had caused.
"That's the threat that caused my Ascension," Sunny whispered. "He was draining the portal to break his children free, and I stopped him." A tear slipped from her eye. "And it almost cost me more than I could bear."
The Twilight across from me furrowed her brow. "How so?"
"She gained her wings when we brought her Element of Harmony from Equestria and brought it to a nascent Tree of Harmony here," I said. "The tree raised her to Alicorn status, but shortly after, I was captured." anger began to bubble as more memories of the time as a hostage flickered through my mind, Sunny's calm barely taking the edge off. I mastered it as I saw the pair across from us blink in concern.
"He tricked me into thinking I had been captive for months, being beset by Midnight Sparkle and having to defeat the illusions of my friends over and over. I even attacked Sunny when they did find me later that night, thinking it another trick."
"How did you beat him?" the other Sunset asked, and I saw the children watching out of the corner of my eye. Middy and Rory knew the story but loved hearing it, but Sunlight looked as though he was on the edge of his seat.
"In the course of researching the portal," Sunny said. "We came across a gem that had to do with a feature of the portal. I used it to force the Harpy back into the portal that served as his prison. It was an...explosive resolution."
"By which she means she blew up the portal for a few days," I said. "And worrying me half to death, thinking I had lost her."
The other couple gripped their hands.
"The other difficulty, and the actual war we spoke of," Sunny said. "Was when the daughter of King Sombra returned to try and retake the Crystal Empire using an army of undead ponies. She was using forbidden magics to stymie us at every turn and it was touch and go for a while there."
"That's where I got my scars," I said, feeling the puckered edge again. "In a skirmish, a blast from a Unicorn sliced my left wing off."
"Wait," Twilight said. "Your wing?"
Sunny nodded. "The Midnight Sparkle incarnation is what started her base ascension," she said. "Apparently, humans can't gain full Alicorn status due to genetics, but she was given the same mana reserves and stature that I have as a pony, though still smaller than Celestia. If you haven't already, while I'm thinking of it, you should write her. It did me a world of good to see her when I did."
"I'll..." the other Sunset whispered. "I'll think about it."
"I wasn't given wings in the traditional sense," I continued, grinning at the momentary flash of shared memory at Sunny's surprise when I had shown her. "They were manifestations of magic, my magic specifically. We never did figure out why they weren't solid, did we?"
"Starlight said that she and Princess Twilight hypothesized that it was mostly because they were mantic in origin, not physical," my wife said offhandedly. "I asked at one of the conferences."
"I thought I had gone with you on all of those, didn't I?" I asked.
"You were busy with your doctoral thesis," she replied, spreading her hands. "I didn't want to disturb you."
"That's not a real reason!" I sputtered, turning towards her.
"Remind you of anyone?" the other Twilight said.
"Not really," the other Sunset smirked, earning herself a playful punch.