It was late in the afternoon when Twilight Sparkle, Spike the dragon and Starlight Glimmer stood waiting at the train station for their latest charge to arrive and were chatting nervously with each other.
“Twilight, are you sure that this mare will be okay?” Spike asked. “That letter from Princess Celestia has still got me worried.”
“Spike, I’m fairly certain that Princess Celestia would not send anypony overtly dangerous that we couldn’t handle to us, right Starlight?” Twilight turned to her student.
“I... am not convinced,” Starlight replied. “I mean, she has sent Discord over here to be reformed. And of course she let me stay, after what I did… I still don’t know why she didn’t send the guards after me when she found out I almost destroyed Equestria seven times with that time travel spell… even if you did vouch for me.”
“She trusts my judgement,” Twilight said. “And I promised her that you’d changed.” She smiled at the other mare. “Besides, in the end, you were the one who recognized that what you were doing was wrong, and that’s what counts. Even if you have had a few relapses since then, I know you’ve always meant well and weren’t being deliberately malicious.”
Starlight smiled back. “Thanks, Twilight.” She then straightened her face. “But this is the first time she actually warned you to be careful. I mean, I read the the journals; she gave you notice that Tirek was loose but not to be careful. Same with Discord, I mean, no warning until he escaped. Hay, she didn’t even tell you either of them existed before they got loose. How dangerous could this one mare that doesn’t have any magic be?”
“I don’t know but I am not going to let that deter me from trying to help her,” Twilight said confidently. “And we are going to find out now, that’s her train pulling up.”
She tilted her head towards the train that was slowing down along the rails from Canterlot, and smiled. “Ah, the good old Friendship Express…”
“Seriously?” Starlight blinked at her. “That’s really its name?”
“Yep.” Spike nodded. “It’s been called that since before I was hatched.”
“Learn something new everyday, I guess,” Starlight said as she turned back to the train with the ponies aboard disembarking from it, with some gaping at her but keeping their distance. There was one unicorn mare that stood out as she was clearly in awe of her surroundings, tilting her head as she walked over to the trio. As in Celestia’s subsequent letter, this mare matched Spliced Genome’s description although not her behaviour exactly.
She was still talking to herself as she approached them, saying, “-imply amazing how a rustic and primitive means of acceleration can change the experience of a train ride.” She then chuckled to herself in a manner similar to how a rich pony would after trying what Prince Blueblood had so derisively referred to as ‘commoner fair’. Shaking her head, she lit her horn up and removed the necklace around her neck and let out a sigh as she flapped her wings. “So much better,” she muttered under her breath before holding out a hoof towards to the princess. “Hello, I am Spliced Genome; you must be Twilight Sparkle.”
“Yes I am,” Twilight said, shaking the hoof. “This is my student, Starlight Glimmer,” she gestured towards the unicorn who also shook the alicorn’s hoof. “And my number one assistant, Spike the dragon.”
“Nice to meet you,” Spike said with the mare hesitating and eying the young drake.
“An actual dragon,” she said, lowering herself down to meet Spike in the eye. “You know, I did my thesis paper on the biology of dragons where I come from. Scored top of my class, in fact.” She looked briefly upset about something but she flashed a smile and rubbed his head. “In any case, it is nice to meet you, Spike.” Her horn lit up and grabbed a pebble from the ground. “Now let’s see if I remember this trick I learn from Dirt Digger,” her horn began to glow turquoise around the stone with smoke flowing out of it and mare beginning to sweat profusely. Twilight was about to step in to stop her when her horn began to dim and the stone stopped smoking. Shaking her head, Spliced placed a hoof on her head. “That was something else,” she said to herself before holding up a small diamond. “Here, something to add to your horde.” She then placed it into Spike’s claw.
“Wow, thank you, but I don’t really got one,” Spike said as he eyed the diamond. “Can I go put this in my room Twilight?”
“Sure thing Spike,” she said, waving him back to the castle with Spliced giving her a concerned look before forcing a smile on her face. “Is everything okay Spliced?”
“Yes,” she nodded her head before gesturing with a hoof. “Please, lead on.”
“Good, I can’t wait to show you Ponyville,” Twilight said.
“I wonder if it is like the one I knew of...?” Spliced said, tilting her head. “Though I highly doubt it.”
“Why do you say that?” Starlight asked, keeping an eye on their new guest with a frown on her student’s face.
“Well for starters, Ponyville was the name of a ghetto district of a mega city called Neighbraska,” Spliced said. “And for another thing, this Ponyville is highly viewed by the government.”
Twilight and Starlight both stopped in their tracks. “A… ghetto district?” Twilight said faintly. “As in, a messy, overcrowded area where only poor ponies really live?” She shook her head. “That’s… I can’t really picture anyplace named Ponyville being like that.”
Spliced shrugged. “Different world, different ways,” she said nonchalantly as they made their ways into the town. “Besides, I didn’t name the place - it’d been around for a few hundred years before I was ever born. And to add onto my compliments to this Ponyville, it is a stark improvement from a general point of view. The land here is wide open, lush with actual grass and trees, everything here seems well maintained and I can spot flares of personal touches, and there doesn’t seem to be any violent or crazy pon-”
“GAAAASP!” Pinkie Pie was briefly visible hanging in the air before dashing off, leaving Spliced utterly confused.
“Wha-what was that?” she asked them, turning her head back and forth as if she could spot Pinkie Pie by such simple means.
“Pinkie Pie, one of my best friends,” Twilight said with a small smile on her face. “She is the premier party pony in Equestria, and… well, she’s more than a little excitable most of the time. Especially when new ponies arrive in town.”
“She is probably planning your welcome party as we speak, so prepare yourself to be shot with confetti by a cannon,” Starlight said. “Assuming, of course, she didn’t accidentally put the cake batter in it instead. Again.”
“I, er, wa, what?” Spliced asked, doing her best to keep up while at the same time trying to comprehend Pinkie Pie. “This is some sort of metaphor, right?”
“Nope.” Starlight shook her head. “She really does have a cannon that shoots out confetti, streamers, balloons and sometimes cake batter if she put it in by accident, via compressed air. I don’t know where she got the idea, and I’m not sure I want to know.”
“It’s Pinkie Pie,” Twilight said. “She does that sort of thing.” She leaned in close. “Confidentially, I wouldn’t try to think too much about how she pulls it off - I nearly drove myself crazy trying to figure her out a few years ago.”
“I am a scientist, I believe I can understand one Thi-Earth pony,” Spliced said, throwing her head back.
“And I know Pinkie. She’s my friend, and I love her dearly, but she defies the laws of logic, physics and common sense on a regular basis,” Twilight replied with a sigh. “Even Discord doesn’t try to understand her, and he’s the same way.”
“Discord?” Spliced asked, blinking in confusion. “The only Discord I know of is some sort of creature mentioned in old religious texts as the devil’s agent, like Nyarlathotep to Azathoth.”
“That’s pretty accurate, if the Nyarlathotep you are talking about is a chaotic monster serving creatures that don’t view equinity as more than a speck on cosmic scale,” Twilight said before turning to face Spliced. “Wait, are you saying that our literature is the same?”
“That appears to be true but given how different time is, that there must either some kind of parallel development, or maybe some kind of cosmic force affecting both our universes,” Spliced said. She shuddered. “Of course, if something like Azathoth came here, there must have been something pretty powerful that drove it off like we did in my world. From what I’ve read in the history books, its ability to manipulate thaumatics was so far beyond anything anypony from my generation could handle, and I’m still not sure how they managed to counter it and drive it away from the galaxy in the end. Though I’m pretty sure some extremely powerful explosives were involved… either way, it finally decided we weren’t worth the effort to put up with and moved on.”
“Wait, isn’t that the famous game story of Old Mare Henderson?” Twilight asked, causing the mare to spin her head in surprise. “My brother told me about that infamous game of Call of Cthulhu; how this one player lied and cheated his way to winning an unwinnable game by having such a massive backstory that the game master couldn’t read it all.”
“Oh please, it’s not cheating if your opponent doesn’t bother to read all the information provided; it is on them for losing. Besides it sounds like a fair way to win that stupid game,” Spliced laughed with Starlight shaking her head and muttering nerds under her breath.
“Either way, it does sound familiar…” Twilight pondered. “Though from what you said, Azathoth survived and Hastur didn’t-”
Her train of thought was interrupted as there was a sudden whoosh overhead, and a moment later a bright blue pegasus mare with a prismatic mane and tail landed in front of them. “Hey, Twilight, Starlight. Who’s the newbie?”
“Spliced Genome, a pleasure to me-”
“How fast can you go with those wings Splicey?”
“Splicey?” she muttered to herself before looking at the Wonderbolt. “I can travel at an average speed for a mare my age but I have not had much time to actually fly anyplace. And you are?”
“Rainbow Dash,” the other mare said as she puffed out her chest. “Only the most awesome pegasus in all of Equestria.”
“Rrright…” Spliced gave her a flat look. “Any way you can prove that claim?”
Twilight and Starlight winced at the grin Rainbow Dash gave Spliced and how she said, “Just you watch, Splicey.”
“Please don’t call me th-” the mare began before Dash shot off into the sky, beginning to pick up speed. Everypony in town were watching the free Wonderbolt show happening in the sky with Spliced watching with a closed face.
After around thirty seconds of hard flying, Dash fell into a dive and managed land directly in front of Spliced.
“What did you think of that Splicey?”
“That you are on par with the most basic of flight vehicles,” Spliced said with Dash’s mouth hanging low.
“WHAT‽” Dash shouted at her. “I’m fast as a bucking balloon to you‽” With a snort, Dash was about to take off when Spliced’s turquoise magic aura grabbed the mare.
“Where I am from, the most basic aircrafts can go near sonic,” she said sharply, forcing Dash to look her in the eyes. “It was meant to be a compliment.” Spliced flashed a smile as she let Dash go. “I have to admit, I wouldn’t be surprised if you could go the speed of sound one day with enough training.”
“Could?” Dash gave her a look. “Lady, I’ve broken the speed of sound before. Every time I do a sonic rainboom.”
“It’s true,” Starlight put in. “I’ve seen her do it.”
“Really?” Spliced blinked in honest surprise. “No pony I knew of could do that,” she said with a look that was similar to when Twilight received a new book.
“Well, I guess I’ll you see later?” Dash said as she backed off. “Gotta go take care of some stuff back home now. Bye!” With that, she flew off, Spliced blinking in surprise as she watched the other mare go.
“Another one of your friends?” Spliced asked Twilight, raising an eyebrow.
“One of my first friends here in Ponyville,” Twilight said proudly. “I’ll admit we had our differences at first, but there’s nopony more loyal than her.” She smiled. “Actually, when I first came to Ponyville with Spike, I… wasn’t exactly thrilled by the idea of being friends with anypony. But I wound up making five of the best friends any mare could have.”
“So whom are the other three?” Spliced asked, tilting her head to the side.
“How do you know I’m not one of her best friends?” Starlight asked, glaring at the other mare.
“Starlight,” Twilight started to interject when Spliced tilted her head downwards.
“Simple logic dictates she would have introduced you as such,” Spliced replied. “I don’t doubt that you’re one of her best friends now, just that you were not one of the first five.”
“Oh.” Starlight blinked. “Okay, you’ve got a point there… and you’re right, I didn’t even meet Twilight until she’d been living here for a few years.” She gestured in one direction. “Actually, I didn’t meet Twilight until after she’d moved into there.”
Spliced followed her hoof to see something ahead of them, and blinked.
Then she blinked again.
“Am I seeing what I think I’m seeing?” she asked in a hushed tone.
“If you think you’re seeing a castle that looks like a tree made out of crystal, then yep.” Starlight gave a little smirk at the dumbfounded look on Spliced’s face. “That’s where Twilight lives. And me too for the past year or so.”
“How did you even craft such a thing? I didn’t think you had access to such complex mechanical geological manipulations considering how archaic everything is.”
“Archaic?” Twilight raised an eyebrow. “I know Ponyville can look a little old-fashioned, but that’s part of the charm of it. Besides, I didn’t actually make the castle. It just grew itself to look like that.”
Spliced stared at her, dumbfounded. “It… grew?”
“Long story,” Twilight shrugged. “I’ll explain the whole thing later. Suffice to say it was quite an adventure, and… well, it took me a while to get used to living there opposed to my old tree library.” She sighed. “But it’s my home now, and if you come on, I’ll show you around.”
“Though you might want a map,” Starlight threw in. “I still get lost in there, and I’ve been living with Twilight and Spike for over a year.”
“In a moment, I’d like to see more of this town of yours,” Spliced said, flexing her wings in a way Twilight had learned to tell was an unconscious act of nervousness. Twilight filed that away for later examination.
“Sure thing.” Twilight smiled. “We’ve got a lot of sites around here… there’s Sugarcube Corner, Carousel Boutique, the Town Hall… oh, and Sweet Apple Acres, the first residential site in Ponyville ever, and one of the first places I ever visited when I first came here. It’s on the other end of town though, so we might want to save it for later.”
“Sounds like a plan,” Spliced said. “Lead on,” the mare did a light bow, gesturing for them to move on.
“How about we meet one of my friends Rarity Belle,” Twilight said, as she led the way through the town and was surprised to realize that they hadn’t fallen to pieces at the sight of a second alicorn. She wasn’t sure what it said about her town that this was a normal day for them. “Remember how I mentioned Carousel Boutique?”
Spliced nodded.
“Well, that’s the dress shop she runs here in town, and her designs are so well-regarded that she’s been able to open two other branches in Canterlot and Manehatten.”
“Really, a… fashionista.” Spliced didn’t exactly look enthused. “And she’s one of your best friends?”
“Absolutely.” Twilight caught the expression on her face. “I know, the town bookworm and the town fashionista don’t exactly seem like they’d be close… but there’s more to Rarity than just clothes, even if she does come up with the best and most creative designs I’ve ever seen. She’s happiest when she’s helping others, and you should see her when she’s having fun with her little sister.”
“Sister?” Spliced perked up at that.
Twilight nodded. “All six of us have brothers or sisters, except Rainbow Dash, and even then Scootaloo’s as close to her as one.”
“Must be nice,” Spliced mused. “I was an only child, myself, and never had anypony close enough to be like a sibling.”
“Well the ponies here are certainly friendly enough,” Twilight said, giving her a smile. “We believe in treating friends like family and family like friends, and we're always glad to add yet one more to the family.”
“Which says a lot about this place,” Starlight said quietly, a faint smile on her face. “Especially given how they welcomed me...”
Spliced gave her a curious look, but turned back to Twilight. “So, where exactly is your friend’s shop?”
“Just over there.”
“Past the place with the gaudy carousel?” Spliced gestured towards the building.
Twilight gave her a stern look. “That is the Carousel Boutique.”
“Oh… er, sorry.” Spliced said, rubbing the back of her head. “I wasn’t expecting it be a literal name.”
“It’s okay, just don’t ever say that in front of Rarity,” Twilight told her. “She can get a little… touchy.” Her eyes drifted for a moment, as if she was remembering some past incident. “Anyway, here we are.”
“Right.” Spliced let out a deep breath. “Just, fair warning? I’m not too big on ‘fancy’ - I’m more of a ‘function over form’ type, if you know what I mean.”
“Of course.” Twilight nodded. “I know other ponies who are the same way.”
With a nod of her head, the trio made their way towards the building, drawing a few looks now that people were aware that there was indeed another alicorn in town. There was some murmuring but if Spliced Genome noticed it, she made no sign of it.
There was some sort of strength to the mare, some sort of confidence that Twilight couldn’t place her hoof on. Like she was certain she could take anything on and be the victor and was slightly worrying. Twilight shared a look with Starlight, who had a more serious frown on her face. She would have to talk with her student afterwards, to hear her thoughts on Spliced.
After turning around the corner, they finally made their way in front of the Carousel Boutique with Spliced walking inside first.
“Good afternoon!” a voice called out in an almost sing-song manner. “Welcome to Carousel Boutique, where every garment is chic, unique, and magnifique. I’ll be with you in just a moment!”
Spliced raised an eyebrow, then looked back at Twilight as if to say ”Is she for real?”
Before Twilight could say anything, Rarity swept into the room. “Welcome, welcome darlings, how may I help you-oh dear Celestia we have another alicorn!”
“Yes and no,” Spliced said. “I am what you call an alicorn but I am from another dimension where there are very notable differences between me and her.” She gestured towards Twilight and then herself. “I am staying with Twilight until… certain things are finalized with Celes-Princess Celestia and Princess Luna.”
“Oh?” Rarity leaned in. “Do tell.”
For the first time, Spliced seemed really nervous. “It’s complicated,” she said uncertainly, shifting on her hooves.
Rarity exchanged glances with Twilight. “It’s all right,” she said reassuringly. “I won’t judge…”
Spliced heaved a sigh. “Well, I got on the wrong side of my world’s government during a war and wound up being imprisoned on the moon… I managed to escape recently and came through a portal to this world’s moon, and then your Princess Luna found me and brought me down here.”
“You were in a war?” Twilight asked, surprised at this piece of information.
“You’re a war criminal‽” Starlight shouted, causing Twilight to do a double take.
“I was a scientist,” Spliced sputtered. “One side, the Thirds, asked me to help them after their enemies attacked them with biological weapons; I just analyzed those weapons and came up with a cure so they wouldn’t die from them. My continued involvement with the Thirds and their using my expertise in the war afterward was enough for the government to condemn me afterward to immortality so I could serve out the full life sentence they put on me.”
Twilight was at a loss for words at this, trying to process all of this and what she should address first. On the one hoof, Spliced had just admitted to being a war criminal; on the other, it was apparently because she’d been trying to save lives. And on the third hoof… “They made you immortal?” she asked, wide-eyed.
Spliced nodded. “Oh, I can die,” she said disgustedly. “I just don’t stay dead, as Princess Celestia will confirm - she’s seen me die and get better at least twice since I got here.” She sighed. “And it’s not a fun experience, I can assure you. Especially since I can never forget all those times I’ve died.”
“I am not convinced,” Starlight said, eyes narrowed as she focused on the other mare. “How do we know you’re telling the truth about any of this?”
Spliced narrowed her eyes right back. “You want proof? I’ll give you proof. Miss Belle, you might not want to watch this.”
Then she reached up, placed both hooves against her head, and turned it with a sharp crack.
As the green mare fell to the floor, her neck broken, the other three mares stared in shock and horror.
A moment later, Spliced shuddered as her neck bones moved back into place, and she stood up with a groan, then gave Starlight a glare. “Happy now?”
“I’ve seen my friends trapped in Changeling goo, Discord in a bad mood, and a wasteland that used to be Equestria,” Starlight said in a stunned tone. “But that, right there, was scarier and more disturbing than all of those put together.”
“H-how are you able to do that to yourself‽” Rarity asked, aghast.
“I’m used to it,” Spliced shrugged. “I’ve also started to come back a lot faster; used to be a few hours before I came back to life.” Then she looked around. “Princess, Miss Belle… I’m sorry, but I’m not in a good mood now, and I need to go and get some air. I’ll meet you back at the castle later.” With that, she turned and headed for the door.
When she was gone, Starlight sighed. “I’m hardly one to talk, but I still don’t think she’s giving us the full story. And there’s just something about her that’s rubbing me the wrong way.”
Twilight looked to the door with concern. “I don’t know what to think,” she said quietly.
As she walked down the streets of Ponyville, Spliced Genome looked around her, studying the sights and sounds. All in all, it was a pleasant-looking town, and the residents were certainly content - she could see three little fillies with surprisingly similar Cutie Marks running down one street, laughing happily, while off on the side of the main area, a mint-green unicorn sat on a bench in an… odd posture as a cream Earth pony stretched out next to her. Further along, she saw a little unicorn filly sitting on the ground and happily wagging her tail as she was nuzzled by a gray pegasus mare. The sight brought a faint smile to Spliced’s face.
Continuing on her way, she eventually reached the edge of town, and found herself wandering along a tree-lined path. Curious as to where it led, she kept to the path until it came to a small cottage, looking somewhat like a tree with windows and a thatched-grass roof.
Moving closer, she could hear voices ahead, and blinked at the flash of light that came from the other side of the cottage. Before she could go look, another flash appeared in front of her, and she raised her hoof to block out the sudden light.
“Oh my. Oh my, oh my, what’s this?” an odd voice said in front of her. “Do I see a little silhouetto of a sixth alicorn in Equestria?”
Rubbing her eyes as her vision cleared, Spliced looked up to see one of the strangest-looking creatures she’d ever encountered. At its core, it resembled a serpentine dragon, but its body was covered in eagle feathers and it had the head of a goat, one goat horn, one stag horn, one fang, the tongue of a snake, the mane of a pony, one eagle talon, one lion paw, one bat wing, one bird wing, one green dragon leg, one pony leg, and a red dragon tail.
“Now, I know I’ve seen you somewhere…” The creature tapped its chin. “Ah, yes… the Princess’s new guest, the one dear Celly and Lulu mentioned.”
Spliced looked at him in surprise. “You know the Princesses?”
“But of course! After all…” The creature leaned in close. “They’re the ones who imprisoned me in stone for over a thousand years just for having a little fun…”
Spliced gulped, remembering Celestia’s warning. “I see…”
“But of course, I haven’t introduced myself.” Snapping a claw, the thing produced a copy of himself in a red jacket, puffy white shirt and a fancy-looking red hat with a feather sticking out of it. Blowing a trumpet, the duplicate gestured to the original. “Announcing the spirit of chaos, Discord!” He blew his trumpet again before popping out of existence.
“Am I supposed to be impressed?” Spliced asked, taking a step backwards.
“I don’t know,” he leaned in, hovering off the ground. “Are you Doa?”
Spliced froze, her blood became ice and it felt like her heart stopped.
“Wh-what did you say?”
“You heard me.” Discord’s face was even closer to her. “Doa.”
“H-how do you know that name?”
“Oh, I know a lot,” Discord waved it off. “I know the kings of Griffonstone and I quote the fights historical… from Trottingham to Canterlot in order categorical. And I also know what you did to wind up like dear Lulu.”
“But that was in a different dimension!” Spliced protested. “Nopony could know that!”
“Do I look like a pony?” Discord extended his body, wrapping himself around her. “I, my dear lady, am a draconequus. I am not bound to any one shape or world, though I tend to prefer this one. Chaos is my very nature, change is what I do. And I am capable of anything I feel like… of course, I haven’t felt like causing trouble for anypony in a long time. Except for Chrysalis of course.” His face turned nasty for a moment. “Nopony hurts Fluttershy and gets away with it.”
Spliced was beginning to feel a bit lost. “Um, right.”
“So as long as you behave yourself, and don’t go working on plagues like the ones you made before, you should have nothing to fear. But if you do…” Discord’s head suddenly burst into flame. “Even Daybreaker’s wrath won’t compare to mine.”
“I’ll keep that in mind,” Spliced said faintly as she wondered to herself who Daybreaker was, besides somepony she was fairly certain she didn’t want to meet.
“Good.” Discord snapped back to normal. “Now, would you care to join Fluttershy and I for some tea?” He snapped his claws, and a large red marking appeared on his face. “It’s one of her special varieties.”
“Um, sure,” Spliced said, somewhat unsure. “Tea sounds great.”
“Gooo-oood!” Discord smiled widely, snapping into a maitre d's uniform. “Right this way, please.”
As he led her to the cottage, Spliced could only wonder one thing.
What have I gotten myself into?