Princess Twilight once again stepped through the portal to the human world. As always, the feeling of her entire body changing was weird, but she had grown used to it. She had been regularly visiting Sunset lately. This time, however, was not one of their meet ups. No, today, Twilight was on a mission.
Somewhat preoccupied, Twilight stumbled as she came out. Luckily, Sunset was there and ready to catch her. “Ahh, thanks Sunset.”
“Sure thing, Princess. What’s going on?” There was a hint of worry in her tone. Sunset had gotten home to find her journal buzzing. The message from her pony friend was short and to the point:
Sunset, I need to talk to Twilight.
There’s a problem that I need her help with.
-Twilight
The princess had refused to say more, insisting that it remain a secret. “Is there some inter-dimensional threat, or some equations only I can help with?” The human Twilight had begun panicking while waiting for the princess.
“No no, much worse,” the princess replied. Both the other girls gasped. “There is-” Twilight paused, fighting back a shudder. “-A major inconsistency!”
Human Twilight screeched in terror. “NO! Anything but that!”
Sunset deadpanned. “What are you talking about? And why in Celestia’s good name is that a crisis?”
Both Twilights turned to her. They spoke in near perfect unison. “Because, Sunset. Our worlds are supposed to be near perfect mirrors of each other. We’re connected through a mirror for goodness sake. If there are too many inconsistencies, the very fabric of reality could fall apart. They could start bleeding into each other. These inconsistencies could be the very reason magic is still in this world at all!”
Sunset groaned. It was difficult enough listening to her Twilight ramble on about physics at times. Two of them going on about theoretical physics detailing the very nature of the universe? She could feel a headache coming on. Sunset brought her hands up and started rubbing her temples. “Okay, okay. Fine, just, please, stop talking in sync. It hurts.” Both Twilights rolled their eyes. “So what’s this great inconsistency?”
The princess turned to the high-schooler. “Why do you wear glasses?”
The teenager blinked. “Wait! You’re not wearing contacts?”
“What are contacts?”
Sunset leaned against the statue base. This wasn’t going to go well.
“Well, I see the problem now. Why is our eyesight different?”
“I don’t know. That’s why I’m here. We need to figure this out.”
Both Twilights began pacing back and forth. One would pause and open their mouth as if to say something, at which the other would stop, looking hopeful. Each time they then closed their mouth and shook their head. “No, that won’t work,” or similar phrases were muttered numerous times between them.
After almost twenty minutes Sunset was seated on the ground, her face buried in her hands. “Look! Why don’t you just both go and take a basic vision test?” she shouted, looking up at both of them.
Both Twilights stopped. They muttered to themselves before both saying, “Brilliant idea, Sunset!” Sunset groaned again, prompting both Twilights to giggle. “Sorry.”
“Well, we can’t give it to each other, that would ruin the test.”
“True. We need someone to give us the test. Someone who can collate the data and get back to us.”
Both girls turned to Sunset, grinning wildly. She promptly let out another groan. “Alright. Fine.” Still muttering to herself, Sunset stood up. “The nurse’s office should have what we need.”
Both girls followed Sunset into the building. The princess hadn’t spent much time in the building on her various trips, and the human Twilight was still new to the school, so they both opted to follow the fiery haired girl. Sunset led them back to the nurses office.
Before she could enter, the Twilights spoke up. “Wait, we should-” they stopped talking to giggle. “Sorry.”
The bespectacled Twilight bowed to the princess. “You say it.”
The princess blushed. It was strange to see herself bowing to her. “Okay. So, we were going to say that we should wait out here to minimize the risk of compromising the test. And Sunset, you need to not react to the test at all. You have to stay stoic.” Both girls beamed.
“Fine, whatever.” Sunset’s headache was growing worse, and she had to stop to massage her temples again. “My Twilight first then.”
Both girls stepped forward. Seeing the other do so, they paused and looked at each other. “Sorry.” Princess Twilight blushed.
“No, no, she obviously meant you.” Human Twilight looked down at her feet and kicked the ground in a manner very reminiscent of Fluttershy. “You’re the other pony.”
“What, no! the two of you clearly have a closer bond than we do. She obviously meant you.” Princess Twilight stepped back, trying to urge the other girl forward.
“Ohh, no no no no no. We’re just friends, we’re not-” Realizing what she was saying Twilight bit her lip and turned, horrified to Sunset. “I mean, she’s just my best friend, I certainly don’t- Not that there’s anything wrong with-”
“You don’t have feelings for her? But I-” Twilight froze before her mouth could betray her further. “I can see why you wouldn’t!” she continued, blushing deeply. She blushed deeper as she again realized what she had said. “I mean, Sunset, you’re gorgeous and all-”
“ENOUGH!” Sunset screamed. Her head was throbbing in her hands. The two Twilights were arguing over who was ‘her’ Twilight, and in the process had both succeeded in admitting they had feelings for her. At least on some level. She thought. With her eyes closed it was impossible to tell which was speaking. “Look, let’s ignore all that.” Sunset shoved a hand in one of her pockets and pulled out a coin. “Princess, since you have a tail, you’re tails.”
“Well, I mean technically, if I went through the portal I’m sure I’d have a-” Human Twilight froze as she saw the death glare on Sunset’s face. She quickly shut her mouth and looked down at the ground.
“Okay. Here we go.” Sunset flipped the coin and let it fall to the ground. “Tails. Princess, you’re first.” Sunset stepped into the nurse’s office with a groan.
Luckily for Sunset, the test didn’t take long. Human Twilight took the test without her glasses to ‘ensure solid data.’ Sunset sat down, looking over the notes she had taken. The results were pretty obvious. With a sigh, she stood up and left the office. Both Twilights were sitting on the bench just outside, chatting. Sunset had to block out whatever it was they were talking about to maintain her sanity.
If she hadn’t walked in with the princess, and had they been wearing the same outfit, she wouldn’t have been able to tell them apart. They took the test the exact same, constantly switching between wanting to look at the data and chiding Sunset for almost corrupting the test.
“Alright girls, the verdict is in.” The Twilights turned to smile expectantly up at their friend. “Twilight, you need glasses.”
“Yes, we knew that.” The girls were back to speaking in unison. “What about me(her)?”
Sunset twitched. At least they briefly broke their sync, even if only for a word. “No, both of you. There is no inconsistency. Princess, you’re as blind as her.”
The girls cocked their head in sync. “What?” They then turned to face each other.
Twilight hesitantly took off her glasses. “Here.”
Twilight took the glasses and tried them on. She recoiled as the glasses drastically altered the world before her. She lifted them slightly. She put them back on. She lifted them. She lowered them. “HOW DID I NOT KNOW THIS?????”
Pulling off the glasses, the princess handed them back to Twilight. “No, keep those. I’ve got a spare.” The human Twilight pulled another pair of glasses out of her backpack and slipped them on.
“Always have important items in duplicate!” they chanted together. The Twilights descended into giggles again.
Sunset looked between the two girls. The glasses were exact copies.
Princess Twilight sat up and quickly put her hair up in a bun. “I can see why you wear your mane up. It catches on the glasses.” The girls giggled.
Sunset looked between the girls. With their hair up in buns, human Twilight wearing regular clothes, and the Princess wearing glasses, they were identical. Sunset began twitching.
“You okay Sunset?” they asked. Sunset started shaking. Both girls stood and placed a hand on one of Sunset’s shoulders. “Sunny? What’s wrong?”
Sunset threw her hands into the air, tossing her notebook, and screamed in rage and frustration. “No more!” she yelled as she stormed off.
Princess Twilight removed the glasses, returned them to their case, and handed them back to human Twilight. She then ran a hand through her hair, pulling it out of the bun and letting it fall over her shoulders. “Think we over did it?”
Human Twilight shook her head. “Na. She’ll be fine.” She put the glasses case back into her backpack.
The pair watched Sunset storming off for a moment longer before sighing. “She’s adorable when she’s angry.” Realizing they said it together, they burst out laughing.
Taking a few deep breath, Twilight managed to ask. “You never did tell me why you don’t need glasses.”
“Oh, magical corrective surgery.” The princess shrugged, just managing to get her laughter under control. “Princess Celestia got tired of me losing my glasses, so she paid to have my eyes fixed.”
Twilight blushed. “I had to wear one of those neck loop things to keep from losing them.”
They let out a giggle. The girls stood and embraced. “We need to prank the other girls like this some time.”
“Agreed.”