//------------------------------//
// 004 - Beware Thy Self 
// Story: Songs of the Spheres 
// by GMBlackjack 
//------------------------------//

Spike walked down the stairs to the basement that held the ever-so-popular Mirror Portal, carrying a tray of sandwiches. He was mildly surprised to find all six of the girls there rather than just Twilight. “What’s the special occasion?” he asked.

“Ah, Spike! I was just explaining to everypony what I’ve done!”

Spike looked at the Mirror Portal, specifically at the large glass globe mounted on top of it that hadn’t been there yesterday. The sphere was filled with a large quantity of multicolored magical gas that held a strangely uniform shape vaguely vaguely reminiscent of a puffy sea urchin. It nested itself snugly inside the halo-like machinery the Mirror Portal had been adorned with prior. “Uh… What have you done?”

Twilight gestured towards the globe with her wing. “Why, I’ve made it so we no longer have to switch out spells! This bulb is set to change to whatever I want! Earth, the demons, somewhere else, you name it! So long as I have a correct spell configuration we’re fantastic!”

“Uh huh…” Rainbow Dash said. “…So, what’s that mean for us?”

“I’ll get to that, Rainbow! I had a randomization spell running on the bulb all night to see if I could land a stable connection, and wouldn’t you know it – it worked! I’ve got a new dimensional address that nopony has ever been to before!”

Rainbow Dash’s bored expression vanished. “When are we going in?”

“Well, soon, obviously. I called you over here as soon as I saw it myself!”

Applejack raised a hoof. “Isn’t walkin’ in blind a little… Dangerous?”

Twilight blinked. “…Fair point.” She stuck her hoof through the portal, waving it around a bit. “…Seems safe, room temperature, I can feel air…”

Applejack raised an eyebrow. “Oh, in that case, why not go ahead and stick your head in?”

Twilight stuck her head in, prompting a facehoof from Applejack. ”Ah was jokin’ Twilight.”

“Huh?” Twilight said, pulling her head out. “I’m sorry, didn’t catch that.”

Rarity rolled her eyes. “Is it safe, Twilight?”

“Yeah. It’s actually another version of this very castle.” Twilight grinned. “Can’t wait to meet other versions of ourselves!”

“Like that won’t be confusing… Or creepy...” Rainbow Dash muttered.

“We’ll obviously have to use nicknames at some point.”

Rarity smirked. “Like Twinkie?”

“Sure, like that,” Twilight said, oblivious to Rarity’s soft giggling. “…What should the rest of our nicknames be?”

Everypony looked at each other and shrugged. “Ah suppose we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it,” Applejack said.

“It’s probably best if somepony else gives us nicknames anyway,” Pinkie added. “I mean, giving yourself a nickname is just a taaaaaad silly.”

Fluttershy raised an eyebrow. “Doesn’t Rainbow Dash do that all the time?”

Rainbow Dash shrugged. “What can I say? I’m so awesome I can make my own nicknames.”

Twilight smirked. “Well, I’m sure we’ll get to put your nickname skills to the test eventually. But, for now, who wants an adventure?” She gestured towards the mirror. “Who knows what lies behind this shimmering portal?”

“You do,” Applejack said. “You looked in.”

“Well, I – yes – let’s just go through the portal already.” She spread her wings and flew through the portal, her five friends following behind.

Spike waved goodbye as they left. He looked at his tray of sandwiches. None of them had been taken. Once again, more for him. He wondered if this was going to become a pattern or if it was just an early adventure fluke. He shrugged, throwing a sandwich into his mouth. If it was a pattern, good; if not, he’d enjoy it while it lasted.

He walked out of the Mirror room and back into the castle proper, devouring another sandwich. “Hmm… These could really use some sapphire sprinkles…”

With a flash of blue magic sprinkles of sapphire gemstones appeared on the sandwich he was holding. “Huh. I have gained the power to summon sapphire sprinkles at will!”

He heard lighthearted laughing behind him. He sighed. “Or it’s just you using magic.”

A pinkish-purple unicorn walked in front of him. “Hey, you don’t know for sure that was me.”

“Starlight, it was either you or Trixie, and if Trixie had done it things would have exploded. Violently.”

Starlight shrugged. “It would have probably just turned into a teacup.”

Spike nodded, taking a bite of his sapphire sprinkle sandwich. “Woah, this is excellent.”

“Flavor enhancement spell,” Starlight said. “Figured I might as well make the best possible sandwich.”

Spike gulped down the entire sandwich. “I can never look at sandwiches the same way again…”

“Yeah, that spell tends to do that. Though not to Pinkie’s cakes, for whatever reason.”

“Her pastries defy explanation.”

“That they do.”

Spike wiped his face and offered Starlight a sandwich, which she grabbed in her telekinesis. “So, Starlight, where have you been? Haven’t seen you around.”

“I was helping Trixie with a show because, you know, she needs help.”

“Did you do all the tricks for her?”

“Oh no, merely that one that needs the teleport spell.”

“Which one’s that, again?”

Starlight gave Spike a knowing smirk. “If I told you that it’d remove the mystery of the act. A true magician never reveals her secrets.”

“Trixie’s told you, though.”

“That’s because I’m in on the act.”

“Thought you said you only helped on that one part…”

Starlight blinked. “…You’re on point today, Spike.”

“Thank you.” He took a bite out of another sandwich. “…That’s disappointing.”

“Hey, don’t give me that look, I’m not enhancing everything you eat.”

“You’ve ruined me.”

Starlight rolled her eyes. “You’ll live.” She juggled a sandwich in her magic. “…So, where’s Twilight?”

“Adventure,” Spike said.

“Where’d the map send her this time?”

“The map didn’t send her. She went through the Mirror Portal.”

Starlight grinned. “Oh, she’s going to see Sunset? Well, why don’t we join them?”

“No, I mea- oh, that’s right. You haven’t been around the last two days. You don’t know.”

Starlight cocked her head. “Don’t know about what?”

“Twilight’s figured out how to use the Mirror Portal to other worlds. She’s exploring somewhere new right now.”

Starlight blinked. “…I go hang out with Trixie for a few days and all the exciting stuff happens.”

“Pretty much.”

“Well, I can join them anyway.”

Spike shrugged. “I mean, you could but they might be far from the Mirror by now doing Celestia knows what. …Actually, Celestia probably has no idea. Huh.”

“Riiight… Probably dangerous to charge in blind alone…” Starlight sighed. “Well, guess I’m doomed to be bored today.”

Spike shook his head. “Come on, we could do stuff! Like… Uh…”

“Ogres and Oubliettes?”

“Well I mean that’s just one of many options…” Spike said, tapping his fingers together, nervously grinning.

Starlight chuckled. “I guess we can do that, Spike. Do we have anyone else who actually knows how to play though?”

“Well, Big Mac’s busy, and I have no idea where Discord is, so… No.”

“If Discord’s not playing, I have some terms.”

Spike folded his arms and smirked. “What are your terms, o’ great mage?”

Starlight grinned evilly. “I get to run the adventure.”

Spike broke out into a cold sweat. “Uh…”

The sound of ominous thunder booming came from Starlight’s horn. “You want to play, don’t you Spike?”

“…Yeah. Can you… Make it not so intense this time?”

“No promises. It is very likely you are going to die in your quest.”

“…Fine. I suppose emotional terror is better than boredom.”

“That’s the spirit!” Starlight squeed. “Come on, your wizard has to come to terms with the true face of the ‘fair Schmarity’.”

“Hey! That’s not fair!”

“Ah ah ah, it’s not against the rules, and it’ll be a good story. Come on, time for some fun.” 

Spike winced. The chances of some important character dying were about 100% when Starlight was running the adventure. And yet… Even though his emotions went through a brutal rollercoaster during her stories, they often felt more satisfying than the ones he came up with. It was moments like that when Spike wondered if he really had what it took to be a great dungeon master.


~~~ 


Starlight slammed her hoof on the crystal table hard, making Spike jump. “The fair Schmarity has betrayed you for her own selfish desires, trading you to Lord Vester for riches and power.”

“Schmarity would never do that-“

Starlight raised an eyebrow. “Really? What about all those times she complained on your little trek? What about her annoyed glances? Her avoidances of you? She also didn’t seem very thrilled about all those times you failed to protect her interests. Though, pfft, I mean, it’s not like you’ve been failing over and over here.”

Spike took in a deep breath. “…And, once again, you’re right. I cast lightning storm on Vester.”

Starlight grabbed a twenty-sided die and menacingly handed it over to Spike. “Roll a 17 or higher. You don’t want to find out what happens when you don’t.”

Spike carefully examined the twenty. He sent off a short prayer and rolled it. It tumbled across the table, ending up in a slow spin on a point. It leaned towards a rest point – 10. Spike slammed his head on the table in defeat before it had stopped rolling, making the dice shift slightly to 17.

Starlight blinked. “…I’m going to allow that. It’s just too perfect.”

Spike beamed. “Really!?”

“Yeah. Your powerful electric energies shoot through the air and impact Vester right in his ethereal brain matter. He is unable to reciprocate to destroy you and at the same time he is utterly baffled that you had enough power within you to injure him in this form.”

Spike raised a fist. “I take him out!” He rolled another die without asking – 20.

Starlight laughed. “You feel the energies and souls of your fallen companions enter you, giving you the power to do what you need. All the suffering, horrors, and wrongdoing you’ve experienced has been leading to this moment. A single moment of righteousness, all you need to redeem it all. Your staff glows with the power of a billion wronged souls and fires a blast of intense magic at the malevolent Vester. He tries to respond, firing off some spells of his own, but they all fall flat to the power of those he wronged. Karma has come to bite him in the rear, forcing his own spirit conglomeration to dissipate into nothing. The dark army will fall without its head and the world will be allowed to rebuild.”

“Awwww yeah!” Spike whooped.

“You have saved the world, dragon mage. Congratulations. But there is one thing left undone…”

“Oh?”

Starlight nodded solemnly. “Schmarity comes up to you, crying more tears than you have ever seen come from her face, and you have seen plenty on this journey. She throws herself at your feet and begs for forgiveness.”

Spike smiled. “I knew it. I lift her up and hug her, telling her it’ll all be fine now.”

Starlight groaned and rammed her face into the table. “Spike…”

“…What?”

She rolled a die in her magic. It was a 6. “You’re an idiot. She takes a shiv out and stabs you in the neck, killing you on the spot. She will claim that you died heroically facing Vester, and will take your place as the hero of the world, even though she sure as Tartarus doesn’t deserve it.”

“But… But… Starlight! I was offering forgiveness!”

Starlight shook her head. “Come on Spike, the one thing I was trying to do with this adventure was to get you to drop the whole Schamrity thing, to see that maybe this character of yours isn’t the best pony! Sometimes you’ve got to just realize that! Sure, she was redeemable, but implicitly trusting that avalanche of crocodile tears? Come on!”

Spike blinked. “…Wait, you were trying to get me to realize something?”

“Well yeah, there’s a moral to the story. Morals to most the stories I write for this, actually. There’s a point I was trying to get across.” Starlight shrugged, sitting back in her chair. “Well, there you go. You ‘won.’ World’s saved.”

“…That was a pretty good adventure, Starlight, though… the ending was… Yeah, I didn’t like the ending.”

“I maaaay have been a bit annoyed with you at that point,” Starlight admitted. “Sorry. Tell you what, your death won’t be permanent. In a thousand years you’ll be resurrected, or something.”

“All right then. So, it’s my turn to run an adventure-“

Twilight walked into the room at that moment, startled to find the two of them there. “Oh. Hi. You two look like you had fun.”

Starlight nodded. “Yeah. Now, you and I need to have a talk about your adventures in the Mirror Portal…”

Twilight yawned. “Maybe later. I’ve got some notes I need to file.”

Spike blinked. “...You don’t have your notebook.”

“Mental notes, Spike,” Twilight said. “It was an interesting place, like our world but different. Have to get it down while it’s all fresh in my mind.” She laid her hoof on the map and stroked it, smiling.

“Uh… You want us to get off?” Starlight asked.

“Well you don’t have to, but that’d be elegant.”

Spike raised an eyebrow. “Eh, we were done anyway.” Starlight cast a spell and put the entire game up in under ten seconds. “Enjoy your… Note scribbling.”

Twilight nodded. “Uh-huh…” She conjured a bunch of papers and laid them out on the table as the two left.

Starlight raised an eyebrow after they’d left the room. “She seems… Distant.”

“Probably just distracted by something that happened. She’ll tell us about it later.”

“COMING THROUGH!” Pinkie screamed, bounding up the stairs. Spike and Starlight shot to either side as the pink blur shot through them. “TOTALLY NOT GOING TO SEE TWILIGHT!”

“Uh…” Spike raised a hand, but Pinkie had already entered the map room.

Starlight rolled her eyes. “Pinkie probably got into my energy drink stash.”

“You have an energy drink stash?”

“Why wouldn’t I?”

Spike pointed at where Pinkie had just been. “That’s why.”

“Oh come on, she’s not that bad.”

“Yes. She is. I’m going to go get some armor on, there’s no way she isn’t blowing something up with her energy.”

Starlight groaned, using a spell to summon some simple magic armor on Spike. “Happy?”

“…It’s blue and see-through.”

“And stronger than steel.”

Spike shrugged, accepting this. They descended the stairs to the main hall, where Fluttershy, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, and Applejack were mingling.

“Oh, hi Starlight!” Rarity said. “My, what mischief did you get up to while we were gone?”

“I emotionally scarred Spike,” Starlight said with an innocent smile.

“She isn’t joking,” Spike said, shivering.

Applejack raised an eyebrow. “Uh-huh. All right then.”

Rarity pursed her lips. “Didn’t think that was you, dear.”

Starlight laughed. “It was just a round of Ogres and Oubliettes that took a dark turn because Spike was being a numbskull.”

“You and I both know it would have taken a dark turn regardless,” Spike muttered.

Starlight shrugged with a proud smile on her face.

“Huh,” Fluttershy said, scratching her chin. “…What a moment.”

“I could tell you all about it!” Starlight grinned. “Actually might make a good book... I wonder if Twilight would be willing to write it…”

“Ah’m sure she’ll give you time for it,” Applejack said.

“Yeah, not now though. She’s… distant.” Starlight frowned. “What happened through that portal by the way? I’m dying to find out!”

Rarity smiled. “Well, we found a world much like this one – almost every detail was the same. Right down to the other Twilight. They spent so long talking over complicated magics in detail – it’s probably why she’s distant, her head’s swirling with that.”

Rainbow Dash laughed. “Yeah, even eggheads can’t handle that much webbing.”

Applejack grunted. “You just like being right.”

“What? I vouch betrayal!”

Starlight raised an eyebrow. “Really Rainbow? I seem to recall you fighting for your right to be right on many, many occasions.”

“Wow,” Rainbow Dash said, staring at Starlight. “…Just wow.”

Starlight blinked. “Uh… What?”

Rainbow Dash coughed. “Just… Really, calling that out? Soda in a bomb, Starlight.”

Starlight smiled sheepishly. “Oh! Sorry. Thought you’d be okay with that.”

“She’s just in a bad mood,” Rarity said. “Had a whole debacle with her other self. She lost the race.”

“Hey!” Rainbow Dash blurted.

Spike chuckled. “Lost a race against yourself? Does that mean you won?”

“I… I...” She looked like she wanted to say something but couldn’t manage it.

Applejack coughed. “It means it doesn’t matter all that much. It was a thing that definitely happened, that’s about it.”

Starlight looked at Applejack. “…You okay Applejack?”

“Wha? Yeah, totally fine.”

“You seem a little… Nervous.”

Rarity sighed. “She’s fine, dear, just… Well, she wasn’t all that thrilled about meeting herself.”

Fluttershy nodded. “It was a very awkward silence that lasted till the end of all.”

“Uh… Yeah. Sure,” Applejack said. “That.”

Starlight blinked. “Okaaaaaaaaaaay…”

Rainbow Dash nudged Rarity and mumbled something in her ear. “Oh! Right. I do believe we all have homes to return to. It’s been a long day, time for some rest. See you around, Starlight, Spike.”

“Sure,” Spike said, raising an eyebrow as the four mares dispersed.

“Well then,” Starlight said.

“Something happened over there and they’re not telling us.”

“Applejack’s really bad at lying…” Starlight frowned. “Though if she’s lying, it’s probably something big. She never lies about much of anything.”

“Maybe they just had something really embarrassing happen?”

Starlight rolled her eyes. “I doubt it. …We should go talk to Twilight about it. Busy or not.”

Spike nodded in agreement. They turned around, setting back up the stairs they had just come down a few minutes prior. They approached the door they heard a loud yell.

“What are you talking about Pinkie?!” Twilight shouted with a venom Starlight had never heard in her voice before.

“You should know better than to ask questions like that,” Pinkie responded, giggling.

“Most ponies at least follow rules.”

“Aha!”

“You get that accusing hoof away from me.” Starlight heard a thud. Had… Had Twilight just slapped Pinkie?

“Look at you. Twilight the great and glorious, spreading her domain! I’ll have a cake prepared for you by sundown!”

“As always,” Twilight muttered. “Look, Pinkie, straight-talk, okay? What do you mean? You never follow any of the rules, you always bounce from one end of the spectrum to the other, and yet you are the most instrumental.”

Pinkie shrugged. “I mean that the tables have turned, that’s it. Surprised you needed to declare straight-talk. Don’t you know me well enough by now?”

“I’ve got plenty of other things to deal with. The good news is that exploitation will be easy. The art of speech is foreign to them.”

“Oh, so they’re all mutes?”

“Pinkie, straight-talk.”

“I Don’t follow the rules, remember?” Pinkie giggled again. “Call me the ‘bozo’ in double all you want, I’m the reason this all works.”

“But you’ve said the tables have turned. Which means it isn’t working anymore. Why?”

Starlight imagined Pinkie shrugging. “Too ambitious perhaps? I don’t know everything, Twilight. The other me didn’t see me coming, as I’m sure you noticed.”

“She can’t escape in her state. There’s no way she’s coming here.”

Pinkie groaned. “That was just an illustration! Yeesh.”

“Illustrations should be restricted to double,” Twilight spat.

“Oh but that’s the art of it! I mean, it’s not like I can do whatever I want whenever I want.”

“…Your shifting of modes is irksome.”

“I know right? But you like it.”

“No, I do not, but I have to admit it is useful at times.” She frowned. “I’d recommend refraining from straight-talk with any of the locals, it’s the only kind they know. With their assumptions in place, manipulation will be easy.”

Starlight gasped loudly.

Twilight sighed audibly from the other side of the door. “Pinkie, the noises of this castle sure are unusual, are they not?”

“I didn’t hear anything.”

“I suppose… Neither did I.”

Starlight and Spike took a cautious step back from the door, glancing at each other with worried expressions. Their hesitation would have been their doom had a yellow blur of color not swept into them at high speed, tossing them into a side room. Twilight and Pinkie poked their heads out of the room to see… Nothing.

In the adjacent room, Fluttershy stuffed Starlight and Spike behind a shelf. “Straight – keep quiet if you want to live,” she hissed. She quickly turned away from then and faced a window, putting on a scowl.

Twilight and Pinkie walked into the room, Pinkie sniffing the ground like a dog. Normally the sight would make Starlight chuckle, but now it only sent ice through her spine. Pinkie was almost always able to find them normally…

Fluttershy turned to them. “I see you’re here.”

Twilight nodded. “It’s prudent to find those who hear.”

“Ah, but where?”

Pinkie held up a hoof. “Either here or not.” Twilight and Fluttershy shot Pinkie confused looks. “What? It’s a perfectly valid statement.”

Twilight rolled her eyes. “In marginality.”

Pinkie continued sniffing. “Hey Fluttershy, did you see them in here?”

“On the sun.”

Pinkie laughed – hard. Way too hard. “The echelons of irony!”

“What lies beyond the moon.”

Twilight grimaced. “Astrologically speaking, the foremost nature of the universal constants is beyond most plebian minds.”

Fluttershy rolled her eyes. “For what it’s worth, no.”

Twilight turned to Pinkie. “The ears?”

“Are deceptively hidden from my senses, master Twilight!”

Twilight facehooved. “Adieu, then.” She and Pinkie left.

Pinkie turned and giggled. “You know what, this was the perfect conversation to confuse ponies.”

Fluttershy blinked. “In fin.” When she was sure she was alone, she looked behind the bookshelf. “Straight – you can come out now.”

“What… was that?” Starlight asked, baffled.

“They aren’t the ponies we know!” Spike said, waving his hands.

“Thank you Spike, I managed to deduce that.”

Fluttershy nodded. “We are not. My Twilight is here to subjugate your people with double.”

“...’double’?” Starlight asked.

“You’d probably think of it as simple lies, but the nuance is far too much to explain at this juncture,” Fluttershy said. “You need to go through the portal and free your friends. They’re in the dungeon of the castle exactly like this one.”

Starlight frowned. “…Dungeon?”

“The area of this Castle that has letter storage.”

Spike raised a claw. “I know where that is.”

“Good. Now get yourselves to the portal and hurry – Pinkie knows things. Her senses have been off lately but I have no idea how long that will last.”

Starlight nodded. “One question – why are you helping us?”

“The light at the end of the tunnel.”

“Uh…”

Fluttershy facehooved. “Celestia damn it’s hard to talk in pure-straight… Just do it, it’s in your best self-interest. I don’t have time to figure out how to express that straightly.”

Starlight let out a breath. “Okay. Spike, we’re going in.” She cast an invisibility spell on the two of them. “See you soon… Uh… Lieshy.”

Lieshy raised an eyebrow. “Eternal detriments, indeed, I don’t see why not.”

“…You’re really going to have to explain that later,” Spike said.

Lieshy twitched. “Straight – get moving already!”

“All right, geez!” Spike said, moving to leave the room. He tripped over an outcropping because he couldn’t see his feet. “Ow.”

Lieshy sighed. “What an evident paradox of fate.”

Starlight put Spike on her back and snuck out of the room, levitating herself down the stairs so as to not make a sound with her hooves. She passed Applejack and Rarity – who hadn’t gone home – speaking in that strange disconnected way Lieshy and Twilight had. Lielight? She found herself wondering how to insert ‘lie’ into the names of all her friends… Liety, Liebow, Linkie, Lack.

…Lack.

She was barely able to contain the laugh on that one.

Yeah, all those names were pretty stupid. She’d have to think of better ones later. She eventually arrived at the Mirror Portal, which was currently being guarded by their Rainbow Dash. She was muttering something about pinnacles for whatever reason. She was none the wiser as the two slipped through the shimmering veil…


~~~ 


A few hours ago… 

Twilight Sparkle stepped out of a wall into a room identical to the one she had just been in except for the lack of a Mirror Portal and associated devices. It was rather empty, save for a few boxes. The area was apparently used for simple storage.

Her five friends came out behind her. They took a moment to look around the familiar surroundings.

“Now what?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“…Now we try to find somepony?” Twilight suggested.

Pinkie grinned. “The best way to do that is to go to Ponyville! Quick, out the front doors! Chop chop!”

Twilight did as suggested, walking through the empty castle halls to the front door. She noticed the castle had slightly fewer decorations in it than her own, though the layout itself was precisely as she remembered it. Even the engravings on the front doors were exact! It just – well it lacked the personal touch.

She opened the doors of the castle and looked out at Ponyville.

“Doesn’t… Look any different,” Rainbow Dash said.

“This world must be extremely similar to our own,” Twilight said. “I’m willing to bet their Applejack is working on her farm and their Pinkie Pie is working at Sugarcube Corner.”

“Shouldn’t their version of you be in the castle then?” Rarity asked.

“Maybe… But she could be out on important princess business.”

“We could just ask somepony,” Fluttershy said.

“Good idea.” Twilight trotted into Ponyville proper. The first pony she saw was a mare she knew – in her world at least. The cream-coated earth pony Bon Bon. She waved. “Hey!”

Bon Bon smiled and trotted up. “Nice weather.”

Twilight nodded. “It is, isn’t it? Anyway, to the point. I’m not the Twilight you know, and I’m looking for her. You see, we’re from another world!”

Applejack facehooved. Bon Bon just looked at Twilight with a delicate smile, though her eyes gave away mild infuriation. She took a few seconds before responding. “Time sure has its way sometimes.”

“...Indeed it does…” Twilight said, furrowing her brow. “But that’s not helpful.”

Bon Bon tensed. ”I’m certain you can render your own assailment.”

“What does that have to do with anything?”

Bon Bon’s ears laid flat. “…Please…”

Twilight cocked her head. “What in Celestia’s name has you so worried? I may be a bit… Weird, but I’m just asking straight questions.”

Bon Bon gasped – and fainted on the spot.

Rainbow Dash shook her head. “Okay, what in Equestria?”

“I… I have no idea.” Twilight frowned. “Maybe their culture’s different? …Oh no, how many taboos did I just break!?”

“Several,” Fluttershy said.

“How can you know? How can we know it wasn’t a hundred!?”

Fluttershy pointed away from herself. “Uh… That wasn’t me.”

The group turned to see… Another Fluttershy. There was no physical discernable difference between the two pegasi save for the new Fluttershy’s notably grumpier expression.

“Uh… Hi.” Twilight waved sheepishly with her wing. “I… Er…”

Pinkie rolled her eyes. “Twilight’s not working right now, too afraid to break a taboo. But not me! I don’t care about that at all right now! Hi! I’m-“

“Pinkie Pie. Straight talk?”

“…What?”

The other Fluttershy facehooved. “For the sanity of golems…”

Pinkie giggled. “That’s a fun saying! I like ‘and that’s how Equestria was made’, but that’s just me.”

“If only just.”

“Oh yeah, probably other Pinkie too. Is she just as hyperactive as me?”

“For the equation, indeed.”

“…What?”

The other Fluttershy took in a strained breath. “Straight talk. Okay. Requirement of the natural endowment of mind apparently… Greetings, I am Fluttershy. You are not Twilight, you are not Pinkie, and you are not Fluttershy.”

“Uh… Yeah,” Fluttershy said.

“I need… You to explain,” the other Fluttershy said, fumbling with her words.

“We’re from another world where things are really similar but pretty different!” Pinkie said. “For one, we don’t talk like you! At all!”

“An… Annoyance. I assure you.”

“Why?” Rarity said.

“…I am currently unable to express that feeling in straight-talk. There may be a way, but I do not grapple it.” She glanced around. “It is taboo to use straight-talk in public.”

Twilight groaned. “I knew it… Everything I said was a political blunder!”

Fluttershy put her wing over Twilight. “There there… You didn’t know. You just need to ask for forgiveness!”

“Uh…” Twilight looked at the still unconscious Bon-Bon and to the other Fluttershy. “Sorry?”

The other Fluttershy bit her lip and let out a strained breath. “Never apologize in straight-talk to somepony who isn’t a lover.”

Twilight blushed and covered her face with her wings. “Done talking now!”

Rarity smiled. “Well… I must admit, while this way of speaking is confusing, it sounds like it is quite civilized. I wonder if we could learn?”

“Probably over time,” Applejack said. “Not now.”

Other Fluttershy looked to the sky. “My Twilight is coming. You will not understand the ensuing conversation, be prepared.”

The native Twilight appeared, just as foretold. She looked exactly like Twilight, once again the only difference being in the expression, one of pride. She turned to Fluttershy. “In the labyrinth?”

“The mirrors edge isn’t forged.”

The other Twilight raised her eyebrows. “A land of loss and sorrow?”

Rainbow Dash glanced at Rarity. “I feel like we’re being insulted.”

The other Fluttershy continued. “What understanding? So much is outside the realm.”

The other Twilight laughed – hard. Then she turned to the six ponies and started speaking. “And then the ball started rolling, down, down, down, much further than any could possibly see. In the depths of the realm – that’s you – there is a spark. Thus, lightning comes from beyond with just rule and provides an avenue for intrigue. Doubly beyond these, but for far more than possible, the taboos. Entrapment with a physiological aspect, careful, implied, powerful. Hello!”

Twilight blinked. “…Uh… Hi?”

This was greeted with more laughter. She pointed back to her castle, gesturing they come back with her. Twilight turned to the other Fluttershy – and she nodded.

Pinkie shook her head. “Okay, so the entire time other Twilight was talking, I had a really weird feeling. Pinkie Sense was acting up.”

“She was probably just insulting us,” Rainbow Dash muttered.

Other Twilight pointed at Rainbow Dash and grinned, nodding comically, like an adult would do with a young child. Except more patronizing. Rainbow Dash seethed inwardly. “Okay, so not fair that she can understand us and we can’t understand her.”

“Shh, Rainbow Dash,” Twilight hissed. “Taboo, remember?”

Rainbow Dash fell silent until they were led back into the castle. The native Twilight gestured for them to move forward, a big dumb grin on her face.

Rarity looked at Twilight. “Your counterpart gets far too much enjoyment out of our predicament.”

Twilight sighed. “Yeah.”

The other Twilight chuckled. “What a half, mysterious!”

“Okay!” Rainbow Dash said. “We’re in private now! You can use the ‘straight-talk’ or whatever! Nopony’s going to know!”

The other Twilight shrugged. “All right. Have a nice imprisonment.”

“…Wait wha-“

The other Twilight cast a spell, capturing Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, and Fluttershy in crystal. Twilight gasped. “Why – why did you do that?”

“Because I see an opportunity with you idiots,” her counterpart responded. “Quite an easy one, I might add.”

“What are you planning?”

“Oh, you see, I already told you. To your face, I might add, not only a few minutes ago. But since you’re incapable of experiencing the double, let me reiterate. I’m going to imprison you all. I’m going to keep all of you here, locked away. I will return to your world and pretend to be you after I’ve harvested enough information from your mind with my magic. I will make sure you can’t use magic and your Pinkie can’t use her shenanigans. There were also a lot of insults – really clever ones, I might add – that would be completely lost in translation to straight-talk. Such a shame, really.”

Twilight lit her horn and Pinkie Pie produced a frying pan. Twilight aimed. “We can’t let you do that.”

“Does the little alicorn want a fight?” the other Twilight snarked, rolling her eyes. “Please, the only reason I haven’t frozen you is because you could break out. I’ve got another plan for you.”

Twilight didn’t let her finish. She tried to shoot a bolt of magic from her horn, but instead only got a migraine.

“Magic circle!” her counterpart laughed.

Twilight looked down – they were indeed standing in a strange magic circle that… Well she was pretty sure her castle didn’t have.

The evil Twilight conjured up a horn-sealing spell. “Can’t have you casting spells when I move you out of there. Be a good girl and accept this willingly, will you?”

Pinkie was having none of this. She appeared next to the other Twilight and hit her alongside the head. “Yeah, how about no?”

“Backups within backups!”

“Hi there!” another Pinkie Pie said, hitting Pinkie Pie across the head with another frying pan. Pinkie went flying – right into a net of cotton candy laid by her counterpart.

Pinkie screeched. “No! Cotton candy nets! My weakness!”

“For today, anyway,” the other Pinkie said.

“Curse you and your identical abilities! Woe! Oh woe!”

“Woe!”

“Enough you two,” the other Twilight said, turning to the normal Twilight. “Now, take this spell or I have to knock you out.”

Twilight ran for the edge of the circle.

A frying pan hit her in the back of the head, knocking her to the ground. This didn’t knock her unconscious. The magic bolt from her counterpart did. 


~~~ 


In a world parallel the two colliding universes, Sunset glanced at the team she had formed for the ‘dimensional explorers’ club. She… was honestly expecting more to show up. But she could work with this.

“Okay, so. Let’s go around introducing ourselves. Name, skills, and why you’re interested in this club. I’ll start. I’m Sunset, I’m good at scientific analysis and have magic powers. I used to be a unicorn and frankly other worlds fascinate me because I came from one.”

Twilight stood up excitedly. “Hi! I’m Twilight and I’m good with technology and have a lot of theories on how magic works and I’m the one who invented all the machines we’re going to use! It’s just such an interesting scientific journey!”

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. “Hey. Rainbow Dash here. I’m an athlete, so, I’m going to be your action girl. I’m here for the awesome adventure.” She looked around. “I’m a little surprised Pinkie didn’t show up…”

“She could be in Equestria for all we know,” Sunset said, shrugging. She turned to their other three prospective members. “Well?”

The young lanky man in glasses adjusted them nervously. “Ah… I’m Micro Chips, I’m good with computers, and I… I always wanted to see how these machines work. I’m sure we can find new scientific discoveries!”

“You bet we can!” Twilight added.

A minty-green girl went next. “I’m Lyra! I uh… …I can play the harp. But I’m also an avid follower of blogs that seek to find the truth in our world! I like to think I’m a master of the internet! I’m sure we can uncover the conspiracy with this! Right? Right?”

A bigger student with heavy green hair went next. “I’m Sandalwood. I like working with nature and animals. I’m mainly here because Micro is, but I’m interested to see other cool parts of nature.”

Sunset grinned. “You’re in luck! If everything goes as planned, today we’ll be heading to a world with a huge jungle and a race of bug-people!”

“Nice.”

Sunset pointed at Twilight. “Take it away!”

She nodded. “Well… Uh, Hi! Princess Twilight Sparkle has given us the magic spell to travel the universes.” She pulled out a circular locket from her pocket. “When I release the magic from inside this device, I will combine it with the power from my necklace and we’ll have created a portal.” She pulled out another locket. “And this one contains the return spell. I’m currently designing a device that can permanently store spell patterns. It should be done soon, but until then, you’re going to have to stand back when I open these portals.”

Everyone stared at her.

“I mean stand back now.”

Everyone except Rainbow did. Twilight rolled her eyes. “Well okay, if you really want to get blown over, be my guest.” Twilight lifted the first locket into the air and popped it open. A swirling ball of light generated in the space between the two halves. Twilight focused her gaze, channeling the magic energies from her necklace into the ball. The energies spiked into an urchin formation and shot forward, hitting the air in front of her like it was a wall, rippling a flat area of spacetime faster and faster until it couldn’t take it anymore. The boundaries between worlds ripped with a soft white glow, revealing a direct passage to a jungle.

Twilight had fallen to her back from the forces, as had Rainbow. The two stood up and dusted themselves off.

“Woah…” Sandalwood said. “Those are some big flowers…”

Sunset gestured to the portal. “Come on in. Though look out for dinosaurs.”

“D-Dinosaurs!?” Micro blurted.

“Dinosaurs,” Sunset affirmed.

Lyra’s eyes glistened. “Dinosaurs…” she said, giddy.

Sandalwood stepped through the portal first, a stupid grin forming on his face. The slightly wet leaves glistened in the morning sunlight, illuminating the small butterflies flying through the air. “Sweet.”

“It is ‘sweet,’ indeed,” Sunset said.

“Are you kidding Sunset? This is awesome!” Rainbow Dash whooped.

“I was trying to avoid an overuse of the word.”

“There can never be an overuse of awesome.”

“Actually,” Twilight said, raising a finger. “It is a true statement that too much of anything can become bad for you. Moderation is the key to life. If you said nothing but awesome I am sure you would quickly regret it.”

Rainbow Dash sighed. “Way to take the fun out of it. Yeesh.”

Lyra took out her phone and started snapping pictures while Sandalwood carefully examined some of the larger flowers. Micro just… stood there, nervous.

Twilight walked over to him, scribbling some things on a notepad. “Hey, Micro? You don’t have to just stand there.”

“I want to be next to the portal in case some dinosaur shows up.”

The portal closed behind him with a comical pop. He yelped in surprise.

Twilight held up the second locket. “Calm down. This is our way out. Everything’s fine as long as we have this.”

A verdant pterodactyl swooped out of the sky and snatched the locket out of her hand. She stared at the place the locket had been for several seconds before facepalming. “Guys, a pterodactyl just made off with our escape plan!”

Rainbow Dash stretched her neck and cracked her knuckles. “On it.” The blue crystal around her neck flashed and she took off with super speed, leaving a trail of rainbows behind.

Lyra pursed her lips. “No fair, you guys get all the special powers.”

Sunset shrugged. “Maybe we can find you some on our adventures?”

“Powers shouldn’t be the goal,” Sandalwood said. “We should be here to explore, to contact other peoples, to learn about the vastness of existence…”

“To boldly go where no man has gone before?” Micro said.

“Yes. That.”

Sunset rolled her eyes. The conversation was cut off by Rainbow’s return. She held a dazed pterodactyl in one hand and the locket in another. The only problem was the locket was crushed.

“Rainbow!” Twilight scolded.

Rainbow Dash shrugged. “Hey, it was already crushed when I got there, don’t blame me.”

“Well now what are we going to do? We’re stuck here!”

Sunset rolled her eyes. “No, we’re not. Princess Twilight will be back in this world eventually, we can have them pick us up. …Annoyingly.”

“How long will that be?!”

“I dunno. A day, maybe? Two?”

Micro grabbed his hair. “My parents will freak out if I’m gone for two days!”

Sunset blinked. “Oh yeah. Sometimes I forget you all have lives.”

Twilight rolled her eyes. “Really? Sometimes?”

“Yeah. Okay, a lot of the time.”

“Where are we going to stay until then!?” Micro wailed.

Sandalwood cracked his knuckled. “I can make us a shelter.”

“No need,” Twilight said. “There’s a friendly race of aliens here. Apparently, they call themselves demons, but don’t judge them for that. We just have to make our way to their village. Since Equestrian and English are the same thing they should be able to understand us.”

Lyra’s eyes widened. “…We’re going to meet aliens?”

“Yes. Yes we are-“

And then a velociraptor charged at them from behind. They all screamed. Rainbow Dash prepared to give the dinosaur a lesson but she never got the chance, for a large sword flew right into the thing’s skull, killing it instantly. It collapsed in a heap at her feet. She kicked it. “…Well, it’s dead.” She shivered.

“Really,” a new voice said – a red demon, walking towards them. Micro Chips hid behind Sandalwood.

Sunset snapped her fingers. “Anix?”

“That would be me,” he said. “You look like Twilight.”

Twilight shrugged. “Different world, different Twilight. You can call me Sparky.”

“I’ll just call you Twilight unless there’s another reason,” he grunted. “You probably want to go to the village…”

“Yes please,” Twilight said. Lyra furiously took pictures of Anix with her phone. This annoyed him to no end, but he didn’t snap.

“My mount is this way,” he said, taking his blood-covered sword out of the raptor and hefting the raptor itself over his shoulder. Human beings may have been tall, but the Anix was a full head taller than all of them. Sunset figured the only reason he could ride ponies was because his legs had two joints, letting the limbs fold. Interesting.

They all followed him – even Micro, though he stayed as far away from the creepy bug monster as possible.


~~~ 


Twilight Sparkle – the alicorn – woke up on a crystal floor. Her first thought was did I fall asleep in the library again? She quickly realized this wasn’t the case since there were large crystal bars in front of her, like a jail cell. I don’t have a dungeon… 

Oh. Right. I’m not in my castle. 

She sighed, tapping her horn with her hoof – as she expected, there was a silence cover on it. Looking at her reflection in the crystals, she saw that it was a smooth black substance with a locked metallic pressure ring at the base of her horn. She wasn’t going to be pulling off any magic like this.

“Ah, dear, you’re awake.”

Twilight turned to Rarity, looking her over. She looked as graceful as ever and was even lucky enough not to have her magic sealed – probably because their captors didn’t think it powerful enough to bother. “Oh thank Celestia, you’re fine. I was worried…”

“At the very least, our captors aren’t complete monsters,” Applejack added. “But they aren’t stupid either.”

“How so?”

Rainbow Dash pointed a wing at the lethargic form of Pinkie. She was breathing extremely slowly, almost unnaturally. Twilight’s stomach leaped into her chest, twisting into knots. “Pinkie…?” She put a hoof to her neck – even her heartbeat was far too slow.

“They’ve drugged her… heavily,” Fluttershy said. “I think they know how strange she can be. So she doesn’t get to be awake.”

Twilight grimaced. “Will… she be okay?”

“So long as we can get it out of her system. I think Zecora knows some brews that can do that.”

Pinkie’s tail started twitching and her cheek began vibrating.

Rainbow Dash raised her eyebrows. “Apparently being asleep doesn’t stop the Pinkie sense.”

“Doesn’t really help us,” Applejack noted. “None of us have any idea what the Pinkie sense even means. Ah think the twitchy tail has meant both falling objects and surprise pie.”

Rainbow Dash shivered. “…Surprise pie…”

Everypony turned to Pinkie, half expecting her to shoot up and throw a surprise pie in her friends’ faces. She stayed where she was.

Twilight took in a deep breath. “Okay. Escape plan. Rainbow Dash, time to put those destroying-my-house skills to the test. Smash through a wall.”

Rainbow Dash grinned. “You got it, princess!” She flew into the air, backed to the far side of the cell, and charged the bars at top speed. Rainbows shot from her tail and sparked in all directions upon impact with the crystal pillars. Despite the impressive light show, the only result of the dash was a loud thump and a pained yell. “Owowowowowowow!”

Applejack looked from the unbroken bars to Rainbow Dash. “…Ah’m surprised you didn’t crack your skull.”

“Well, I probably have a concussion, so that’s the next best thing! Ow!”

Twilight tapped the bars. “…These are stronger than they’re supposed to be.”

Rarity frowned. “Had they been weaker Rainbow Dash probably would have been drugged like Pinkie. We’re facing off against you, remember? As forgetful as you can be at times, you are still very thorough when you want to be.”

“Great,” Twilight muttered. “Of course, that means she also has my weaknesses…”

Fluttershy pondered this. “If only we could deshelve the books in her library to distract her…”

Twilight twitched. “I wouldn’t wish that on anypony…”

Rainbow Dash groaned. “Of course… Maybe we can play off her pride?”

“That’s your problem, Dash,” Applejack said.

“Eh, I’m awesome, so I can tell when ponies have egos that are through-the-roof. Other Twi sure does.”

“But how exactly could we take advantage of that?” Twilight asked. “She’s not exactly going to let us convince her to do anything.”

Rarity put a hoof on Twilight. “No offense Twilight but I think you’re underestimating your gullibility.”

“Oh.” Twilight sagged. “Yeah.”

“There’s a problem though,” Fluttershy added. “They’re different enough that we can’t be sure something will work. We-“

They heard a pony walk into the dungeon. They quickly shut up and looked through the bars. Starlight was walking in, carrying… Starlight in her telekinesis. The limp Starlight had a horn-seal just like Twilight did. Twilight smiled nervously. “Would you by chance be our Starlight?”

“No,” Starlight said, teleporting the Starlight she was carrying into the cell. “Through my amusement, imprisoned within your fill.”

“Ah was afraid of that,” Applejack said. Fluttershy walked over to the groaning form of their Starlight, checking her for any signs of harm. She nodded to Twilight, signifying she was fine.

Twilight glared at the other Starlight. “Can I ask you a question?”

“Go ahead.” She teleported away, leaving Twilight alone with her friends.

“That… Darn…” Starlight muttered, rubbing her forehead and trying to stand up. “Ugh…”

Fluttershy steadied her. “Easy Starlight, you’ve just been captured…”

“Well there goes plan A,” Starlight laughed bitterly.

“Ah take it you figured out the ponies who came back weren’t us?” Applejack asked.

“Duh. Wasn’t all that hard.”

“Is… Spike okay?” Twilight asked.

“He’s fine. He’s back in the castle – your castle – watching the other ponies to see what their plan is and possibly stop them from over there. He should be rallying the town sometime soon.”

“What is their plan?”

Starlight shrugged. “I’m pretty sure they want to use their ‘cunning’ or whatever to exert control over us ‘simple ponies.’ But they talk really weird. Like, Luna’s mane, it’s a strange ‘double talk’ where everything has a hidden meaning, and that hidden meaning is the most important part!” She groaned. “What kind of language even is that?”

“One found in this world,” Twilight said. “And since we don’t know how to speak or understand it, they look down on us like fools. They think they can exploit us…”

“They’re right, aren’t they?” Applejack said. “They got all of us captured, and unless Spike can do something, there’s not much stopping them from taking over our home.”

Twilight shrugged. “I… I think Celestia’ll know something’s wrong with me. That I’m not myself. And you have a close family, Applejack. They’ll figure that something’s up. As gullible as we may have been, I don’t think they thought this through as much as they think they have.”

“Good point.”

“Though we could still be stuck here even if they’re found out…”

Fluttershy winced. “We need to get home.”

“Portal’s still open. They haven’t closed it,” Starlight said. “If we could get out of here…”

“I already tried smashing it,” Rainbow Dash muttered, nursing the lump on her head. “Wasn’t that a great idea, Twilight?”

Twilight laughed nervously. “Eh… Yeah, sorry. We’ll get you patched up later. So… What else can we do here…?” Twilight turned to Rarity. “Your magic is free.”

“Yes. Though you know I’m not that great at it.”

“You might not need to be. If we can find the lock and pick it…”

“There’s no lock,” Rarity said. “This is a teleport in-out cage.”

Twilight glanced at the bars. “Really?”

“Really.”

“Wow. That’s a pretty ingenious design. How come I never thought of it…”

“Because you don’t design dungeons,” Starlight offered.

“Fair point.” She furrowed her brow. “There must be some way out of here…” She touched her horn’s cover. “If only I could remove this… Rarity, do you remember that spell I taught you?”

Rarity cocked her head. “Which one dear?”

“The basic laser. I want to see if we can burn it off.”

Starlight grimaced. “I don’t think we need to resort to burning your mane off just yet. Probably won’t even work. Takes a lot of magic to break a silence.”

Rarity rolled her eyes. “Well, it’s an idea at least.”

Fluttershy looked at an ant scurrying across the ground. “Hey there little guy. Do you think you could help us? …Oh? Oh, well nevermind. Have a nice day!” She looked up. “The ants can’t break the crystal either, even in small chunks. He’s just here because Pinkie’s got sugar all over her.”

“You know…” Applejack said. “It says somethin’ that none of us are freakin’ out about bein’ captured. We’re just tryin’ to find a way out.”

“We get captured way too much, don’t we?” Rainbow Dash said.

Twilight shrugged. “Yeah. I mean, I’m worried… Okay that’s an understatement, I’m terrified. But… Well, I just don’t feel the need to panic. Yet.”

“Good,” Starlight said. “We need to keep our heads…” She glanced at her hoof as if at a watch and tapped her hoof impatiently.

Applejack raised an eyebrow. “We’re tryin’ to come up with an idea. No need to get impatient.”

“No, it’s not that, it’s just…” They heard footsteps approaching, shutting up once again. Soon, the small purple form of Spike was standing before them.

Starlight cleared her throat. “Klutzy…?”

“Draconequus,” Spike said. “I have no idea why that’s the code word though.”

Twilight blinked. “Wait I thought he was back at the-“

Starlight grinned. “That’s what I wanted my other self to think. So, she took the bait?”

“Totally did!” Spike gave the thumbs up. “She’s gone through the portal and is probably searching the castle for me right now!”

“I love it when plans work,” Starlight said. “Now, burn us out of here.”

Spike took in a breath and unleashed a powerful belch of green fire that consumed part of the crystal bars. He burped, smiling at the hole he had created in the imprisoning columns. “I have no idea where I sent those.”

“Doesn’t matter,” Twilight said. “We need to get out of here. Can you burn off our horn-caps?”

“Sure thing!” Spike carefully shot a small flame around Starlight and Twilight’s horns, consuming the silencing devices and sending them… somewhere.

“You know, if you’re sending those to Celestia…” Rainbow Dash’s eyes widened. “Or this world’s Celestia…”

Spike blinked. “Huh. Wonder what she thinks.”

Applejack hefted Pinkie onto her back. “Somethin’ tells me we don’t want to run into her. Let’s move, Twi.”

Twilight quickly teleported them all to the portal. She stepped through the wall, a spell at the ready in case she ran into any unwanted company. The Other Rainbow Dash was quickly captured in a crystal spell.

Rainbow Dash passed through the Mirror and laughed. “Justice has been served.”

Twilight nodded. “I don’t think she can break out, but watch her anyway. You never know with these ponies…” She waited for everypony to come through and then set the Mirror’s dial to Earth with a quick spell. She didn’t want to take any chances that they might have their own backup plan. “So… Now that we’re back, I see a problem. How are we going to deal with their Pinkie?”

“That… is a very good question,” Rarity said.

“I can go get Maud,” Starlight suggested. “She can handle any version of her sister.”

“Do you know where she is right now?” Twilight asked.

“…Not exactly, no.”

“Then we probably don’t have time…”

“Do what she did,” Rainbow Dash suggested. “Freeze as many friends as you can then rush those who are left.”

Spike raised his hand. “Their Fluttershy might help us. She’s… Not on their side. I think. We call her Lieshy.”

Twilight nodded. “That does make things easier… Okay. Let’s go with that. Starlight, I think I should go in first…”


~~~ 


Twilight Sparkle – the evil one – sat on the throne with her cutie mark, looking at the map of Equestria. She wondered briefly how this castle had been formed in this world. She didn’t think any of the ponies she’d met were cunning enough to manipulate the Tree of Harmony itself into doing their bidding. Perhaps it had given it to them as a gift?

Pathetic, really.

She glanced at the book she had just finished reading – A contemporary guide to the world – and smiled. That had been helpful. None of this world’s peoples knew how to speak properly. This Equestria was just naive and ripe for exploitation. It had been extremely difficult to rise to the top of her own world. Here… she could probably get ponies to go to the moon and conquer it for her.

It was amazing what a superior mind could do when it was applied among fools.

Starlight charged into the room, a grumpy look on her face.

Twilight wondered what was wrong with her, and if she’d found the dragon yet. “Reptile got your tongue?”

“Jello.”

Twilight sighed. So he’d gotten away then. How could any version of Spike actually have any skill at anything? “You realize the outliers?”

Starlight shot her with a furious look. “Straight talk. Now.”

Twilight rolled her eyes. What would the purpose of that be? She’d done enough straight talk today. “Your sound is that of a fecal pond.”

“Porridge.”

Twilight blinked. She… She couldn’t parse what that one meant. She couldn’t admit it, she’d never admit to not seeing the true meaning, but Luna’s horn did she hate the single word responses. So many interpretations… She’d just respond in a generic, yet meaningful, way. Divert the conversation back to finding the Spike. “What are your new buildings?”

“Ah, that’d be known as a distraction.”

Twilight frowned. That seemed a bit too… Literal. Oh, wait, of course. ‘A distraction’ must refer to how she was setting up a secondary method by which to capture him. She needed the details. “Show your work.”

“Uh, no, I’m really just a distraction.”

Twilight blinked. What?

And then a magic bolt hit her horn and sealed the magic within. She heard the sound of her own chuckling. “Gotcha!”

Twilight glanced at her naive self. How did they pull off the double talk? “You cannot reflect. How?”

Her counterpart shrugged. “Well, I’m assuming you’re asking about the double talk? Starlight kinda just… improvised?”

“I honestly can’t believe porridge worked,” Starlight said. “What did you think it meant?”

Twilight was not going to dignify that with a direct answer. “Let’s refer to it as sod, hmm?”

The other Twilight facehooved. “Celestia, she’s still doing it. Whatever. Straight talk -  you are going to order your ponies back home.”

“Straight talk, well fine then. No. I will not stoop so low.”

“Then we’ll just have to take care of them ourselves. Already froze your Rainbow Dash, Applejack, and Rarity. Pretty sure we can take your Starlight and Fluttershy easy.”

“And our Pinkie?”

Other Twilight and Starlight exchanged a nervous glance. “…We have a plan.”

Twilight laughed. “Oh, well would you look at that, their plan falls apart because of the pink one! Shocker!”

“Pinkies are not invincible,” her counterpart said. “I should know. I spend a lot of my time with one. Sometimes more.”

“Oh, you do?” Pinkie said, suddenly sitting in the throne with her cutie mark. Twilight laughed again.

Starlight turned to Pinkie. “…We don’t have to fight, you know.”

“Oh, I know. I also know I’m almost guaranteed to lose since the tables have turned. But I’m not about to turn down a good fight!” She produced a giant blue hammer with a Z on it. “Time to smash you with obscure foreshadowing that I don’t even understand!”

The ‘naive’ Twilight grabbed the hammer with her own magic and hit Pinkie across the head with it, tossing her across the room.

“What are you doing?” ‘evil’ Twilight shouted. “Use a chainsaw or something!”

Pinkie pulled out a chainsaw, cackling. “Gladly!” She charged Starlight, sparks flying off the chainsaw. Her targets teleported to dodge.

‘Evil’ Twilight saw an opportunity. She slinked out of the room while her assailants were occupied. All she needed to do was find her Starlight to remove this magic seal on her horn and everything would be fine. These ponies were still stupid, despite the upper hoof they had temporarily acquired. All she needed to do was use her superior mind…

“The sun sure is bright, isn’t it?”

Twilight turned to Fluttershy. Time for a quick test to see if this was her Fluttershy. “I require a present of soliloquy.”

“The last frog you found was the starline,” Fluttershy responded.

Ah, so not only was she the right Fluttershy, but she remembered the moment Twilight had risen to power. Good. Time to brief her on the situation. “The walls close in, the tables turn, the outside fight.”

“Knowledge is not hard to come by.”

Twilight bristled. Now was not the time to be insulting her. “The implosion is imminent, Fluttershy.”

“The direction will surprise you.”

What?

Fluttershy punched her across the face, forcing her to the ground, dazed.

“The path of the servant is done,” Lieshy said, kicking Twilight again, knocking her out.


~~~ 


Princess Twilight Sparkle and Starlight were having difficulty fighting the murder-crazed Pinkie.

“Pinkie!” Twilight yelled, teleporting out of the way of a dual-sword slice. “You really don’t have to do this!”

“But I waaaaaant to!”

“You can’t stay here – your secret’s out! There’s no more reason to be here!”

Pinkie shrugged. “So? Even if I’m destined to lose, I’m going to have some fun!”

Starlight twitched. “If you know you’re destined to lose why haven’t you forfeited?!”

“Same reason I go on living. Because it’s fun! Woooo!” She leaped into the air and tossed exploding cupcakes around. Twilight caught them all in her telekinesis and shot them back at Pinkie, throwing the pink pony into the chandelier. “Oh! Nice trick!”

Starlight cast a spell to slow Pinkie down, but there was no visible result. She kept moving like a hyperactive pink hummingbird. Starlight grimaced. “Okay, seriously, what is with you? Do you ever get hurt? Can you be affected by anything?”

“Oh, of course I can!” Pinkie giggled. “It all just depends on the context! And you have to surprise me! And there’s no way you can do that!” Her pupils shrunk. “…I’ve just doomed myself.”

Rainbow Dash shot into the room from a window and grabbed Pinkie, holding her tight and crashing to the ground. Pinkie struggled, shouting and yelling, but Rainbow Dash held her tight, not letting her out.

Starlight looked at Pinkie nervously. “…Uh… How? Why?”

Twilight blinked. “She… doomed herself? I… I – let’s not question it, let’s just send them home. Thanks, Rainbow Dash.”

“Don’t mention it!” Rainbow grunted. “Man she’s a wriggler…”

“I AM MORE WRIGGLER THAN ANY PONY EVER WAS!”

“Can you cool it? You lost!”

Pinkie grunted. “I know. I just… Why did I have to say that? I didn’t want to fall because of my hubris! The double-decker tables!”

“…You don’t talk like the others,” Twilight observed.

Lieshy nodded, walking into the room herself, dragging the limp form of evil Twilight behind her. “She… is a confuser.”

“I speak in both! So I can grundle your topiaries while following no rules whatsoever!” Pinkie giggled. “Can we get it over with now? Come on, Starlight.”

The other Starlight walked into the room, took one look at the scene, and tried to run – but Starlight and Twilight pulled her back and sealed her magic.

Twilight smiled. “And that’s everyone! Time to send you all back and get things back to normal!”

Lieshy shook her head. “That’s not what’s going to happen.”

Twilight raised an eyebrow. “Oh?”

Lieshy smiled. “I… Don’t want to go back. And… I don’t want to stay here either.”


~~~ 


Sunset sat next to Mlinx in the village of the demons. “So. You and Anix did… what?”

“A fight for honor,” Mlinx said. “The details aren’t important. He rejected me. I proved him wrong. So we fought. I lost.”

Sunset furrowed her brow. “What does the fight even accomplish?”

“An official ending of the bond,” Mlinx said. “Custom dictates we are not to speak to each other or go on hunting parties together ever again.”

Sunset shook her head. “That’s stupid.”

Mlinx laughed. “…That’s the way things are. I’m sure you have a few ‘stupid’ customs.”

“As a member of two very different worlds, I can say every culture has them,” Sunset said. “Though that doesn’t mean you can’t change them.”

“I talked to Siron about it. He said he understood that I think differently than the others, and that if it were anyone other than Anix he might allow it. But… Anix is the most traditional of all of us.” He pointed. “Look, there he is, avoiding Luna and your friends. He wants nothing to do with anything that isn’t us ‘demons’.”

Sunset shook her head at the scarlet demon’s motions. The regal form of Luna even gestured towards him, but he made no response. Sandalwood put an arm around Luna to comfort her.

The rest of Sunset’s group was doing fine – even Micro, who had gotten over the freaky bug-creatures after about half an hour. Rainbow Dash was racing demons around the village, showing them all up with her speed, though she was annoyed at Veila’s ability to just fly on command. Twilight was talking to Siron directly, taking notes on their culture and asking a million questions. Lyra… was just taking pictures and giggling to herself oddly.

Mlinx cocked his head. “What is the green one… Lyra right? What is she doing?”

“I… I really don’t know,” Sunset said. “She’s a little… out there.”

“Ah, like Fef?”

“No, that’s… Another kind of crazy entirely.”

The two of them laughed.

Then princess Twilight walked into the village, Fluttershy behind her. She waved to Siron and he came right over. “Ah, Princess. Here for your friends?”

Twilight blinked, looking at Sunset. “Ah, no? Didn’t even know they were here.”

Siron chuckled. “Well they’re here, and they need a way back to their home.”

Sunset blushed. Twilight raised an eyebrow. “Did you forget a return spell?”

“No, a pterodactyl took it.”

“Ah,” Twilight chuckled. “I’ll get you all home. But first… Siron, this pony behind me is not the one you know.”

“Oh?”

“She comes from a world where everyone spoke in veiled lies. Their culture bred deception, manipulation, and other unsavory things. She does not wish to stay in my world – too ‘nice’ apparently – so I thought maybe she could come here?”

Siron raised his head. “Are you dumping more citizens on me?”

“It’s just a request, Siron. I can probably find another world for her.”

Siron nodded. “She shall be welcomed. What shall we call her?”

“Lieshy,” Lieshy said. “That’s what they call me. Stamp the papers.”

“…Hmm?”

Lieshy facehooved. “Sorry. Habit.”

“That’s her double-speak,” Twilight said. “You’ll… probably have to get used to it. It’s how she’s spoken her entire life.”

Siron nodded. “Curious.”

Twilight smiled, turning to Lieshy. “I hope you will enjoy it here! I was planning on staying a little longer to introduce you to people and ponies, but apparently I have to save some humans. See you around!”

“Until the next sunrise,” Lieshy said. “The doubles will collide to one.”

“…Riiiight. Sunset, gather your people.”

Sunset sighed and nodded, still really embarrassed they had to be bailed out. This was supposed to be a friendly little competition between the ponies and the humans, not the ponies helping the humans at every turn.

They needed an edge…