“Thanks for helping me clean the basement Pinkie,” said Spike. Both he and Pinkie Pie were hard at work cleaning the library’s basement. The two of them wandered through a labyrinth of boxes and piles of books, hoping to find something useful.
“Thank you for letting me keep what I find,” Pinkie chirped as she held up a brass gauntlet. “I can’t believe Twilight’s okay with me taking stuff! Where is she anyways?” She slid the gauntlet onto her right foreleg, moving it around testing its weight.
“Twilight thought it would be a good idea to help ponies with their emotional health,” said Spike as he was digging through a box. “So she volunteered at the psychological ward of the hospital.”
“She’s playing therapist again? Didn’t she learn her lesson from last time?”
“Apparently not. How long do you think it’ll take before she damages somepony?”
“Five bits say by the time she returns tonight.”
“You’re on,” Spike grinned. He dug deeper into the box throwing empty cases and old books to the ground. A shimmering object caught his attention. “What’s this?”
“What’d you find?” asked Pinkie. Spike turned to the pink pony with his findings in his hand. He had to stop for a minute; the sight in front of him was strange, even for Pinkie.
“What?” she tilted her head in confusion. On the pony was brass armour. Both of her forelegs were covered in brass plates, her chest carried a brass chest plate, and on her left was an empty scabbard.
“It’s nothing,” he said. He looked at the small slightly opened case in his hands. Slowly, Spike opened it, revealing an odd pair of glasses. The right lens was rectangular and was a deep forest green. The left lens was perfectly circular and was a ruby red. He lifted the glasses to the light examining them. “These are some strange glasses.”
“Maybe they’re magic!” Pinkie said fitting a helmet onto herself. “Maybe those glasses are a relic from a race long gone. They probably allow anyone wearing them to access an unlimited amount of information. And maybe they can play music too!” Spike chuckled at his companion’s enthusiasm.
“I don’t think that’s what they do Pinkie.” Curious, the dragon put them onto his face. Looking around, everything looked the same, even though he was looking through coloured lenses. He turned to his friend and jumped in surprise. Instead of a pink earth pony, he was looking at a pure white pegasus with a blonde poofy mane. Her eyes shared the same colour as Twilight’s did.
“Pinkie?” he asked.
“Silly Spike,” the white pegasus said. “You seem to have forgotten who I am. My name isn’t Pinkie, its Surprise!” The pegasus giggled a giggle that was familiar yet foreign to the dragon at the same time. Spike stared at the pony wondering where his friend disappeared to. He took off the glasses, and where the pegasus stood was a pink pony dressed in brass armour. He blinked in confusion.
“Pinkie?” The armoured pony looked at him with concern in her eyes.
“Are you okay Spike?” she asked. “You seemed to zone out when you looked at me with those glasses.
“Was there a white pegasus here just now?”
“Nope, just you and me in here. Where would a pegasus come from anyways? Wait, is she new?” a large gasp escaped Pinkie’s throat and she floated a few feet in the air, unhampered by the armour she wore. “I need to plan a party for this pony! I’d love to stay and look for more treasure, but I have to go! And thanks for the armour!” In the blink of an eye, Pinkie disappeared. An after image of the pony stood with Spike before it slowly disappeared. He stood where he was for a few moments trying to comprehend what he just saw.
The dust here must be making me lose it. I need some air. Spike returned the glasses to its case and took one more look into the box he found the glasses in. The only other thing he saw was a small journal. He took it out of the box and exited the basement.
*
Spike sat in the foyer of the library reading the journal. In it was a large amount of jargon that Spike could not really understand. It talked about infinite possibilities and how there were an infinite number of realities to hold those possibilities. It also spoke of how every living creature has an equivalent to themselves in said realities. From what he could understand, the glasses allowed him to see what others looked like in those worlds. They also allowed him to hear them as if he were interacting with them. Essentially, he was looking at somepony or someone in another life when he saw them through the glasses. He held the glasses up to the light, examining them once more. These glasses can’t be letting me see what the journal says. It’s impossible. Spike put the glasses down beside him. Then again, I thought Nightmare Moon returning was impossible, so the journal might be right. A philosophical discussion was brewing in Spike’s mind when the door to the library opened. A purple unicorn with a disheveled mane entered the library.
“What happened to you?” asked Spike.
“Apparently,” Twilight responded, annoyance in her voice. “It’s ‘unethical’ to make ponies with emotional trauma relive their worst moments with magic. They called it ‘psychological torture’. It wasn’t torture! It was research!” Her horn lit up and a few of the books flew to her.
“How else am I supposed to learn what happened to them? Let them talk? HA! They can barely look me in the eye let alone talk.” Spike looked at the glasses. If the journal was right, he could see who Twilight was in another life, or who she will be. He put them on his face and looked to his guardian. A unicorn stood where Twilight was doing the exact same thing she was: reading. The unicorn shared the same basic build as Twilight, instead of purple, she had pale pink as her fur colour. Both her mane and tail were white. A deep purple stripe was in her mane instead of the magenta and purple stripes that Spike was used to seeing. On her tail was a pale blue bow.
“Huh,” Spike said taking the glasses off. “I’ll be damned. The journal was right.”
“What did you say Spike?”
“Nothing,” he said getting up. Spike walked to the entrance of the library, glasses in hand. “I’m going to take a walk okay?”
“Huh? Oh, sure Spike,” Twilight said. The door to the library was closed leaving her alone with her books. “’You’re not qualified to help these patients.’ I’ll show them qualified.”
*
Dusk was falling on the country of Equestria as a baby dragon was exploring the town he lived in. With the glasses in front of him, Spike marvelled at all the ponies in town. They all looked so different, yet familiar at the same time. Certain earth ponies were unicorns, some pegasi were earth ponies, and select unicorns were pegasi. Some of his friends looked slightly different than what he was used to. He passed by Fluttershy, only instead of being a pegasus, she was a butter coloured earth pony with a shorter mane and a green bow at the base of her tail. When he passed by Rarity, she looked the same only with a colour swap. Everypony looks so different. He was so busy staring at the ponies around him, that he didn’t notice the one in front of him. Spike collided into the pony causing him to fall.
“I’m sorry about that,” he said. “I wasn’t paying attention to where I was…going.” Spike could do nothing but stare at the pony in front of him. A cerulean earth pony was standing in front of him. The eyes that were looking at him were a light shade of purple. There were four colours in her mane: pink, indigo, orange, and green. Her tail shared both the pink and indigo colours of her mane, but a light blue was added to the mix. On the pony’s head was a yellow ascot with a blue ribbon. While this pony was a different race of pony, he instantly recognized who it was.
“Rainbow Dash?” he gawked.
“Of course darling,” she said. Her voice sounded higher, haughtier, and somehow more sophisticated. “Who else could be so dashing?”
“What’s with the ascot?”
“Well, the most fabulous pony in Ponyville must have the most chiqué accessories should she not?” Rainbow Dash asked. “And besides, Rainbow Dash always dresses in style.” The sight was something Spike never thought he would see. This pony was the complete opposite of the Rainbow Dash he knew. It was as if someone took Rarity’s personality, drained it of all the charm, and then stuck what was left into an earth pony’s body. He did the only reasonable thing he could in a scenario like that, he laughed. He laughed as hard as he could while clutching his sides. Spike’s laughter caused him to roll on the ground.
“Well, it seems someone can’t appreciate the lengths I must take to be –“ her voice changed as the glasses fell on the floor. “–what do you mean ‘what’s with the ascot’? I’m not wearing a hat.” Spike’s laughter was slowly dying when he looked up at who was in front of him. Rainbow Dash, the Rainbow Dash that he was familiar with, looked at him with confusion on her face.
“Nothing,” he said getting up and still giggling. “Nothing at all.” He picked up the glasses and wiped off the dirt from it.
“What’s with the glasses?”
“Pretty stylish don’t you think?” Spike let them hang on his forehead.
“They could be more stylish.”
“Oh you’d know all about dressing in style wouldn’t you?” His laughter returned in full force, causing the pegasus to be more confused than she once was.
“Whatever,” Rainbow Dash grumbled. “You’re acting weird. I’m gonna go now.” She flew away leaving the dragon laughing like a mad man. Eventually, Spike’s laughter disappeared, but a smile was pasted on his face. What he saw was something he never should have seen, but he was glad he did. Spike pushed the glasses back in front of his eyes and began walking home.
Now, what other lives have ponies lived, and what lives will they live?