On the eighth day of her new... ‘life’; for she still had no idea how to get back, or even if she COULD get back, to her original time; as she was sitting in one of the larger royal gardens, she was approached by one of the guards.
Now, everything in this ancient time was quite strange, and the physical build and fashion sense of ponies was no exception.
Everypony was quite lithe and tall, almost as tall as the few horses that would occasionally come to trade with them; though they never stayed long, horses having a rather large contempt for the smaller equines as they constantly called them ‘the offsprings of runt horses who should’ve been killed before they could get a chance to breed’; even though Twilight knew for a fact they were literally the same subspecies of equine, and were actually generally stronger and tougher than horses.
But, alas, it was still ancient times and not every race was friends yet.
And the clothing the ponies wore was like a mixture of paint and cloth.
They walked around with intricate, vine like artworks painted in black ink twisting around one or two legs, sometimes even all four. And were never seen without some form of intricately designed cloth draped over their back to avoid sunburn whilst also upholding a certain beauty about them.
And the guards were no exception to this code of fashionable conduct either; constantly decked out in shiny black metal armour with menacing spikes and snarling beasts for helmets, though also showing off hints of gold in between the joints.
“Your parents wish for you to join them in their bedchamber, your majesty” this current guard stated, his muffled voice snapping Twilight out of her whirlwind of thoughts.
As she nodded in understanding, shutting her book and levitating it beside her as she began to follow him to her parents, she remembered how it had been quite a pain re-familiarising herself with her magic, but also quite enjoyable if she was honest; refreshing, even.
Especially when she got to see the looks on Emarald and Smokys faces.
She shook her head dismissively, ah well, time to go see what those two wanted from her.
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Twilight blinked.
The two alicorns blinked back, smiles still beaming from their faces, though also looking close to fainting from exhaustion.
The sleeping pile of alicorn fillies lay sprawled on the same mulberry silk that Twilight had first awakened on.
Twilight blinked again before raising her hoof to point at the pile “sisterth?”
She was still working to get her words out properly, but at least she was understandable.
“Yes, Twilight, these are your new sisters, do you want to come and say hello?” Smoky asked.
The purple filly frowned uneasily before trotting forward, she could easily tell that they were her five friends; oh, she hoped they weren’t too mad at her.
She stopped and leaned over them to see how different they looked.
It seemed their wings were based more of birds than normal Pegasi wings now, she thought, briefly glancing back at her own albatross like wings before refocusing on her friends.
Applejack was the closest, so she studied her first; with a long sharp horn poking out of her blond locks and two wings that looked a lot like they belonged to a harpy eagle, and of course no cutie mark yet, Twilight was scared of what the used-to-be farmer would do when she awoke.
Rainbow Dash was next, and aside from the new horn on her head, she looked relatively similar, except her wings were shaped more like a hummingbirds, now.
Fluttershy had a rather rounded horn and budgie like wings.
Rarity still looked regal, especially with her now long and curved back horn and fantail looking wings.
And Pinkie Pie had a strangely zigzagged horn and wings shaped in the likeness of a parrots.
Twilight was conflicted.
She was scared that her friends would all hate her for dragging them back in time, yet she was also ecstatic that they were here and she wasn’t alone.
She mentally face hoofed as she realised that of COURSE they were here, their connection to the elements must’ve dragged them along with her.
She turned to give her parents a happy grin when she found them both just sleeping on the floor; boy, they must have used a lot of magic to be asleep so quickly.
Man, this was starting to feel like a scene from some cheesy book she hoped never to read.
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Smoky Skies awoke from a wonderful nap, magic fully restored and the light of dawn glowing behind his eyelids.
He smiled contentedly, slowly opening his eyes to see-a blur of purple flash by him, soon followed by an orange blur angrily babbling filly talk.
“What-?” He uttered, head shooting up to watch his first born daughter being chased by his second born daughter.
His horn lit up with sky blue magic and he swiftly levitated both children over to hover in front of him, Applejack wiggling in his grip.
“What is going on here, girls? Twilight, what did you do to your younger sister?” He asked in bafflement.
Applejack froze and looked over at her older sister in horror, only confusing Smoky all the more; whilst Twilight merely shrugged from where she hung limp in the air.
Smoky sighed, shaking his head as he lowered them back to the ground “ok, you two, play nice please, we have to wake up your siblings and head to breakfast now.”
Smoky hid a frown as his oldest daughter shuddered in fear.
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Twilight shifted awkwardly at the long and very extravagant table that morning, staring at her honey covered pancakes in an attempt to avoid her... ‘siblings’ insistent glares.
The dining hall doors creaked open and a maid stuck her head in “your highnesses? The meeting with the bison traders from the south will be starting soon.”
Emerald smiled gratefully, dipping her head to the six fillies before leaving the room with Smoky.
After Rainbow Dash made sure they were gone, she slammed a hoof on the table and pointed it at Twilight accusingly, growling lowly as she held back from trying to speak, considering she wouldn’t have been able to with her now very young vocal cords.
“I kno, I kno, I’m thorry iss happnd” Twilight managed, ears pressed back as she lowered her head and placed her hooves over her eyes.
Rainbow Dash’s glare softened-before she shook her head stubbornly, Twilight may be a filly again, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t still at the mental age of her original self!
She was about to smack the table again when a terrifying thought occurred to her, leading to her insistently tapping it instead.
Twilight looked up to see Rainbows horrified expression in confusion “wa? Wa? You tryn to asg if we’ll be able to go bak?”
The blue coated filly shook her head frantically before pointing at the other four as if counting them.
The purple alicorn grew dumbstruck for a second before responding “welly?... Oke, den; I’m th oldest, Appweldak ith the thecond oldetht, Wawity is the third born, then you, then pinkey pie and den fwutterthy Id de yongetht.”
Twilight scowled at her own abhorrent pronunciation, but it seemed Rainbow had understood enough to be relieved that she wasn’t the youngest.