//------------------------------// // Acceptance // Story: Her Lips Tasted Like Cherry Cola // by MagnetBolt //------------------------------// The woods seemed safe. They weren’t, but this was still close to the very start of the story, and for now Twilight was busy identifying the trees they passed. She was too young to really know how dangerous the world could be. She’d find out later, and she’d grow up too quickly because of it. “Oh! Is that a Canterlot Chestnut tree?” Twilight ran off the path to look, her shoes squelching in the mud from the rain the night before. She sighed as she got closer and stopped. “Never mind. It’s just a Dwarf Chestnut.” “Twilight, don’t go off the path!” her friend yelled. From the sounds of it, she was crashing through the woods with her usual grace. Where Twilight picked her way through the woods like she was afraid she’d be yelled at for leaving even a single leaf out of place, the person with her moved through life like a monster truck moved through junked cars. “I’m fine, Fizzlepop!” Twilight called back. “I’m not a child! I’m eight, and that’s practically grown up.” “Yeah well, I’m nine,” Fizzlepop said, as she finally caught up, holding a stick like a sword and knocking ferns and branches out of the way. They didn’t even try to fight back, obviously cowed by her strength. “And that means it’s my job to keep you safe.” “I’ll be nine in a few months,” Twilight mumbled. “So what’s so special about a tree?” Fizzlepop asked, ignoring Twilight’s objection before they had to discuss the importance of being nine-and-a-half versus just nine. She walked up to the Dwarf Chestnut and rapped on the trunk with her stick. “It looks the same as every other tree.” “Well, Fizzle, I’m glad you asked.” Twilight adjusted her glasses and smiled. “You see, the Canterlot Chestnut tree is extremely rare in the wild because of a blight that started over a hundred years ago. Almost every adult tree died in just a few decades, and ones that sprouted usually died before they could mature. Whenever anyone finds a tree, it gets in all the papers and it’s a big deal!” “And this one’s not special?” “No,” Twilight sighed. “I just got excited.” “That’s okay,” Fizzlepop said. She hit the tree one more time to establish her dominance over the forest. “Hey, wanna go check out the stream?” “I don’t really think I’m up for camping,” Twilight said. “You know I’m not really an outdoors kind of person.” Sunset Shimmer smiled. “I think you mean you’re not up for camping without a certain Timber Spruce to keep you company.” Twilight sighed. The book she was reading -- an introduction to information theory, fascinating really -- was closed and set between her and Sunset like a shield. Not quite the book forts she’d made as a child, but better than being totally exposed. “You know that was just a little… thing,” Twilight said. “I don’t get a lot of attention from boys. It was flattering.” Sunset’s eyebrow rose toward the ceiling. “Flash Sentry.” “That doesn’t count, he likes Princess Twilight, not me.” “It should count. He’d take you out on a date in a heartbeat if you asked.” “You don’t know that.” “I can read his mind if you want me to make sure, or you can just trust that I know what he’s like. I mean, I did date him for a while.” Sunset smiled. “Sorry,” Twilight mumbled. “You girls can go without me.” Sunset reached right past her shield and grabbed her hand, squeezing it. The violation of her personal space made her flinch. It took a moment for her initial surge of panic to slide into the comfort of being close to another human (or, in Sunset’s case, close enough to human). “It’s just a weekend in the woods,” Sunset said. If she’d been reading Twilight’s mind, she would have stopped there. “Even Rarity agreed to come along. You don’t have to come, but can you at least give it some thought?” Twilight looked into Sunset’s hopeful eyes, and couldn’t say no. “I’ll think about it,” she promised. “This isn’t what I expected when you asked me to do you a favor,” Tempest Shadow said. “Explain it again, please.” “I already explained it,” Princess Twilight said. “You did,” Tempest agreed. “But I couldn’t possibly have heard you correctly and I wanted to hear it again.” “This,” Princess Twilight said, motioning to a mirror in the middle of a tangle of magical devices and retorts. “Is a portal between this world and a kind of parallel universe. Of course, most ponies think of quantum parallel universes, which are caused by different choices or other changes in the timeline and are really parallel worldlines, where this is a type of mirror universe characterized by interspacial entanglement that causes individuals and even major events to correspond at a near one-to-one ratio. It’s actually really fascinating and I’ve been studying the entanglement with my counterpart to try and determine if one universe is primary and causes changes in the other, or if both universes contribute to each other. Our current working theory is disproving a third option where the correspondence actually retrocausally creates the entanglement and drives its own--” Tempest Shadow had been through a lot in her life. Being in the employ of the Storm King meant she had been forced to sit still and listen while somepony rambled on and on, though with the Storm King it had been about (very) aggressive marketing and how she, too, could be rich if she “signed up” six other ponies for enslavement, and each of them signed up six more ponies, and so forth. Compared to having to listen to retirement plan options and the benefits of being a Platinum Preferred Plus member of the Storm King’s army, listening to Twilight go on about-- Tempest briefly turned her ears back on. Turning them off was a skill all members of the military developed at some point --about hypertime and multiverse theory was hardly a burden. “Twilight,” she said when the alicorn paused for breath. “The mission?” Another skill she’d developed was keeping superior officers on track. “Oh! Right!” Twilight stopped, put away the charts she’d been holding up, and looked around, grabbing a stack of flashcards and clearing her throat. “Sorry. So, you’re probably wondering why I have this stack of books!” “I’m really not.” Twilight sighed and waved the stack of cards. “Tempest, I sort of prepared the mission briefing in advance. I know I told you once already, it’s just sort of a speech.” “But even if I hadn’t heard this part before, I wouldn’t question why you have a stack of books,” she said. “You’re the princess of books.” “What? No. I’m the Princess of Friendship.” “You have six friends and sixty thousand books.” “I have more than six friends!” “And probably more than sixty thousand books.” Twilight made several sounds all at once while she rotated through her entire array of emotions and arguments without finding one that actually worked. “I have more than six friends,” she repeated, falling back on her previous argument, which she still considered very good despite the fact it had landed like an earth pony trying out for the Wonderbolts. “So, we were discussing why I was wondering about those books?” Tempest prompted. “The books! Right!” Twilight patted the stack of books next to her. “These books need to be returned to where they belong.” “And where do they belong?” Tempest asked. “I am glad you asked,” Twilight said, flipping to the next card. “These books are from a parallel universe! Specifically, from the Canterlot High library.” “Isn’t Canterlot High in--” “Canterlot? Yes! But not this Canterlot! Well, I mean… I probably phrased that wrong. We’re not actually in Canterlot, and saying ‘this Canterlot’ implies we are. Anyway, you need to return them. I’d have Starlight do it, but she’s helping to nurse Trixie back to health after the unfortunate accident.” “Do I want to know?” “Let’s just say she spent a little too long inside the manticore.” “...is that some kind of euphemism?” “Surprisingly, no. And since we’ve got classes scheduled, nopony else can really take the time off. Look, it’s a quick thing. You just need to go to the other world, return these books, and pick up the books on this list.” Twilight passed her a long scroll. “That seems easy enough.” “You’re not going to make any sarcastic comments about how I read too much?” “No. It’s obviously not a trip you can make often, and you want to stock up.” Tempest shrugged. “Besides, I still owe you for not putting me in prison for the rest of my life.” “Great! I told Sunset I’d be sending somepony, so she’ll be waiting for you. She’s got a library card.”