Tempest limped after Princess Twilight as she carried the books to her Mirror Universe Literature Lab, the room so recently designated that Spike was still painting the new name on the door.
“I’m sorry it took longer than expected,” Tempest said. “I should have contacted you once I knew I was going to be delayed.”
“It’s fine,” Twilight assured her, producing a phone from the same place all ponies kept small objects like bags of bits, quills, and so forth. The location is, of course, obvious and doesn’t need to be spelled out. “Sunset texted me to let me know what was going on.”
“Oh,” Tempest said. “That’s good.”
“You’re not going to ask me how it works?” Twilight asked.
“...Should I have?”
“Well, it’s just that getting a cell phone signal across a dimensional barrier was a very interesting project. It took a lot of work and there are only a few ponies in the entire world who could even begin to understand what it means, much less why it’s so important or the implications of being able to transfer huge volumes of information across time and space! And it’s not just a matter of leaving the portal open, either, because it’s not a simple gateway. The transformation effects are just one part of the effect and from the research we’ve been doing, it seems like the damage done by my counterpart might have weakened--”
The castle shook.
More importantly, Twilight stopped talking.
“Oh thank Celestia,” Tempest whispered.
“Just one moment,” Twilight said, putting the books down. “There’s at least a one in three chance that Rainbow Dash flew into the castle again. She’s had a lot of concussions and sometimes she gets fixated on shiny things and, well, you know.”
“I really don’t,” Tempest replied,
Spike looked at the letters he’d been carefully painting, and the black streak across them. He sighed and put the paintbrush down, walking past them to open a window.
“Uh, Twilight?” he asked.
“I can’t hear you over the roaring and screaming!” Twilight yelled, over the roaring and screaming.
“I think it’s another monster attack!” Spike yelled back.
“But we just had one last week!” Twilight shouted, storming over to the window.
Tempest followed her to look. A monster attacking seemed promising. Maybe in the confusion Twilight would forget to tell her about exciting developments in the field of electromagnetism.
“That’s an Ursa Major,” Tempest said.
“Yeah, and it looks real angry about something,” Spike agreed. “Maybe it’s Trixie’s fault again. Well, I mean, technically it wasn’t her fault the first time, but you know.” He shrugged.
“Again, I really don’t know.”
“It’s a Ponyville thing,” Spike said. “If you stay here long enough you’ll understand.”
“For some reason, this seems familiar,” Tempest muttered. “It’s like I recognize it from somewhere…”
Meanwhile, five minutes in the past, which is meanwhile as long as you aren't bound to the linear flow of time (Princess Twilight will provide diagrams of the relevant future and past light cones upon request), Fluttershy was speaking with one of her patients.
"You've made a lot of progress," Fluttershy said, checking her charts. There weren't standard charts for animal psychology, so she drew her own by hoof. "I think you deserve a smiley face sticker for today!"
"Urragrrahghgh," the Ursa Major rumbled, the whole clearing shaking with the power of its voice. It was like an earthquake, even when it whispered.
"Oh, I agree," Fluttershy said, nodding. "It's important to look to the future and move on."
"Rawraaaawr?"
"Well, I was talking to Twilight, and we have somepony we want you to meet."
The Ursa tilted its head in confusion. "Urarawargh?"
"No, no. It's not another specialist. I'm not actually sure if there are specialists in ursine psychoanalysis. Actually, it's a pony you met before!"
"It's really too bad," Fluttershy added. "She was doing so well with her therapy."
"Honestly, I thought--" Twilight started, wincing as explosions rocked the sky overhead. "I thought Tempest was over it too."
"Maybe this will help both of them," Fluttershy suggested. "They could learn a valuable lesson."
"Fluttershy, nopony has learned anything at all."
"I learned something," Fluttershy corrected.
"Oh really? And what's that?"
"I thought bears were more afraid of us than we were of them, but they also have an almost limitless capacity for holding grudges and revenge."
"Just like ponies."
"Isn't nature wonderful?" Fluttershy smiled.