Octavia laughed daintily, cup of tea gripped firmly in her hoof as Rarity dropped another cube of sugar into her own. The boutique was otherwise silent as the two mares enjoyed each other's company, a rare moment for the Fashionista this time of year. Something Octavia appreciated greatly after yesterday's insanity, though it did give her an interesting story to tell.
"I hope the poor thing can bounce back from that," Octavia sighed.
"As do I darling," Rarity said, cringing slightly at her own memory of crossing the soft-spoken Thestral. "Your friend can be quite terrifying when she wants to be."
Octavia nodded, briefly shuddering as she remembered her own momentary graze with her friend's glare.
"Fortunately, she tries to keep that temper of her's under control, love."
Rarity nodded, then took a sip of her drink before adding with an impish smile, "So long as nopony tries to hurt her marefriend, that is."
"May god have mercy on their soul," she giggled. "Personally, I think Lyra got off rather easy all things considered."
"Quite," Rarity sighed. "That mare needs to learn the meaning of the word restraint. I mean really, ponynapping somepony to interview them? Has the art of tact truly died?"
"Many, unfortunately, have opted to forgo such concepts I am sad to say."
"So it would seem," she frowned, raising the teapot to pour herself a fresh cup.
To her chagrin, only a few drops came out of the pot's spout.
"Oh dear," she grumbled, rising out of her seat with the teapot still held in her magic's grip. "Please excuse me darling. I shan't be gone more than a moment."
Octavia nodded as her host left to make a new pot.
While she did that, Octavia took a moment to enjoy the familiar atmosphere of the boutique. Even though it was a different version, it brought bittersweet memories of the time she spent with her world's Rarity. Time spent talking over tea, discussing crushes, enjoying music, and being a shoulder to cry on when the time was right. While they didn't spend as much time together as they did with their usual group of friends, they were still very close to each other. But that changed when Annon-a-Miss entered the scene. The second she heard what Sunset's former friends did, a deep gash had run through her bond with the Seamstress. In time, it turned into anger as she decided to sever such a tie. Did she hate the girl? No. Hate was too strong a feeling to give to a social puppet like her. Maybe things will change in the future and they could become friends again, but now? No. Not for a very long time.
The sound of the store's front door opening broke her out of her musings as the clopping of hooves followed. Seeing that Rarity hadn't returned yet, Octavia decided to see if she could keep the possible customer entertained until that changed. Stepping out of the residential section of the boutique's first floor into the showroom, she flashed her nicest smile as she approached the pony.
"Greetings welcome to th-"
She paused as she stared at the pony that stood before her.
"Well" Equestrian Octavia said, face only showing a trace of shock as she looked her counterpart over. "I can't say I was expecting this."
"Quite," Octavia said, her face a perfect mirror of her doppelgänger.
The two stared at each other in awkward silence for a moment, neither sure how to proceed. Then, the native Earth Pony let out a sigh and turned around.
"Very well," she grumbled. "Unzip me."
"Pardon?" Octavia asked, taking a startled step back.
"Well, we can't both wear the same thing in Ponyville," Equestrian Octavia said, looking over her shoulder with a small, mischievous smirk. "That would be most uncouth."
"I see," she said, again mirroring her double's expression. "Quite right, love."
They stayed like that for a few seconds before a fit of giggles broke them out of what little tension remained in the moment.
"So," Equestrian Octavia smiled, once again in control of her poise as she turned to face her double fully. "Are you the result of a spell or a Changeling perhaps?"
"I do not know what a Changeling is, but does a portal to another world count as a spell?" she said, tone measured
"So a letter C then," she nodded.
"As in "Other", correct?"
Equestrian Octavia nodded.
"You know love, you are taking this rather well," Octavia said, cocking a brow.
"Dear, this is Ponyville," she said flatly. "While I don't know how your world works, for me, this is just another Tuesday afternoon."
"I see," she smiled. "Care for some tea?"
"I think I can spare a bit of time."
***
It was a beautiful winter day that day. Snow bunnies were hopping. Snow was glistening. On a day like this, a Pegasus like Lightning Dust....should be falling from the sky.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" was all Lightning could manage as she plummeted like a lead weight into the soft snow-covered field below.
A yell that turned into a muffled groan when she made contact, doing a perfect impression of an ostrich in the snow. Rainbow slowly drifted to the ground, face twisted into a deep grimace as she touched down.
"See? I told you you weren't ready yet."
A loud series of grunts could be heard through the snow that sounded dangerously close to expletives as Lightning struggled to free herself.
"Damn it!" she exclaimed as she pulled her head out of the snow. "I thought I had it!"
Rainbow sighed, then sat down next to the fuming Pegasus.
"Lightning, you only just figured out how to use your wings. It's way too soon for you to try flying."
"I know," she groaned, then pointed at her head and added, "I know that up here anyway, but I can't help it! I've always wanted to fly!"
With a frustrated huff, she slammed a hoof into the snow in front of her.
"Always..."
The field fell into a gentle silence as the two Pegasi sat, one lost in thought while the other brooded. Slowly, a smile started to form on Rainbow's face as an idea took shape. While she wasn't as much of a bookworm as Twilight, Rainbow knew enough math to understand the finer points of flight. She had to for most of her more dangerous stunts prior to joining the Wonder Bolt Reserves. As such, her mind ran through the numbers almost as fast as her wing speed as she ran her plan through countless theories. And her excitement spiked further at what each result presented to her.
"Alright," Rainbow beamed, jumping to her hooves. "I know what to do."
"What?" Lightning grumbled.
"Well, from what I can tell you've got more than enough magic to get in the air. You just need to learn how to use your wings."
"Okay?" Lightning said, raising a brow as she stood up to face her friend/teacher. "So how do I do that? Just practice moving them around?"
"Yes and no," Rainbow smirked. "You need to learn how to use them on the move. Otherwise you'll just crash all over the place."
"Yeah, that would be bad," Lightning cringed, briefly glancing at the snow crater a few feet away."So how do we work on that?"
Rainbow leaned towards Lightning and with a challenging smirk said, "A simple game of tag."
"Huh?" Lightning blinked.
"Yep," Rainbow nodded, taking five steps back from Lightning. "For the next two hours, you and I are gonna play tag. Whoever's it when times up loses and has to pay for lunch."
"That's it?" Lightning smirked. "Sounds easy enough."
"Yeah," she said, then donned a wicked smile as she added, "But you have to do it with your wings open."
"Huh?" Lightning asked, head tilted in confusion.
"Trust me," she smirked.
"Okay?"
With that, she spread her wings and took the closest thing she could to a running stance that her body could manage.
"Alright," Rainbow smirked, crouching low in preparation. "Ready?"
She nodded, eyes narrowed in challenge.
"Set-go!"
In a blink, the native Pegasus appeared in front of her and tapped a hoof against Lightning's shoulder.
"Tag! You're it!"
Lightning flinched, then took a swipe at Rainbow with a forehoof only to hit empty air as the mare moved just out of reach. Making sure to keep her wings open, she lunged at the native Pegasus only to come up short yet again as she sidestepped past her at the last second. A frustrated growl slipped past her lips as she ran after her grinning teacher, the mare easily ducking and dodging past all of her attempts to tag her. As her frustration grew she became faintly aware of how much drag her wings were giving her. The way her feathers were grabbing the air made it feel like she was running through tar.
Damn it! she thought bitterly as she missed Rainbow for the fiftieth time. I need to be faster then this! God damn wings! If they weren't dragging me back so much I'd have her by now! I need to MOVE!!!
As if answering her silent demand, her wings angled themselves in a way that took away most of their drag, giving her a sudden burst of speed that neither mare was ready for. Rainbow barely managed to get out of the way while Lightning tore past her like a speeding missile into a nearby tree.
"Ow~," she groaned as she staggered to her hooves away from the tree. "What the hell happened?"
"You flattened out your wings," Rainbow said, a proud smirk on her face. "When you fly, that's how you accelerate. When you try to slow down, you fan your wings out towards your front for drag. Do you get it?"
Once Lightning managed to blink past the stars in her vision, she took note of what her teacher said and slowly started to figure out what she was getting at. Basically, she was playing tag with her breaks on and only just shifted gears into drive. Thinking about it that way, she felt like an idiot for not figuring out what the problem was in the first place.
"Yeah," she smirked turning towards her teacher and reopened her wings, this time making a conscious effort to open them flat. "Now let's have some real fun."
"Bring it," Rainbow smirked, crouching low.
The two stared each other down for a moment then, Lightning let out a battle cry as she charged towards Rainbow at a speed that dwarfed her first few charges. At the last second, Rainbow sidestepped her and again Lightning found herself colliding with a tree. A low groan was all she had time to make before a large conglomerate of snow fell out of the tree on top of her.
"Should probably wait until you learn how to turn before you decide to blitz me," she smirked.
"Aw shut up," she groaned as she struggled to pull herself out of the snow.
As Rainbow waited for Lightning to get out of her prison her thoughts drifted to a certain dark-orange Pegasus filly and what her new idea could mean for her. An exited smile bloomed on her face at the implications.
***
Bonbon walked through the streets with a faint smile as she went about her business, saddle bags bulging with the various ingredients needed for her personal project at the castle. Needless to say, when she saw the gold coins Princess Twilight gave her on the way out her jaw nearly broke the planet's crust. It was one thing to be told that a world used gold as freely as paper bills, but something else entirely to have it as a reality. A small part of her considered taking a few coins back with her when the trip was over. Not a lot of them, just a small handful to squirrel away for emergencies. At the present though, she was more than happy to spend the coins on what she had planned.
"Um, excuse me?" an eerily familiar voice said as somepony tapped her shoulder.
She turned and wasn't entirely surprised to see her own face staring back at her. It did put a slight chill down her spine though.
"Yeah?" she said, guarded as she walked. "Can I help you?"
Equestrian Bonbon gulped, then nervously said, "I, uh, just wanted to say, s-sorry about what happened yesterday. I swear, my marefriend's not usually like that. I don't know what got into her and none of you deserved what happened to you. I'm really really sorry!"
Bonbon stared at her double for a few seconds, then sighed.
"Okay, I forgive you," she smiled. "Both of you. My Lyra can do some crazy stuff sometimes too, so I can kind've relate. Besides, I think Fluttershy made her think twice about pulling a stunt like that again."
Equestrian Bonbon nodded, a worried frown decorating her muzzle.
"Yeah. I hope your marefriend is doing better then mine right now."
Bonbon blinked at that, then said, "My ma- oh! No-no-no! We aren't like that. We're just really good friends."
"Oh!" Equestrian Bonbon said, an embarrassed blush coloring her cheeks. "Sorry, I just assumed..."
"No problem," she smiled, waving it away with a hoof, then gave her a concerned frown as she asked, "What's wrong with your Lyra?"
Equestrian Bonbon sighed then looked at the ground.
"She had nightmares last night. Every hour she'd wake up screaming, crying about eyes in the darkness and sharp fangs. I don't blame her for what she did, but its hard to see her like that, you know?"
A frown grew on her face as a memory she tried to forget jumped to the front of her mind. An empty house. A dark bedroom. A dead-eyed mint-green teen sitting in a corner of the room.
"Yeah, I get where you're coming from."
"She'll bounce back from this," the native Bonbon said, a hint more confidence in her tone as she locked eyes with her double. "I'll make sure of that."
"Damn strait," Bonbon cheered, giving her double a playful hip-check."That's what we're for, right?"
She nodded, a bright smile on her muzzle that slowly turned into a curious frown when she saw the saddle bags.
"What's all that for?"
"Oh, nothing much" Bonbon shrugged. "Just things I need for some sweets I plan to make while I'm here."
"Want some help?" she asked eagerly.
"Do you make candy?"
"Last time I checked," she smirked, jerking her head towards her flank.
"Then sure," Bonbon laughed. "Why not? You know what they say after all."
"What?" She asked.
"Two bons are better than one."
Both burst into a fit of giggles at the play on words as they strolled through town, a new friendship taking root in the most unusual pair.
***
It was quiet in the castle's library, the crystal walls catching the rays of the early afternoon sun as it filled the room with a gentle light. Three ponies were at its center, two of which sat on their haunches in deep meditation while one stood before them. Twilight could see that the two mares before her had quite a lot of magic within them as she observed their flowing magical auras. For most Unicorns their magic moved like a colorful river, often taking certain attributes of their wielder's personalities into their structure. A pony with a short fuse could have a magic aura that resembled wild rapids with jagged stones while a more patient one would resemble a still stream. Vinyl and Lyra differed from this description. Vinyl's magic aura resembled a series of pulsing rings, each expanding and retracting in rhythmic beats like a heart. Lyra's magic aura was especially strange, resembling a golden spiderweb that refused to move in any way whatsoever. Something about it made the young Alicorn raise a brow. Aside from its bizarre structure, it felt like it was incomplete in some way, like something was restraining it for some reason.
Curious, she reached out with her magic and to her surprise, it accepted her. Slowly, she followed the flow of magic like the trail of a great maze until she came to heart of the web. A bright flash filled the room and she was quickly overwhelmed by a sense of vertigo. Slowly, she blinked the stars out of her eyes as her surroundings became more pronounced. She stood outside, the land's features seemingly divided perfectly down the middle. Long open plains dominated her left while rotting swamps festered at her right. In the distance, she could see a castle standing directly on the border. Curious, she moved towards the castle, all the while taking note of strange armored figures that seemed to rise out of the ground. At her left, tall humanoids materialized out of the tall grass covered head to toe in glistening white armor, some armed with shields and swords and others with just a sword. At her right stood beings dressed in jagged black armor, menacing ornate swords and halberts clutched tightly in their hands designed to bring as much pain as possible with each strike. In time, she made it to the castle's gates and was greeted by a being that filled her with equal parts awe and fear. The gates to the castle was guarded by a towering human woman, easily ten feet past Twilight's horn in hight. She wore a flowing robe that was pitch-black on the right and porcelain-white on the left. Her hair was long and as gold as the sun on the left side of her face while it was the color of volcanic ash on the right. Her skin looked like it was made of glistening metal, a fact that made her blue left eye and her red right one all the more eery as they bore into the stunned Alicorn. Six wings opened from the figure's back in response to Twilight's presence, a display of power and warning in equal measure as the sun bounced off of their shining white feathers on the left while the right ones seemed to devour it like a ravenous beast.
"Who are you young one?" the figure demanded, her voice holding the force of thunder.
"I am Twilight Sparkle," she said, tone even and respectful. "And you are?"
The angel stared down at the Princess, her face unreadable.
"I have no name. I am only a guardian."
"I see," she frowned. "Then is it okay if I call you that?"
"If you must," Guardian said. "Now state your business. What could bring a being such as yourself to the heart of my mistress' magic?"
"I want to help her learn to control it," Twilight said evenly.
"I see," Guardian said, a faint grimace marring her features. "From what I know, that should be a simple task for you."
"In theory," she sighed. "But for some reason, Lyra's magic aura is paralyzed. It's like she's personally fragmenting her magic and I don't know what to do to fix that."
Guardian nodded, then let out a sad sigh as she said, "My mistress is ashamed of a part of herself. Ashamed, and stubbornly refuses to access her fullest potential."
"What do you mean?"
With another sigh Guardian stared out into the murky gloom of the swamps.
"I cannot say. All I can do is ask you to help her."
"How?"
Guardian stared down at the worried Alicorn and with a sad smile said, "Ask her about the knights in the swamp and what they mean to her."
Confused, Twilight nodded.
With that, a bright light filled Twilight's vision and another wave of vertigo washed over her. Just before the light became to much for her to handle, a figure peaked out from behind Guardian's foot. A figure with two-toned gray hair and mint green skin. With a groan, she opened her eyes to find herself back in her library with her guests looking at her with worried looks on their faces.
"Hey, are you alright?" Vinyl asked, rising to her hooves.
"Y-Yeah," Twilight said, rubbing the left side of her head. "Just a little dizzy, don't worry about it."
"Are you sure?" Lyra asked.
She nodded, then said, "I'll be fine after a few minutes. In the mean time, let's take a quick break."
"If you say so," Vinyl said, doubt coloring her tone.
A deep gurgle filled the room, reminding everyone present what time it was.
"But if we're taking a break, I guess I can nab a few things from the kitchen for everyone,"Vinyl said, laughing sheepishly.
"Sounds good to me," Lyra grinned. "Want some help?"
"Actually," Twilight said, cutting off Vinyl before she had a chance to reply. "I need to ask Lyra a few things first. Is that okay?"
"Uh, sure?" Lyra said with a hint of unease.
"Alright then," Vinyl said, a trace of concern in her tone as she walked towards the library doors. "I'll be back in a few minutes."
"Thanks," they said together as the DJ left the room.
A heavy silence filled the room as the two Unicorns stared at each other, one not sure how to go about asking her question while the other worried about what was on the Princess' mind. Eventually, Twilight decided the direct approach was the best one in this case.
"What do knights in a swamp mean to you?"
Lyra's eyes widened at that, then turned somber as she stared at the ground.
"Where'd you hear about that?"
Twilight gave a brief description of Guardian and what she saw when she linked with Lyra's magic aura. A rueful smile spread across her muzzle as she continued to stare down at the ground.
"I guess that makes some sense," she said as she locked eyes with the Princess. "You probably never heard of a game called Magic The Gathering, have you?"
She shook her head.
For a few minutes, she gave the Princess a brief summery of how her favorite game operated. Not a detailed description, but enough to give her the basic idea.
"When I first started playing, I wasn't the nicest person," she explained, eyes becoming distant as her mind wandered to what felt like a lifetime ago. "Back then, I didn't have any friends. I don't think I really wanted any at the time either. All I cared about was winning. No fun. No friendship. Just victory. As a result, I gravitated to black magic more then the other colors. I don't know what it was, but that color just worked best with me, especially the knights. I crushed anyone I played against, but I didn't really see them as people. Just someone I had to take down to move forward in a tournament. The only person I couldn't beat was my Grandma."
A sad smile graced her muzzle as she remembered her Grandmother, a bittersweet topic she hadn't focused on in a long time.
"She used white," she continued. "And she sure as hell knew how to use it. No matter what I did, I could never land a single point of damage on her. I remember asking her one day 'why she was so strong'? You know what she told me?"
Twilight shook her head.
"She was having fun," she chuckled. "She told me, if I wanted to be strong, I had to have fun with it whenever I could. I thought she was full of it at the time, but...... that changed after she passed."
Twilight gasped, hooves flying to her mouth as she saw a few tears form in the corners of Lyra's eyes.
"I-I'm sorry," she stammered.
"I-It's okay," Lyra chuckled thickly, wiping the budding tears out of her eyes.
"Anyway," she continued. "After the funeral, I was a mess. Everything just felt so pointless. Except for my games. They let me escape reality for a bit, but they didn't do much for me after a while. Even Magic became just another empty part of my life. Then I found Grandma's cards, and things started to look up for me. I don't know what it was, but when I held her cards, it felt like she was with me. Like she was watching me through our greatest past time. So, with her deck at hand, I jumped into a tournament for the first time in months. I got completely destroyed, but it was funny. I wasn't upset about it. Instead, I left the shop with the biggest smile I could remember having. With my Grandma's cards, I tried to do what she told me to. I tried to have fun. Since then, I'd abandoned my old color and dedicated myself to using white magic, both to remember my Grandma and move past the person I used to be. It was fun for a while, but then I had an urge to mix the two colors. It was mostly to see if I could make anything functional out of it, but as I built it I was scared of becoming the person I used to be. When it was complete, I tested it out at a local tournament, hoping it wold flop."
She paused, then a shameful frown crossed her muzzle as she added, " I won. I won and that scared the heck out of me. So, I took the deck and locked it up vowing never to use it or any deck like it ever again. After that, I dove completely into white magic and followed my Grandma's advice. Not long after that, I met Bonbon and started making friends."
When Lyra finished her tale, she locked eyes with the Princess of Friendship and smiled.
"The deck was a black/white knight deck. That's what swamp knights mean to me."
Twilight stared at her guest, a whirlwind of emotions twirling inside her. Sadness, confusion, shock, but above all else, understanding. It was through that, that she told the Unicorn in front of her what she knew she wasn't going to like.
"I think you need to use that deck."
Lyra gawked at her then glared.
"Didn't you hear me?" she snapped. "I don't want to-"
"I know," she said, tone gentle. "But I don't think you need to be afraid of that. Not anymore. You have friends, yourself, and your Grandmother's words to help keep you in check. You don't have to run from who you used to be to move past it. Sometimes, you just have to own it."
Lyra stared at the Princess, trepidation heavy in her features.
"A-Are you sure?" she asked.
With a warm smile, she nodded.
Neither moved or spoke for a moment, then Lyra let out a deep sigh. As she did, all the tension and stress seemed to pour out of her like a breath she hadn't known she was holding was finally let loose. At the same time Twilight could see Lyra's magic aura change. It no longer resembled a rigid spiderweb. Instead, it was a spiraling current of gold, playfully lapping at its surroundings like a newborn puppy.
Lyra laughed then said," God that felt good to get off my chest. Sorry to dump all that baggage on your lap Princess. I don't know why, but it just felt right to talk to you about this."
"No problem Lyra," she giggled. "Anything for a friend."
With that, she looked out the window, a faint smile coloring her muzzle.
Just another Tuesday in Ponyville.