//------------------------------// // Correlations // Story: A Friend Not Met // by Legioner8 //------------------------------// Twilight awoke to a sound of a soft buzzing. She raised her head and looked out the window. The sun was high in the sky, so it was almost noon. She had about four hours of sleep, which was a lot less than she was comfortable with but definitely better than nothing. It looked like Spike intended to let her sleep in even more. Twilight smiled to herself, sometimes it looked like he was her caretaker and not the other way around. She heard the buzzing again and was reminded of the reason she awoke. Twilight yawned, got out of her bed and made her way to the big desk she kept in her room. It was cluttered with the stacks of books on the various magical subjects mostly centered around the teleportation and the additional dimensions. A good reminder of how much work was put into her latest project. But there was one book that was special and held a paramount place on the desk. The journal she used to communicate with Sunset was placed on a small stand that she surrounded with various runes and enchanted gems capable of reading and recording the thaumic energies given off by the artifact. It was just as important for her studies as the original mirror for its ability to effectively transmit the information from one universe to another. And right now it was vibrating. "Oh, right..." Twilight facehoofed. "I was supposed to write to Sunset about the experiment. Yesterday. She must be worried by now." She muttered. Twilight levitated the book off its stand and opened it on the marked page. The buzzing stopped and she saw new lines, written in Sunset's meticulous penmanship. Hello, Twilight. You didn't write yesterday. I'd like to think that everything went smoothly and you were preoccupied with making the first contact, however I can't help but worry. Is everything alright? Please write me as soon as you can. Twilight sight with relief. It seemed that Sunset was simply concerned about her and nothing more. If something like that happened with their roles reversed, Twilight would have entered a full 'Panic Mode' by now. Good thing her pony-turned-human friend was so level headed. Twilight levitated a quill to herself and started to write. Hello Sunset. I am so sorry for not writing sooner. After everything that happened yesterday, Spike and I decided to unwind for a bit and got carried away. And after that I spent the whole night trying to undo the damage done to my journal by the wild magic. So I just passed out afterwards. Twilight stopped writing to dip the quill in the ink. When she was about to start writing again, the book buzzed as the new message appeared on its page. OH THANKS CELESTIA! I was so worried! Are you okay? What damage!? What happened? Okay, now Twilight felt bad again. Yes, I'm fine and so is Spike. You don't need to worry. As for what happened... I'm not entirely sure. Everything was going well until the final step of the process. The portal couldn't stabilize itself. It went into magic surge and exploded. Geez, are you sure you are okay? And do you know what caused the explosion? It was something with my calculations, wasn't it? I got rusty on the magic theory during my time in this world. No, no! Don't worry about that! I don't know the reason just yet, but I know for sure that you were right in your calculations. I managed to establish the connection to another world! I even got a proof that there is another world on the other side! You see, my journal was hit by the uncontrollable magic during the incident and, somehow, was swapped with its counterpart from the other side! I'm glad to hear that I still got it! Human computers are amazing when it comes to difficult math. And what about the journal? Have you reviewed it? How different is that world? I started to review it. But there is a complication with that, you see. Another Twilight used an enchantment to cypher her journal, thankfully it is the same one I use so it's quite simple to crack it. You cyphered your journal? Seriously? Hey, I use it as diary as well! I got a little paranoid that Shiny or Spike may read it! Besides, I haven't used that enchantment in years! Okay, okay! I'm sorry! So what did you find out? Well, that world is indeed very similar to ours! I didn't even notice any differences until I got to the Summer Sun Celebration... And so Twilight told Sunset about what she managed to uncover so far. So, for now this Tzana is the only noticeable difference? Yes, everything else was pretty much the same. I can't rightfully say if this journal follows mine word to word before that point, there might be some minor details that slipped my attention, but I am certain that all significant events happened just like I remember them. Interesting. And what about that pony? Have you ever seen her around Ponyville? Does she even exist in our universe? No, never saw her. The way my counterpart described her, I'd say she is quite noticeable. What about you? Ever saw somehuman fitting the description? No, but I'll keep my eyes open from now on. Maybe there is something on the internet. Ah, I remember the internet. I wish we had it here in Equestria. No. Just trust me on this one. Ponies are not ready for... that. They continued to write to each other for several minutes, Twilight trying to figure out what was so bad about the internet and Sunset doing her best to dance around the issue. *** After finishing her conversation with Sunset and asking her to write more often Twilight returned the journal back to its stand. Twilight looked out the window once more. The sun was at its full zenith. She slept through half of the day and all her plans were completely derailed, meaning that today's schedule could be thrown out. She really hated to do that. With a heavy sigh Twilight levitated the parchment that read 'Schedule' from her nightstand, crumpled it and tossed it into the bin. Looked like she would have to improvise once again. Twilight looked around the room, wondering what to do. Her gaze fell on a toll mirror that hanged on the wall near her and she cringed. Thanks Celestia that Rarity can't see me right now... she'd have a stroke. she thought. Her mane was a mess, bags were visible under her still somewhat red eyes and to top it all off there was a trail of a dried up saliva on her cheek. All in all she definitely did not look like a graceful and majestic alicorn princess she was supposed to be. "Well, at least now I know what to do." She muttered and head on to the bathroom to prepare for the rest of the day. After about ten minutes Twilight was able to leave her room without fear of mentally scarring any local fashionistas. However now her stomach was growling loud enough to give Fluttershy a fright, so her next destination was obviously the castle's kitchen. When she was near the door she heard Spike's lighthearted whistling. Twilight looked inside the room and saw her dragon assistant. He was standing on a stool in front of the table with a bread knife in his claws and a big plate of sandwiches beside him. Some of the sandwiches were sparkling. Spike cut a slice of bread, reached into a small bowl in front of him, took a fistful of shattered gems from it and proceeded to generously sprinkle them onto the slice of bread. "Don't you think that it is a bit too much?" Twilight asked coming into the kitchen. Spike yelped and almost fell off the stool. "Gee Twilight, are you trying to give me a heart attack?" He asked holding a claw to his chest. "And no, it's not. I didn't get any gems yesterday, so I can indulge myself." "Of course you can, I'm just joking." Twilight smiled. "Say, does any of those have anything other then gems? I'm starving." "Of course, actually half of these are for you." He took the plate and moved it closer to her. "Actually I was about to wake you up." Twilight looked at the plate. It was full of square and triangle shaped slices of bread. "Um, you made them on the same plate again..." She cringed. The last time Spike did that, she accidentally took on one of his sandwiches and bit on a piece of crashed emerald... Hard... "Don't worry Twi, this time I made sure to make them different, the square ones are for me and the triangles are for you." He said, taking one of the sandwiches and biting it. The room was instantly filled with the sound of grinding gems. "Besides, I was going to put them on a different plate before bringing them to you." That sounded reasonable. Twilight thanked Spike and took a careful bite out of one of the square sandwiches. It was good. Although she still chewed carefully. "You know-" Spike said while grabbing another sandwich, "-I wanted to make us some sort of a salad but it turns out we're almost out of groceries. Now that you up I can go and buy some." Twilight thought for a bit. She overworked herself and Spike had to look after the castle on his own again. It wasn't fair to the little guy. "I'll do it myself Spike." She said after she finished chewing. "You deserve a break, just make a list of things we need and I'll get everything. Besides, it would be nice to get outside. I need to get my head clear if I want to start working on figuring out what went wrong with the mirror." It was never a hard task to convince Spike to take a break and after they finished with their food, Spike quickly wrote a short list of things they needed and handed it to Twilight. *** The weather outside was great! The weather team has outdone themselves once again. It's a shame that I had to sleep through such a nice morning. Twilight thought. Then again I am going to spend the rest of the day locked up in my study. Maybe I should take a scenic route? Even though Twilight decided not to rush, her shopping trip was over in almost no time. The list wasn't to long to begin with, plus the fact that the ponies always stepped aside to let their princess through meant that she never had to stand in a line. Twilight was very uncomfortable with that special treatment, but there was nothing she could do about it. "Alright, almost done." Twilight put a loaf of fresh bread into her saddlebag and levitated the list. "Lets see what's next." The list read "apples". Twilight's eyes quickly scanned the market and almost immediately managed to pinpoint her friend's signature hat. One strong flap of her wings and she was in front of the apple stand. "Hello Applejack!" "Well howdy sugarcube!" AJ answered with a smile. "What can ah do you for?" "Ten apples please." Twilight levitated her saddlebag to her friend. "Coming right up!" Applejack turned back to her stand and started to look for the ripest apples she could find. "By the way, Ah haven't seen you for almost a week. How are yer doing?" She asked as she started to put the apples into Twilight's saddlebag. "I'm fine." Twilight waved her hoof absent mindedly. "I've been wrapped up with my experiments for the most part. So much so, in fact, that we almost ran out of food." Twilight chuckled and rubbed the back of her head. "The same ones yer and Starlight were going on and on about? Oh and how is Starlight? Ah heard she went to the Cristal Empire. Is she still there?" AJ finished with the apples and hoofed the saddlebag back to Twilight. "Yes, she still is. She said that she just wanted to see Sunburst regarding something related to our work. I was surprised when she did not return to see the prototype lunch." Twilight said, rubbing her chin. "I should probably write to her." "You do that, Sugarcube. And don't get stuck at that castle of yours, ya hear?" Twilight waived her hoof dismissively. "I don't "get stuck" there Applejack. I got out yesterday." AJ just shook her head at that. "Going outside only once a week isn't good for yer health, Twi." "But the project we are working on can change the world! And the results of the recent experiment are..." Twilight trailed off as an idea popped up in her head. "Say, AJ." Twilight started slowly. "Do you remember the day we met? Were you having any problems with the timberwolfs back then? " "Huh?" The farmer tilted her head, confused by the sudden turn in the conversation. "Well... Eeyap. Them critters got mighty bold back then. Had to ask some of mah folks to help patrolling the orchard. Why?" So the events are similar, Twilight thought, as she recounted her findings for the second time this day. "Well, Ah'll be!" AJ whistled, "Ah wish Mac could find that filly in this here world as well, would've saved us lots of trouble." "Why? What happened?" Asked Twilight, filling her curiosity rising. "Them damn logs got too brave!" AJ spat on the ground, "When the sun didn't showed up, a bunch of them snuck into the orchard. Mah uncle and his boys decide to resume their patrols even with Nightmare Moon around and stumbled upon them. They managed to drive those vermin away, but mah uncle got his hind leg mangled something fierce! Ah only learned about it after we returned from our little adventure." Twilight gasped. "Now, before you start worrying." Applejack raised a hoof to silence her, "Mah uncle is a true Apple, it takes more than some little injury to bring us down! Plus it was high time for his boys to take over all of the hard work around the farm. The old stallion now mostly runs them fancy mathematics and fineness." She finished and then added, "Still, Ah'd prefer if that didn't happen." *** After paying for her apples and some more chatting Twilight and Applejack finally waved each other goodbye. On her way back to the castle Twilight couldn't help but start wondering. If the events are so similar, then where this Tzana might be? Truth be told Twilight was a bit worried while telling AJ about that mare, afraid that the farmer would recognize her and tell Twilight that there indeed was a pony fitting that description, except she never returned from her hunt. Obviously that wasn’t the case. Maybe if I’ll keep deciphering the journal I will find out more about her? Twilight thought, As soon as I get back home I’ll go straight back to... “No, no, no!” - She shook her head - “Keep it together, Twilight. I have a project and that should be my number one priority right now! The journal is just an unexpected side project, nothing else.” With that thought in mind Twilight made her way back to the castle. After she gave Spike everything she bought and asked him to make her favorite salad for dinner, she was ready to begin her work. Twilight entered her destroyed portal laboratory and cast a few light orbs to eliminate the machine. “Note to self, replace the power lines in the room.” She muttered as she walked around the broken terminal, assessing the damage. Twilight levitated a pair of safety goggles to herself and put them on. “Well, let’s get started!”