Chapter 6
Identical, yet Diverse
After the twins and Fluttershy had a decent breakfast (and the sisters’ first official meal in Equestria), Fluttershy decided to ask the pair a question.
“So? What do you two want to do?”
Ivory, being the every social girl, was the quickest to speak.
“I want to check out the town.”
Ebony raised an eyebrow at her sister’s eagerness, but let it slide as she spoke.
“I don’t suppose there’s a library here? I’d like to read up on some things.”
Hearing the twins’ request, Fluttershy spoke to each twin concerning their requests.
“Well, I think Pinkie Pie might be the pony to give you a tour of Ponyville, Ivory. And Ebony? The town recently lost its library to a power-hungry centaur attack, so the only library might be in Twilight’s castle. I’m sure she’ll be more than happy to let you read some of her books.”
The sisters raised their eyebrows at the butter-colored Pegasus in sheer confusion and bewilderment.
“Power-hungry centaur?” Ivory asked aloud.
“And yet, you say it so casually…” Ebony muttered.
After leaving the cottage, the twins made their way to the little hamlet ahead. Ebony could clearly see her destination even at a distance. The crystal tree-castle stood out like a sore thumb in the wood-and-thatched-roof houses. Seeing the castle, Ivory frowned.
“It’s a…pretty…castle. But it’s totally out of place in this town.”
Ebony nodded as they walked on.
“I agree with you there, sister. Surely something gothic or, more appropriately, something along the lines of Neuschwanstein Castle, would have been more appropriate and appealing in contrast to the rest of the town.”
Ivory raised an eyebrow at her sister, but just shook her head. She’d question her sister’s use of large, unfamiliar words later. For now, there was a new place for the snowy-haired Draconequus to explore and darn it, she was going to explore it! Looking at her sister, Ivory spoke.
“I’ll go find this ‘Sugarcube Corner.’ Fluttershy said I’d know it when I see it.” E
bony nodded, but stopped her sister before she took off.
“Be careful, ok?”
Ivory rolled her eyes.
“I know. ‘Stranger Danger’ and all that. Seriously, Ebbie. You need to chill.”
Ebony frowned.
“Well excuse me for making sure my little sister is ok.”
Ivory turned to say something only to find her sister had stormed off. Ivory sighed as she headed into the town. Once again, she botched another attempt to help her sister become more social. If it wasn’t her stubbornness or her anxiety that prevented her from seeking friends, it was her overprotectiveness and her temper. Ivory wished that Ebony hadn’t come across that internet channel that held the countdowns of scary incidents or that said sister had developed a love of classic horror movies and books. Coupled with how there was more bad news than good news on T.V. and you’ve got yourself a girl filled to the brim with paranoia.
At this point, all Ivory could do was sigh.
“*sigh* Twin sisters.”
“I know, right?” a random familiar voice spoke, surprising the white-maned Draconequus.
“Gah!” Ivory screeched, practically jumping ten feet in the air in surprise before falling on her rump in front of the source of the voice: Pinkie Pie. Ivory blinked as she tried to regain her bearings. “M…Miss Pie?”
Pinkie giggled as she helped Ivory up.
“*giggle* I’m not ‘Miss Pie,’ silly filly. That’s my second cousin three times removed. Just call me ‘Pinkie,’ Ivory. Well, not ‘Pinkie Ivory.’ That’d be silly. Although that would make a pretty candy cane color.”
By the time Pinkie had finished that sentence, Ivory’s heart settled down and she was able to recognize the pink mare from the ruined castle more clearly. Shaking her head, Ivory brushed the dirt off herself.
“Uh…I don’t know about that. I think that would just be a light pink. But anyway, is there something I can help you with?”
Pinkie nodded as she pulled out a scroll from her mane. Unfurling it, the scroll appeared to be four feet, much to Ivory’s surprise.
“Well, I was wondering what flavors of cake do you and Ebony want for your ‘Welcome to Ponyville’ party, but it looks like I won’t be able to ask Ebony until I catch up with her.”
At the sound of the word “party,” Ivory became delighted. Even as a human, Ivory was never one to turn down a party invitation. (Well, save for a few that were very sketchy according to her instincts or her mother would say “no” to.)
“I can help with that!” she announced quickly before answering Pinkie’s initial question. “I’m more of a Red Velvet while Ebony is a Chocoholic. For secondary flavors, she likes hazelnut while I love lemon.”
The thought of either a Red Velvet cake or a lemon cake made Ivory’s mouth water as Pinkie wrote down the flavors under the twins’ names on a notepad she also held in her mane.
“Ooo! Sound’s yummy! Now what about cookies?”
“Chocolate Chip for Ebony, Snickerdoodle for me.”
“Muffins?”
“Aside from chocolate chip for Ebony, she loves Lemon Poppy Seed. Blueberry for me.”
“Food allergies?”
“Just me. I’m allergic to bees. Which means I can't have honey.”
The sound of a stomach growling paused the questioning, enabling them to hear that the sound came from Ivory’s stomach. Realizing this, Ivory’s blushed as she rubbed the back of her head.
“Heh. Sorry. All this talk about sweets is making me hungry. And I just had breakfast.”
Pinkie smiled as a second growl joined the first. This time, it was the mare’s stomach. Giggling, Pinkie rolled up the scroll and motioned Ivory to a building that looked delectable, but it was clearly a building.
“Come one. We can continue over a snack at Sugarcube Corner.”
Just about drooling, Ivory nodded.
“Sure thing, Pinkie.”
As she entered Sugarcube Corner, Ivory marveled at how cute and delicious-looking the bakery was. It was like she was stepping into the story of “Hansel and Gretel,” only with friendly pastel-colored ponies and not an ugly child-eating witch.
“Just have a seat at one of our tables and I’ll be right back.” Pinkie told her as she headed behind the counter to find the right treats.
It didn’t take long for Pinkie to return with a platter of Red Velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting and red sprinkles as well as a couple of glasses of milk before rejoining Ivory at a nearby table.
“Actually, it’ll be difficult to get Ebony to come to the party.”
Hearing this, Pinkie tilted her head as she placed the cupcakes and milk on the table.
“Difficult? Why?”
Ivory sighed as she thought about her sister and social situations.
“Well, my sister…she’s not exactly a social butterfly. She always has difficulty in making friends, like to be alone with nothing but her books, and hobbies include studying and gardening. She does sing, but she doesn’t like to sing in public. And she tends to avoid parties like the plague.”
Pinkie was astonished at this revelation. Ebony didn’t like parties? Then how was she going to welcome the Draconequus filly?
“Hmm. Ebony’s going to be one tough cookie to make happy.” Pinkie pondered for a moment before smirking.
Ivory raised an eyebrow as Pinkie spoke again.
“But then again, I’ve never backed down from a challenge and I don’t intend to start!”
While Ivory let out a smile, her mind was letting out a sad frown as she thought of her sister. As she and Pinkie continued to plan the party, Ivory stole a glance outside the bakery’s window.
“I wonder how Ebony’s doing right now.”
--------------------------------
With Ebony…
As Ivory helped Pinkie Pie set up the welcoming party and spoke about her and her sister’s likes and dislikes, Ebony made her way to the crystal castle, as it was where Twilight said the town’s new library would be until one could be built. She kept close to the shadows, trying to avoid the gazes of the ponies. Unlike her sister, Ebony knew she looked more like a freak even to ponies. Not to mention there was the fact that her father had caused the town trouble in the past. No doubt the ponies wondered if she and her sister were capable of chaos magic and how they would use them. And not in a positive light at that.
“Sins of the father, I guess.” Ebony muttered to herself.
While she wouldn’t use magic for evil, Ebony was interested in the concept of chaos magic. Of the twins, it was Ebony who excelled at magic. She could remember from the most complex spell two the simplest incantation. Even though her social life was near non-existent, her academic prowess in both mundane and magical made her top of the class.
A question popped into Ebony’s mind right then. Could she do magic other than her father’s magic in this body? And if she couldn’t do her father’s magic, could she still perform her mother’s witchcraft like before? As much as she wanted to test the theory, the fact that she dropped her wand back at her mother’s study nixed any attempt. And how would her magic effect this world? Would it be a positive or a negative reaction? Or would it be the usual reaction of “It is the Skill of a Witch or Wizard that reveals the potency of the spell?” Ebony could only hope that it would be the latter or a positive reaction.
Before she knew it, Ebony was at the front gates of the castle. Even close up, she found the castle unaesthetically unpleasing. She also noticed that for a castle, there were no guards guarding the entrance from intruders. Another check on her list. Uncertain, Ebony knocked with her raven claw and waiting for someone to open it. It took a few minutes for the door to open, but it wasn’t Princess Twilight Sparkle who answered but rather a small dragon with purple and green scales.
The dragon’s emerald eyes stared at Ebony’s feet, trailing up until he saw her face. The Draconequus became concerned as she lifted a hand and waved her fingers cautiously.
“Uh…hello? Is the princess home?”
The dragon slowly closed the door, keeping his stunned eyes on Ebony until the door closed. While she stood there, confused, the dragon made a mad dash to the castle’s library, where the Princess of Friendship was enjoying a good book on aquaculture. Seeing the princess, the dragon yelped.
“Twilight! Twilight!”
The sound of panic in her assistant’s voice was enough for Twilight to lower her book and turn her attention to the dragon.
“What is it, Spike? What’s wrong?”
“What’s wrong? WHAT’S WRONG?! There is a Draconequus outside the castle!”
Twilight’s eyes widened for just a second before she remembered Ponyville’s newest residents.
“Which one is it?”
This confused Spike. Sure, he was used to Discord, but how could Twilight be so calm when there is a second chaos creature outside their door. Then again, Twilight may know something about this.
“Uh…the one with the black mane with the one white lock. Has two raven claws, two dragon legs, and a pair of dragon horns?”
Upon hearing the description, Twilight sighed in relief.
“Don’t worry, Spike. That is one of the Draconequui twins I told you about this. Ebony, I think.”
She then gave her assistant a raised eyebrow.
“I told you what the twins looked like, didn’t I?”
Spike thought for a moment, trying to recall when she told him as Twilight got up and made her way to the door. She opened it to reveal the confused Draconequus twin standing at the door.
“Good morning, Ebony. Sorry about Spike. I think he forgot I told him about you and Ivory.”
It was then that Spike remembered that Twilight DID tell him about the twins. Problem was she was blathering about it while he was still 90% asleep. He did a mental eye-roll as he approached Ebony.
“Err…sorry about that. Twilight told me while I was still sleeping. So I haven’t exactly processed what she said.” He then held up his claws, gesturing a handshake. “I’m Spike, Twilight’s #1 assistant.”
While Ebony’s mind marveled at the sight of a real-live dragon and her inner child doing backflips out of joy due to the fact that she was a fan of dragons, she remembered her manners and gently shook Spike’s hand.
“Nice to meet you, Spike. I guess I don’t have to introduce myself as Ebony Wolfe.”
Spike raised an eye-ridge at the name.
“Wolf? Why would you be called a wolf?”
Confused, Ebony answered him as best as she could.
“Uh...It’s the name of my family in general. Just call me Ebony.”
Before Spike could speak, Twilight spoke up quickly with great interest.
“Your family name? Is that a human practice? How did you get the family name? And why ‘Wolfe’?”
Ebony found herself stunned at the rapid questioning as Spike quickly covered Twilight’s mouth.
“Sorry about Twilight. She loves to study, especially when it is something new and unknown to her.”
Instead of recoiling, Ebony held eyes of understanding with a small smile to match.
“Huh. Actually, I don’t blame her.”
Hearing this, the pair tilted their heads.
“Huh?”
Ebony answered, placing a claw on her chest as she spoke.
“I like to study myself and I am actually curious about the ponies here and how they live.”
Twilight’s eyes twinkled at the prospect of another scholar like her. And with a half-Draconequus from another world, the knowledge that Twilight could learn was very pleasing. Twilight gestured Ebony inside.
“Why don’t we head to my library and trade questions and answers? Spike can make us a snack to tide use over.”
Ebony didn’t reject Twilight’s invitation. In fact, she found it both surprising and interesting. No one ever wanted to go into a Q&A session with her back at Eventide Hollow, but a princess was interested in what she had to say.
“I guess this might not be too bad. And Ivory does nag about my ‘social-anxiety.’ I can get answers and get Ivory off my back.”
“Sure thing. Probably bring in a lot of water and tea, considering we’re going to be talking a lot.” Ebony answered aloud, letting Spike get an idea on what to bring.
As soon as he left, Twilight led Ebony through the corridors of the castle.
The castle was definitely bigger than what Ebony was expecting, considering how small the outside looked. The interior was not lacking in the crystal décor and every door was identical to the point where Ebony was surprised that Twilight knew where she was going.
“She could make a killing out of selling maps of this place.”
She also took notice of the lack of pony life in the castle. No staff, no guards, nobody. How did Twilight keep the place clean? And what about intruders? What’s to stop an invader from walking through the front door and take over?
She continued to ponder this as the Princess of Friendship led her into what may be the largest library the young witch had ever seen. Stacks upon stacks of bookshelves lined the walls, filled to the brim with books. There were several pieces of furniture were set up as reading nooks and she could swear that the room took two floors.
“Whoa…” Ebony whispered as she entered the library with the princess.
“Sorry about the mess. I’m planning a Book-Sort-Cation this weekend and I really wasn’t expecting any company who was interested in my library.”
Ebony raised her eyebrow again as she looked at the library. It was clean and organized. Not to mention she had no idea what a “Book-Sort-Cation” was. Twilight took notice of Ebony’s confusion and realized that she needed to better explain it.
“Oh! A Book-Sort-Cation is what I call a vacation that focuses on organizing my books. It also gives me the chance to clean the shelves of dust.”
With that, Twilight approached a particular shelf and began choosing books.
“Since you said you want to know about Equestria and this world in general, I think these books will give you information whenever we’re not talking.”
As Twilight set the books on a nearby table, Ebony decided to take a peek at one of them. When she opened the first page, she frowned.
“Uh...actually…I think I need to do something else, first.”
Twilight, still using her magic to select books, turned her head to Ebony in confusion.
“What’s that?”
Ebony held up the book wide open, showing the contents inside.
“I’m going to need to learn how to read this. I don’t recognize any of these letters.”
Twilight’s eyes widened at this in surprise. How could she not anticipate the possibility of Ebony’s world not having the same language as her world? Twilight rubbed her temple, mentally scolding herself before smiling warmly at Ebony.
“Oh. Sorry about that. I can teach you how to read Equish if you can provide an alphabet chart.”
Ebony nodded, giving Twilight the signal to provide a piece of paper and a pencil. At least she was glad that she could still write like a human with her talons. It didn’t take long for Ebony to write up the alphabet after a few minutes of discussion, Ebony Wolfe had her very own Equish-English Cheat-Sheet.
Once the cheat-sheet was finished, Spike, who had arrived with beverages, when the sheet was being made, asked a question that floated in his mind for a bit.
“How come you didn’t ask the others about Equestria? I’m sure we would’ve been able to tell you easily. Especially Discord since, well, he’s your dad.”
Ebony cringed, the reaction going not unnoticed by both dragon and alicorn. Twilight frowned as she cast a concern glance at Ebony.
“Ebony?”
Realizing the pair noticed her cringe, Ebony bit her lip as she cast her gaze to the side. What could she say? That she has difficulty talking to anyone outside her family? That it practically takes her mother and sister shoving her into social situations to get her to talk to other people sometimes? Thoughts such as these stormed her mind as Twilight analyzed the situation.
“Could she…could she have some form of social anxiety? No. That can’t be it. She talks to me and Spike ok. Same with the others. Though she never said a word to Discord. At least not to my knowledge.”
Seeing that she fix the situation, Twilight spoke.
“Don’t worry about it, Ebony. If you need some more time, go ahead. In the meantime, let’s see about getting you to learn Equish.”
Ebony sighed in relief.
"Thank you."
Relived, Ebony spent the rest of the day studying the Equestrian language and took the books Twilight loaned her back to Fluttershy’s cottage. As the twins returned to their temporary residence, the Mane Six gathered at Twilight's castle, with Twilight and Pinkie giving their "reports" on the twins.
"Ivory's really helpful and she's super-thrilled at the idea of a party, but she told me Ebony doesn't like parties! I mean, who doesn't like parties?" said Pinkie.
Twilight was quick to speak regarding Ebony.
"I think she may have social anxiety. She's not unfriendly, but she was skittish when I asked her why she hadn't spoken to any of you or Discord."
Rainbow Dash was confused upon hearing this.
"So... You're saying she's broken?"
Every pony glared at Rainbow for her response.
"She's not 'broken,' Rainbow! She's just...programmed different." Twilight tried to explain in an effort to get the prismatic pegasus to understand.
She barely got it, but didn't say anything. Satisfied for now, the meeting continued as Twilight spoke.
"Anyway, we agreed that we should make the twins feel comfortable during their stay here. Ivory, according to Pinkie, would be the easiest. Ebony will be the difficult one. But if we start slow, show her that it's ok to make friends with the ponies here, she can adjust better."
Applejack decided then to add in her two bits as she thought of a certain individual who should've been at the meeting as well.
"It'd be easier if Discord would actually take being a father seriously."
Fluttershy was quick to defend her unusual friend.
"He seems to be trying. Yesterday, he did offer to redecorate the twins' room with his chaos magic. While I told him to normal but make it big enough for the girls, they seemed interested in his magic. He's even planning to teach them."
"And their reactions?" Twilight asked, both worried and interested.
"Ivory was really taken to the idea. Ebony's uncertain. Might be something regarding home?" Fluttershy replied.
"It needs to be more than about magic, everypony. Discord needs to understand that there is more about being a father than teaching his daughters how to use chaos magic." Rarity spoke up.
As they debated and argued well into the night, the Mane Six agreed on a couple of things.
Ebony needed help adapting.
And Discord needed to learn about being a father.