The sun hung high in the sky of Equestria on this fine day when, in the furthest terrace, a swirl of wind picked up. The lavender princess was unaware of the events taking place in that mostly empty room as the wind grew stronger with each passing second. Flickers of static arched from a fixed point in the middle of the room as papers and books flapped about. A ring of rainbow energy formed out of that point and grew wider and wider. Within a few seconds, the ring was as large as the doorway that leads into that room. The whole castle shook as the wide-open ring slammed against the far wall making the stone crack. This sent the whole castle into a tizzy but none in the castle knew just where the quake started from.
A glow filled the cracks in the stone as those very same cracks began to twist and morph into a solid doorway. Once the frame was complete it looked like a sliver archway with seemingly liquid metal within its confines. The left side of the arch grew dark and black as the right brightened and whitened. As soon as the hues stopped changing the wind died.
A winged guard stumbled across the arch in the stone and shouted for the princess to come to see it.
The purple alicorn quickly ran to the archway in that far-off terrace before stopping at the stone archway looking into the room. As she gazed at the metal archway a long white horn sprung from its center. It pushed out more and more looking to be as long if not longer than the purple princesses horn. Following the horn was a mane that lit up the room like the sun itself.
The lavender princess shielded her eyes as they adjust to the new source of light making her guards stand at the ready. When the mare with the sun-soaked mane walked fully out of the archway it was clear she was an alicorn like the princess was, just a little taller.
The eyes of the white alicorn with the bright mane seemed distant and cold as she looked around the small room. Those eyes widened when settling on the purple alicorn's face. The white alicorn stepped aside as a black horn pushed through the metal surface. The horn led to a black void of a mane that seemed to suck up the light in the room darkening it.
The full figure of the owner of that horn and mane soon stepped through the archway, her eyes moved much faster than the white one's eyes though just as cold.
"You there, who are you, and where are we?" The white one asked in a very royal tone.
"You are in my castle and my name is Twilight Sparkle." The purple alicorn responded in kind. This caused the two alicorns' eyes to go wide.
"Where is your castle located Miss Twilight?" The white one asked, looking Twilight over with a more interested gaze. The black alicorn looked about the room never having her gaze leave Twilight's sight for more than a second.
"You're not from around here are you two?" Twilight asked with a semi-scoff causing the white one to rise her wings. Her mane glowed brighter as a fire burned in her eyes.
"Answer the question I posed to you!" The white one's voice echoed throughout the whole castle as she shouted. Her wings lowered a little when the black one jabbed her in the side with a black wing.
"Sister! Your temper!" The black one loudly whispered to her counterpart.
"Sorry for not answering your question but I have one of mine you need to answer first. Who are you two?" Twilight asked, trying to split her attention between the two hued alicorns.
The white one signed heavily and looked to the black alicorn, in which she gave a nod. "My name is Solarus, and this is my sister Cold Embrace. We are the queens of a place called Rootbase. Now would you be so kind as to answer my question?"
Twilight tilted her head and took a deep breath. "You two are in the land of Equestria, of which I rule over. How did you two get here and why are you here?" Twilight was trying to hide her curiosity but it was growing harder with every word the two other alicorn's spoke.
"We'll answer any and every question you have," Solarus said with a much calmer tone, even her mane darkened a little from its brilliant shine to a more manageable one. With a smile, she continued, "but first if you don't mind I'd like to get out of this cramped space."
"Yes, well I'm not sure if I can trust you two or not," Twilight said with her head slightly lowered. "But if you don't mind an escort, I'll be happy to show you to a more spacious meeting room."
The two alicorns nodded, Solarus gave a slight smile and Cold Embrace just sighed and shook her head as she followed the purple alicorn. It didn't take long for the three alicorns to come to a larger meeting room. The heavy oak doors creaked close making sure the three would be alone.
"Now then, why are you two here?" Twilight said in a calm tone looking at the two. She couldn't help but notice the white one eyeing her form like one does a cover of a book. "C-can I help you?"
"I'm so glad you asked!" Solarus said with a beaming smile that made her sister groan. "We are here from our realm to look for an alternate teaching method for our student. You see where we are from, conflict is an everyday thing." Solarus was more at ease now and her tone reflected this. "You see she doesn't know of peace and the like and we fear..."
"We fear that she'd gravitate back to bloodshed lest we show her what a peaceful rule looks like." Cold Embrace had pushed past her sister to finish the sentence looking eye to eye with her brighter sister.
"Okay then, I can't say that Equestria is all that peaceful, we have some major events that play out every so often. What's your pupil's name?" Twilight wasn't sure if she could take on another student but she didn't want to reject the two who had come so far as to cross worlds.
The two were silent for a time. A fair bit longer than Twilight found comfortable. Then she saw the two of them grin and start to softly laugh. "You won't believe it even if we showed you to her." Cold Embrace said between her soft chucklings.
"Try me." The purple princess said with an unamused look about her face. "You'd be surprised what I'm used to."
Solarus nodded and composed herself. "Our pupil, the one we wish for you to teach, is named Twilight Sparkle."
Twilight's eyes went wide for a second from shock then narrowed. "Oh. So the Twilight from your world is being trained in the princess ways too?" This caused the two to stop their laughter and look with surprise all their own.
"You... Wait, you know?" Solarus was at a loss for words as she sat down.
"I've been to another world wherein all my friends and myself had been in. So it isn't a surprise that I'd run into yet another one of myself, but one being trained as a princess..." Twilight spoke candidly with the two before Cold cut her off.
"Queen." Cold said sharply.
"What?" Twilight said with a confused tone.
"You keep saying that she's being trained for being a princess but that simply isn't the case. We are training her to replace us as a queen. Ouch!" Cold was jabbed in her ribs by Solarus' hind leg as she spoke.
"Well, the cat's out of the bag now." The white alicorn said looking away from her sister to Twilight. "Yes, our aim is for Twilight Sparkle to replace us, but I fear that she won't do so if all she knows is woe and strife."
"That and her mate is putting a kink in the plan." The black alicorn spoke up with a huff., getting a nod from her sister.
"The Twilight from your world has a mate!?" Twilight exclaimed with her wings rising.
The two sisters nodded with a slight look of confusion on their faces. "That's what concerns you?" Cold said with her confusion growing.
"Well, the rulers of my world groomed me to take their place as the ruler of Equestria so I'm not too surprised another Twilight would be modeled for the same goal," Twilight said with a smirk of misplaced satisfaction. "but to hear she has a mate is surprising to me. Why would you two pick someone who is locked in with someone?"
"Locked, in?" Solarus said with a tilt of her head before she shook it off. "You are a curious one Princess Twilight Sparkle."
Cold Embrace started to have a look of deep thought before she nipped at her sister's ear. "Sister, she raises a point I fear we overlooked."
Solarus looked at her sister, then to Twilight, "If you excuse us, we need to speak privately." She spoke with a more upbeat tone before smiling wide. To this Twilight shook her head.
"I'm afraid I can't do that. You are asking me for help, but I don't fully know what your intent is. I can't teach anyone if I don't know anything." Twilight spoke in the utmost regal tone she could muster while standing as tall as she could, albeit still a bit shorter than the queens.
"Very well," The black alicorn said, "In our world Twilight is stiffly opposed to the idea of taking on the mantel of a queen, namely our immortality. This is mostly due to her mate. You see she doesn't want to live without her."
"I see the issue, but you two seem to have a plan to get around that?" Twilight said with a gentle nod.
"I just may," Cold Embrace spoke once more with her sister listening intently, "If her mate is the issue then why don't we train her as well? I've seen the scholar and our pupil do some grand things when working with each other. I dare say our Twilight works best with her mate around."
Her sister's face went through all sorts of stages, from anger to grief to happiness. However, after a few seconds of this, she shook her head and showed a calm face.
"So, we train two replacements at the same time? I fear that'll be a bit much but if we start now then we should still finish their training before either one would naturally expire. I have some other concerns but they are minor and I truly doubt they will impact the overall result we want." Solarus spoke in a regal tone before looking over Twilight once more. "It is still so surreal to see another Twilight and one who's ruling a kingdom no less." She said with a shake of her head.
"Now then, you have heard the plan? Do you have any other questions Twilight Sparkle?" The darkened sister asked with her pale eyes staring coldly at Twilight.
"Yes, well I would like to know who this mate of Twilight's I'm going to be additionally teaching is for starters?" The purple Equestria ruler asked, seeming somewhat weary.
"Oh, well... you see." Solarus broke eye contact with Twilight and looked around the room with her hoof rubbing her neck.
Twilight's face sunk into disappointment. "You don't know this mate's name, do you?"
"You see there are so many other princesses we talk to, and we only talk to the princesses," Solarus spoke as one does when making up excuses before her gaze locked with Twilight's disapproving one. "Haa Well... no, we don't know her name."
Twilight seemed a bit shocked. "Her? Twilight's mate is a female?"
"Yes, it is unusual for the princess that oversees them allowed that but the settlement is doing well so we didn't see the need to intervene. Normally we would not allow same-gender mates in such a small settlement." Cold Embrace said never breaking eye contact with the two alicorns in the room.
"I wasn't passing judgment, I was just a little surprised." Twilight clarified before she closed her eyes and thought. "How long are you wanting me to teach them both? Twilight and this Scholar mare-friend of hers."
"No less than two months," Solarus said with a bit wide of a smile. "That should be enough time for you to relay the finer points of peaceful ruling to the both of them." Solarus finished with a wider tooth-filled grin. Her sister signed and placed an armored hoof on her face.
"Twilight! Are you okay!?" A new voice rang out before the door to the meeting room opened up revealing a purple and green flying dragon.
"Spike! I'm having a meeting right now. Take care of any business that comes in while I talk with these two, please?" Twilight spoke calmly to Spike as the two alicorns looked on with mouths a gap. The purple dragon shrugged and nodded before closing the door and flying off to handle the daily duties.
"Was that a dragon?" Cold Embrace asked in shock of what she just saw.
"Yes, he's my number one assistant. Now, are you sure two months is all they need?" Twilight asked looking at the two who are now dumbfounded. "What?"
"You have a dragon assisting you in the day to day operations of the kingdom?" Solarus asked, to which Twilight slowly nodded. "It is clear that his world is far kinder than ours. Two months may be a bit long however I would like you to teach them all you know." She continued but seemed somewhat shaken.
"All I know seems a bit excessive. What have you both taught her so far?" The purple alicorn asked, confused a little by the other two's sudden concern of her dragon assistant.
"We've taught her various magics and some other skills such as time management. Though it is difficult to teach Twilight much if she gets her hooves on a book she hasn't read before." Cold Embrace spoke more openly now. "She often needs her mate to remind her of the world around her when she buries her nose in a book. Poor thing almost starved to death one time."
Twilight blushed a little and laughed. "Sounds like she's more into books than I am."
"Indeed, though you should know that her mate is a book worm herself. I caught her reading five books at the same time!" Solarus said with a chuckle.
"And yet you can't remember her name?" The sister teased.
"Oh hush you, I don't see you jumping to fill in the blank." The white alicorn retorted. To which her sister just chuckled and looked back at Twilight with her pale eyes.
"So Twilight Sparkle of Equestria, can we count on you teaching our pupil and her mate the ways of ruling in peaceful times?" Cold asked sternly.
"I have many duties here ruling Equestria and a student of my own in a neighboring town called Ponyville. Taking on two more students may be too much for me to handle." Twilight spoke while looking at the ground and rubbing her chin. "However I might have some way to teach them all the same. If you would allow my friends to assist in the training, the two pupils could see the world and learn from multiple teachers about peace and how best to rule during it." Her gaze rose from the ground. "But have you told them as to what you are grooming them to be?"
"No, we wish to ease them into it. They have enough pressure on their lives without the idea of ruling weighing over them." Solarus said calmly almost as if she had rehearsed it before.
"Uh-huh. Well, do you two agree to... wait, what do you offer for us to do this training? I'm not one to normally ask this but you two are asking a lot of me and my friends." Twilight's face grew more stern as she shook her head of the idea of just helping for no reason.
The two queens looked at one another for a good minute before Solarus broke the silence. "I was hoping that you'd do this out of the kindness of your heart, but if you would like to be compensated for your efforts we have many things you might find alluring."
Twilight's face brightened slightly before she gave a soft laugh. "I was just seeing if you two were willing to put something on the table for this work. I'm always willing to teach others in the magic of friendship." She had a large smile on her face as the sisters looked-on dumbfounded.
"Magic?" Solarus started.
"Of friendship?" Her sister continued before the two shook the surprise from their faces. "So, you were just testing us?"
"Correct." Twilight said with a smirk, "I had to be sure you two weren't just being lazy teachers and had a sound reason for me being their teacher."
Cold Embrace chuckled into a full outright laugh. "She got us pretty good, dear sister." She then poked her sister's side with her hoof. To which the white alicorn grumbled and soon started to laugh herself.
"Okay, I'll admit to being tricked. So you'll teach them then?" Solarus said with a pleading smile.
"I and my friends will teach them about living and ruling in a peaceful time." The purple ruler said with a bright smile.
"Then we have an accord! Oh! Sister, we should confer with their princess about this. She may not be so happy to be losing the most powerful spell weaver and her mate for a few months." The black alicorn stated to her sighing sister.
"You're not wrong. Rarity won't be pleased with the news. Worse yet having Twilight's mate starting her training to be a replacement for us will start to clue Twilight into what we are doing." The white alicorn said, becoming restless.
"You two are trying to keep the other me from knowing about why you're training her huh?" Twilight asked with a bent ear. "Would it be so bad to show her, now that she's being groomed for greater things?"
"Was it so simple with you?" Solarus looked Twilight dead in the eyes as she asked such a simple thing.
"I-I guess it wasn't. If Celestia had told me she was grooming me to be her and her sister's replacement before I became a princess I would have freaked." Twilight said with her ears folded back.
"Well we have to play this simple and keep the two of them from knowing until they are ready," Solarus said calmly as she started to settle down. "For that reason, we should meet with Rarity before them so she can assist us in the illusion."
"I figured things were different in your world but it's a little weird thinking of Rarity as a princess. She's always been fashion-forward, but to think of her living in a castle." Twilight said with a chuckle.
"It seems our worlds are very different, ruler of Equestria," Solarus stated with a look of confusion on her face. "Princesses of our world guard over settlements to keep the population safe. Rarity was dubbed the princess of balance and order due to her uncommon sense for the two and though her settlement is small, it is by far the most peaceful out of the eleven we oversee. The princesses report to us but keep their settlements in check."
"Oh! I guess I jumped to conclusions there." Twilight said, feeling a bit embarrassed. "So let's go talk to Princess Rarity," She said with a nervous laugh, "I'm not going to get used to saying that." She further mumbled under her breath.
"Yes, let us away, to talk with the princess of balance and order!" Solarus said triumphantly.
The three alicorns summoned princess Rarity to meet with all three of them.