As the worldwide Earh-Equestria portal system develops—first from the megacities and then trickling down to the regional centers—a novelty spanning the two worlds emerges among the minds of many: the existence of mirror counterparts.
Famously, the Element-bearers have their counterparts: some snappy spunky high school teenagers with relatively the same attitudes as their pony versions. More famously, there are the princesses and their principal versions who work in the same high school as the former-human Elements of Harmony. Still more famously among Ponyville citizens, the filly Cutie Mark Crusaders had the teenage Canterlot Movie Club, although the parallel acronym alone made their neighbors—on both worlds—fear for their lives because it meant the two sets of unwitting troublemakers could team up.
To accommodate this out-of-both-worlds novelty, the counterpart matching records were born, found in most travel agencies that keep up with inter-universal developments.
Canter Crowhop goes to work in a Canterlot City travel agency, doing so before the sun will rise—a couple shots of coffee should do the trick. Moving to Earth and working on the other side of reality’s lawn proved to be a learning experience: studying and discovering a world which is now similar but still quite different from her homeland of Equestria, with former humans still getting used to the nuances of the creatures they’ve become.
By the time the coffee kicks in, the pink unicorn sits down at the front desk, her job being a cross between a clerk, a gopher, and a full-on travel agent—arranging hotel or bed-and-breakfast accommodations, making the right calls and going across the portal and back to finish the proper appointments, and otherwise updating the records on a slow day (which almost never happens during the first few post-Change years).
The routine of the day is broken whenever the matching records are brought up.
“Oh, hello!” Crowhop cheerily greets the first customer of the day: a sweatered and bespectacled unicorn, sporting a somewhat unkempt mane and tail. “What can I do for you, ma’am? Would you like me to schedule you a trip to Manehattan or Las Pegasus or even take up our today-only deal of an Appleloosa tour?—all on the Equestrian side, though we also provide Earthside deals for the same.”
The would-be traveler sets her chin on a thoughtful hoof. “I’d… well, I’d like to see whether there’s someone who’s just like me here.“
“Your counterpart, right?” Crowhop levitates a book and plops it on the counter. The words Alter Ego Census shimmer under the establishment’s fluorescent lights despite the rising sun outside—only for her to take note of the here her client used. “Hmm… you’re looking for a counterpart here on Earth, am I right? Equestrian looking for an Earther, Miss…. ?”
“Moon Dancer.” She finally takes Crowhop’s cue to sit down—that’s what the chairs are for. “I would like to meet her…. Ah, I just know she would be fun to hang out with! We could geek out over lunch about Equestrian magic, Earth technology, and… well—“ she pats her very full saddle bags “—I’ve got enough books and scrolls to keep us occupied for weeks!”
Crowhop’s smile grows; the joy of other ponies infect her easily. She hums a little ditty while she scours the records, landing on the M names and flipping through the pages to reach Mo.
Most of the time, it would be an Earther trying to find their Equestrian counterpart, and, most of said time, there are no matches. In her orientation, the supervisor drilled into her the great population disparity between the two worlds: Equestria’s Manehattan, the most populous city in the known world at a staggering one hundred thousand living souls across all creatures, could not hold a candle to a multitude of smaller Earth cities shooting well past one million. Thus, a former human either had to live in a big metropolis or be lucky enough to be born in Canterlot City to stand a chance of having a counterpart.
Most of the time, Crowhop had to frown, saddened by the lack of a connection. In reality, much of it was a losing game. Still, it was a game many risked playing since checking around was free money-wise and, at worst, only fetched five minutes of their time.
However, Equestrians looking for their Earther counterpart is a different story.
“Why, yes, there is a Moon Dancer on Earth!” announces Crowhop, eagerly turning the book around for the visitor to see her local self’s contact information. “She lives right here in Canterlot City—currently a student at Canterlot Charter High, if I recall correctly. Would you like me to call her on your behalf?”
“Why, yes—no, I’ll do it!”
Crowhop puts up a telephone, dials the home number, and—she swears she just saw twinkles and sparkles in Moon Dancer’s merry eyes—speaks softly to the pony on the other end, notifying them of the pony dying to speak to her (although not exactly in such exaggerated words).
“Oh, really? My counterpart from… Equestria?” If it were not for the little crackles telephone lines are giving to her voice, Crowhop might mistake her for the happy Moon Dancer in her presence.
“Yup! She’s excited to see you. She would like to talk about—“
“Equestrian magic, Earth technology, and everything else? I’ve got enough books and e-books in my personal library to hold the both of us down here for weeks!”
Crowhop sighs with a smile. “You two are just meant for each other, don’t you know?”
She takes the telephone away to the Moon Dancer in the building.
The travel agent clerk lets out a bigger smile and a happier sigh when she hears two screams of joy from both Moon Dancers. She could only imagine the glorious geek out that could only happen when they meet face-to-face.