Twilight stared at the mountain of corpses, hundreds of versions of herself in various states of decay. Many were alicorns such as herself, but others were from her time as a unicorn, or even from when she was a filly. Worse was that many were half eaten, a grotesque sight with implications she wasn't yet ready to consider. A skull laying nearby even had the eyeholes covered in some kind of paste, turned into a makeshift cup or perhaps a bowl.
"Are you ready to talk yet?" the other asked. "I know it's a lot, but I have questions, and I'm sure you do too."
Twilight turned to the other mare, who sat next to her, blood pooling around her hooves as if she didn't even notice it. "Yeah. Um, could you maybe show me around while we talk?"
"Not much to show," the other shrugged, "but I suppose I can try. Follow me." She waved toward the perimeter with her good foreleg.
Twilight nodded, then set a pace with her clone. "I noticed the injuries—the leg, that scar on your cheek. How did it happen? Is something here hostile to us?"
"Not anymore." The other nodded to a bloated corpse with blackened teeth and a bandaged leg. A hammer made of bone lay next to it, and what looked to be a shiv lay not much further off. "That one attacked me. She had already gone nuts when I arrived, screamed that I was a murderer. I... did what I had to do." She stopped, her gaze falling to the ground as she took a long, shuddering breath.
“Hey, it’s okay.” Twilight reached in to offer a hug, sensing that the other needed it, even if she didn't hug back. “It wasn’t up to you. Besides, if she tried to kill you, she may have already killed others. Better she be at peace now, than going on with that. Who knows? She may have even come after me if not for you. In fact, you probably saved my life.”
The other scoffed. “If I could beat her, you could too." She paused, taking a moment for consideration. "Still... thanks. To be honest, it scares me that we could become like that. I mean, I’ve already killed one pony now; what if the same thing happens to me? Am I going to go crazy too? Are you?”
“No.” Twilight insisted, releasing the hug and stepping around to look the other in the eyes. “We’ll find a way out before then. We have to.”
“A way out?” the other said incredulously. “There is no way out! If there was, don’t you think one of the hundreds of other Twilight’s would have figured it out by now? I thought I found a way, that all you had to do was grab onto the clone before it disappeared, but I was wrong. It still vanished, and it still left you behind.”
“Well, surely we can devise some sort of spell to get us out of here. Teleporting again could at least send a clone up with knowledge of—“
“No. Get this through your head: we might as well be in our own personal torture chamber. There is no magic, our wings don’t work, and we have a precisely zero percent chance of ever receiving outside help.”
Twilight cringed. “Well, maybe there’s a way to break out. Perhaps a powerful enough blow could... could...”
“Could nothing,” the other answered flatly. “It’s no doubt been tried, and there isn’t so much as a scratch on the surface of this sphere we’re in. I’m sorry, but this is our new reality. The sooner you can accept that, the sooner we can get to real problems, like organizing what supplies we have and setting a schedule for food rationing. Luckily, I’ve already gotten started.”
Twilight stared at her. “How long have you been stuck here?”
“When was the last time you teleported?”
“Two weeks ago. I think.”
“Six weeks then, adjusting for the time dilation.” The other sighed. “It feels longer. Follow me. I have something to show you.”
Twilight nodded and followed, trying as hard as she could to ignore the squishing sounds under her hooves.
A little over a minute passed in silence before they stopped in front of a pile of books—if a loose assortment of papers, shredded journals, and blood-damp stories could be called such.
"This is my library." The other pulled out a barely intact notebook with a cover that looked as if somepony had come at it with a hatchet. "This one was written by one of the more resourceful versions of us, though by the looks of it, she went crazy in the end. It might even have belonged to the one I... got rid of." She winced. "Anyway, in here were instructions on how to make a still to purify the liquids available to us, how to cook the food properly, how to make weapons, and even count the time. Unfortunately, there aren't enough intact flasks left to do the last, not using her methods anyway. This is also how I learned about the difference in time between this place and Equestria. Every minute in Equestria is three minutes here."
"Good to know," Twilight said. "I suppose you can add this to your 'library' then." She pulled the Daring Do novel out of her saddlebags. "It's an extremely limited edition. Even leaning on my status as a princess, I still paid way too much for it. It was supposed to be a birthday present for Rainbow Dash." She frowned. "I suppose another me has already given it to her by now."
"It's Rainbow's birthday?" the other asked. "Huh. Well, I’m sure she enjoyed the gift.” Her eyes fell to the ground. “I miss her. I miss all of them. Of course, if we ever see them again, they’ll probably hate us.”
Twilight blinked. “Why would they hate us? And how would we even see them again anyway?”
The other pointed off to the side. “Two questions, same answer.”
Twilight turned, then gasped. Before her sat a rotting carcass. It was of a vaguely orangish hue and would have been unidentifiable if not for the bloody, battered Stetson hanging from what remained of its head. "Oh. Oh no."
The other nodded. "Yeah. How many times do you think we've teleported our friends?" She grimaced. "It's probably better not to think about it."
Twilight felt herself tearing up, eyes locked on what was left of Applejack. "I can't believe it. We... we really are killers. Our own friends, dead by our hooves. And for what? Who knows for what trivial reason I teleported her? I mean, for Celestia's sake, I got here by being late to a party!" She sniffled and broke her gaze from the dead pony. "Why? Why does this have to happen? What cosmic reason could there possibly be for such cruelty, such horror?"
She stiffened as she felt an awkward pat on her shoulder, something she was sure was supposed to be a comforting gesture. “Hey,” the other quietly consoled, “listen, I struggled with the same thoughts, but ultimately, the blame does not lay at our hooves. You couldn’t have known. No one did. Even the princesses teleport on occasion, and they are far wiser than we will ever be."
Twilight slowly nodded, unconvinced, but not wanting to argue with the other mare. “You’re right. I just can’t stand to see it. None of this is fair. Thanks for trying to help though, um...”
The other took a step back. “What?”
“I’m not sure what to call you. I mean, we’re both Twilight, but differences are already showing themselves and it will just get confusing if we don’t come up with a better means of address.” She tapped a hoof to her chin in thought. “What if we called you Twilight and me Sparkle? It makes sense. You were here before me after all.”
The other took a sharp breath. “Oh, yeah, maybe something other than that though. It turns out, there's a bit of a story behind those names, and not one I’m eager to repeat. How about Twi and Light? Short and easy.”
Twilight nodded. “Yeah, that works too. I guess I’m Light then? Well then, Twi, I could use a distraction from this,” she waved in the general direction of Applejack’s corpse, “and I believe you were showing me around. Where to next?”
“Right this way.” They continued their journey around the pocket dimension, moving in a circle so as to avoid the middle where a large pool of bodily fluids and most of the bodies were. Along the way, Twi showed Light the areas where she had meticulously stored and organized the useful supplies. The cookfire and still came next, though Light gagged at the thought of consuming the rotten pus, blood, and flesh all around them. She determined right then to wait as long as possible before eating it, and for that reason, she was overjoyed when she remembered she still had Spike’s cupcake stored away.
It wasn't long before the little tour came to an end and Twi stopped Light, turning to face her with a questioning look. "So, when are you going to tell me what's been going on back in Ponyville? You said it's been two weeks, yes? By my calculations, that means at least one major event and/or friendship problem has occurred since I was there. New villain, perhaps?"
"Old villain, I'm afraid," Light grumbled. "Chrysalis attacked. Again."
"Oh? And how did that go? Wait, let me guess. Rainbow laser? Or, wait, I know! You blasted her into orbit with another love spell!"
"Uh, well," Light nervously scratched at the back of her head with a hoof, "I actually didn't stop her at all."
"You're kidding." Twi raised an eyebrow. "So... Queen Chrysalis is the new ruler of Equestria? Huh. I got to say, I didn't see that coming. Does she at least get the trains running on time?"
"What? No!”
“She doesn’t? Shame.”
“Stop being ridiculous!" Light swatted at the air in front of her copy, as if to physically smack down Twi’s nonsensical notions. "She didn’t take over Equestria. Our friends, the princesses, and I were captured, but Starlight led a team to rescue us. In the end, most of the changelings were reformed, Thorax became their new leader, medals were given, and Starlight graduated as our student."
"Oh. Well that does make sense then. How were the changelings reformed?"
"They were convinced to accept the power of love."
"Yep." Twi gave a brisk nod. "That tracks. Say, you ever think about how utterly absurd our life was?"
"Uh, no?"
"Well, I've had plenty of time to contemplate things, and trust me, it was."
Light paused, not sure if she wanted to question that word choice, but eventually deciding to do so regardless. "What do you mean 'was?'"
Twi sighed. "I mean that it's all over now. That isn't our life, and you would be best off leaving your attachments from that time behind you. As far as we are concerned, it’s all just an interesting tale. Your past can only bring you pain now."
Light stared at the other pony. As much as she disagreed with that sentiment, she couldn't afford to start a fight with her only companion just yet. "I see. Thank you for the advice."
Twi nodded. "I know you won't heed it—yet—but there it is. Though, it is good to hear that Starlight graduated from her lessons. I wish her well."
"Yeah, me too." Light turned aside, suddenly not feeling very talkative. Things were going to take a lot of getting used to.
Twi only glanced in her direction, seemed to analyze her for a moment, then gave a slow nod. Apparently, she too was content to let the conversation end there.
The rest of the day was similarly quiet, but it was not for hours yet that Twi waved for Light to join her at the sleeping area. Little more than a pile of salvaged cloth scraps with the cleanest on top made up that area, but it may as well have been the lap of luxury compared to everything else.
When Light laid down and tried to relax for the first time since teleporting, she pressed up against Twi’s side for the sheer comfort of having another warm, breathing body beside her. It wasn't even a conscious decision, just something she badly needed. Luckily, the other pony made no complaints. In fact, tension seemed to melt out of her at the gesture.
Perhaps so long as they had each other, regardless of any disagreements, this place wouldn’t be quite so nightmarish.
With that reassuring thought, Light closed her eyes, and began counting sheep. When sleep came, it was fitful and haunted by dead friends.