//------------------------------//
// Intro 
// Story: Victory for the Dark Horse 
// by Ice Star 
//------------------------------//

"Tell me more about this mirror world," Mayor-Mare said. Her eyes widened just enough to express a twinkle of interest behind her glasses. Her hooves brought her mug of tea up to her muzzle for an eager, long sip.

"Well, in my two trips there, I've been able to learn a lot!" Princess Twilight Sparkle smiled and flapped her forehooves excitedly. The gesture lasted only for a moment before she turned to the daisy sandwich in front of her. There truly could be no finer spring day for the monthly lunch meeting between Ponyville's two resident politicians. "The craziest thing is that their whole planet only has one sapient animal! Speciesism just... isn't really a thing for them."

Ivory Scroll nearly swallowed her tea down the wrong pipe. "On-only one? Dear me, that's rather preposterous. Doesn't their kind get lonely?" 

"No," Twilight said, taking a bite of her sandwich. "At least, not as far as I can tell. They still have pets."

"Well, that's good." Mayor-Mare hummed, setting her cup down daintily. "Just what kind of animal is the ruling sort there? These 'humans' don't sound like anything I've ever heard of."

"Oh!" An excited sparkle came to Twilight's eyes. "This is the neatest thing! The 'humans' are an evolutionary off-shoot of apes! I know, it's a shocker, right? Imagine how silly it would be for apes to lumber out of the jungles and all over the world. Humans don't even have much variation either — their skin is as many different colors as equine coats can be, but that's it. No other humanoid beings exists. It's like living on a planet where a pegasus is the only kind of pony!  I'm surprised that they aren't bored out of their minds. The only humanoid variants that exist among them are either extinct or in their fantasy novels."

"My goodness," Mayor-Mare murmured. Her ascot ruffled in the breeze, and she eyed Twilight's friendly bewilderment. There was a purpose to this conversation, a motive to this lunch that hadn't quite existed in all the others. Like all good things, it would come in time. Ivory Scroll only needed to be patient. "That really is a dull world. You say they only have pets to ease that kind of lonely existence?"

"More or less," Twilight replied, tilting her forehoof in a 'so-so' gesture. The mane of the lesser alicorn was pulled up neatly with a Rarity-made hairclip to keep it from the wind. "Another funny thing is that humans don't really see themselves as animals."

Ivory Scroll blinked, her mouth falling open. "I... how? What else could these simians even have to... compare themselves to? Except for animals, that is. Are they animals? You said that they were, but—"

"Of course they are!" Princess Twilight nodded rapidly, utterly oblivious to her own interruption before she rambled on. "Humans certainly aren't demons or any kind of magical constructs. They're animals, but the ones that actually think they're animals — or, uh, at least other animals — are considered mentally ill."

"Um?" Ivory Scroll looked over the rims of her golden half-moon glasses. For that bizarre remark, Twilight Sparkle needed one long stare. It was the kind of look that only older mares — and Cheerilee — knew how to give. It was one that the Mayor-Mare was certain Twilight Sparkle must have seen many times as a little filly. 

Twilight Sparkle gave an enthused nod, chomping into her daisy sandwich once again. Of course, she would be the one who was unable to read such a clear signal, even one as blatant as a matron's delicately reproachful look. "Yes, though the condition doesn't exactly have any professional name — those kinds of people are called 'furries' which is the closest thing that they appear to have to an informal diagnosis of the ailment."

"I... excuse me, but what are these 'people' that you've mentioned? I though you said the planet was ruled by 'human' creatures." 

Twilight flicked an ear. "Ohmygods! I'm so sorry, Mayor! 'People' is one of the words humans have to refer to one another. It's... sort of like when we call distinct groups of ponies in society herds? Er, that is when the secondary meaning for non-polyamorous closed family units is factored—"

"I'm quite aware of what you mean, Princess Sparkle," Ivory said. She was able to keep too much terseness from her tone and from rolling her eyes. Not a single passerby in Ponyville thought that anything was amiss, and why would they? More importantly, how could Princess Celestia have managed to put up with all these quirks in an adult pony? Princess Sparkle acted like everything but what her title suggested. 

That was something Mayor-Mare was not exactly peachy-keen on... for a number of reasons. 

Twilight Sparkle gave an overly apologetic, too sheepish smile. "My apologies!" 

"Now," Ivory began her next words slowly, "you said that everypony has counterparts in that world?"

"Yes, almost everypony! I haven't met Discord's, Sunset Shimmer's—"

"Who?"

"Oh gods," Twilight said, flashing that same smile once more. "I really should have started telling everything from the beginning, shouldn't I? Dear Celestia, that was just so inconsiderate of me to start in the middle. Nopony starts stories in the middle, or they shouldn't because—" 

"It's nothing," Mayor-Mare said kindly, waving a hoof dismissively before she slipped more sugar into her tea. "Why don't we start somewhere small. I wrote to you asking about this world because I think that if a magical portal is going to be kept in m— our town, there are things that should be understood about it. Wouldn't you agree?"

Twilight nodded again, nibbling at some stray crust from her mostly devoured lunch. Must she still be a sloppy, chews-with-her-mouth-open eater even in polite company? And in public? What would it take to teach a grown mare that there was nothing too flattering in maintaining such a slobby habit? 

"Now, maybe I started asking after things that were too out-there. Humans, evolution, and species awareness. That's all macro fussiness. Let's start somewhere easy-peasy — and fun! What do you know about my counterpart?"