//------------------------------// // Collision // Story: Victory for the Dark Horse // by Ice Star //------------------------------// Twilight Sparkle could be convinced to open her castle with surprising regularity. The death of Golden Oaks meant that the town's library had to be repurposed. Where better for the new Ponyville library to be than with the most memorable librarian that Ponyville had ever had? While being the private residence of a princess took precedence over any of the public's possible wants, a semi-public library was still better than no new library. There was an array of new events that Twilight Sparkle had been crowing about all over Ponyville. The new library sections of the castle were spacious enough to provide spaces for multiple book clubs, birthday parties, and other community-related get-togethers. The beautiful, original town hall no longer had to be the only area for public speaking when the new library of Twilight Sparkle could host multiple events in the same spaces. Quiet reading time for Ponyville's schoolhouse could happen alongside prep for sending the reservoir's water to Cloudsdale. Mayor-Mare could not help but notice that regardless of how useful it was, Twilight Sparkle's castle cast a long shadow. When Ponyville's citizens were invited inside for another open-castle day, Ivory could not help but focus on that. It was like her whole town had been subjected to an invader on par with Tirek or the changeling queen, except this one was simply royalty endorsed. Twilight Sparkle was too naive to ever suspect that there was anything unusual about Mayor-Mare checking out the fifth volume of Legends of the Everfree alongside a book on picnic lunch ideas and safe hiking. ... Ivory Scrolls waited until Raven had left the room before she cracked her knuckles. Nobody could know that their modern Southern belle of a mayor had such an unrefined habit. Only then did she reach for the hot cup of coffee that Raven had set on her desk. This was her ninth cup of the day; it was shortly after ten-thirty in the morning. Madam Mayor was long past the point where she could get through a day without the intake she had become accustomed to. Self-medication was not a crime. ... Mayor-Mare readied her saddlebags with a renewed sense of purpose. Could she say that she was happy? That was hardly the case; she just had something to spur her like she hadn't in months. Her whole town may see her as little more than an old gray mare made even older and useless, but that was their folly to accept. She could not live a life where all the world called for her to slip into the nap of retirement. Unlike the Alicorns and their lesser counterparts, she had no other chance to live her life than what she was doing now — all that her cutie mark called her to. Princess Twilight Sparkle did not get to strip away everything that meant anything to Ivory Scroll in her life — not when she was not wiser or more capable since she first got her wings. Let the great sun goddess keep throwing her former Faithful Student and the other Bearers on more hero-errands. She was successful at those, certainly, and the classic smile'n'wave. Politics still eluded Twilight Sparkle more than dancing skills. Crammed into Mayor-Mare's saddlebags were a variety of books. Other than Legends of the Everfree she had left all the other titles that she had borrowed from the library behind. Next to that book were a variety of books about Equestrian history, the Equuish language, and a book on safe excavation. Wedged between them was the slimmest volume of Ponyville's collection on Equestrian law she had. The smallest map she had was wrapped around various photographs of her, Ponyville, and a few aged newspaper clippings. To complete this miniature library, Ivory Scroll had her secretary, Inkwell, transcribe all of Twilight's testimony about the mirror-world. Every detail about the bizarre and dangerous land of the simian creatures was captured in perfect mouth-writing. Two substantial payments of bits had been exchanged for Inkwell to make that book, and the promise to say nothing about it. Ponyville's country positivity didn't mean it was wholly wholesome — Ivory knew how to make a payment that wouldn't show on any record when she needed to. Did she do that often? Oh, certainly not, and she definitely was not one to do it for any especially criminal purposes. Sometimes a mare just needed a job done or a little extra of her own bits to keep. One of those jobs might just have happened to be an itsy-bitsy matter of transportation. A mare like Ivory Scroll couldn't exactly have a teleporter node be on her record of trackable purchases. Nodes were clunky, fickle things rarely available to citizens. The vaguely crystalline platforms required massive amounts of magic to work — the kind even Twilight said were best performed by gods or through the work of dams. It was Twilight who had rambled about them to Ivory at one of their lunches, and who had let it be known that nodes rarely had enough magic channeled for more than two charges before burning out. That kind of unrefined, eccentric, and thoroughly impractical invention was beyond the scope of the mere citizenry. Only a pony with the right kind of acquaintances could hope to purchase such an object. Ivory Scroll just happened to have one waiting for her in the Everfree Forest, right in a protected clearing too close to the borders for beasts to wander. The kind of place a secret could be buried if she left the right materials behind for somepony to use. And there was only one destination in mind for the sole charge needed. ... Madam Mayor of Canterly was a lucky woman. She would never have to know her world's Twilight Sparkle. The young woman would never go on to outrank her, and for that, she would never understand how blessed she was. ... Tossing her shovel to the side, Mayor-Mare let out a relieved sigh as it hit the dirt. She wasn't going to be the pony that needed it, not anymore. Forest life teemed around her, and the sound of creaking branches and rustling leaves was enough to stir cautious adrenaline in the older mare. The rest of the contents of her saddlebags were safely secured within their respective pouches and strapped around her barrel. The tightness of it was as much of a reminder of her quest as the reward of food was to a hungry foal. A small purse of gorgeous, golden bits she had scooped out of one of Ponyville's many wishing fountains was nestled within the cloth. Greeting her was a magnificent sight. From under the shallow hole where it had been concealed, a node was pulsing with dim light. Based on the exact luster, there was more than one charge in here. That was all that Ivory would need. Flecks of dirt streaked across the crystalline surface from her efforts, and her hooves were quite muddy. All of that still meant so little to Ivory. A mussed mane and dirty hooves were the marks of one as earth pony strong as she. They were short term issues, one not worth dwelling on for an unfussy pony such as herself. Ponyville was lucky to have a source of hydro-thaumic power in close proximity. The village dam certainly was not the best, but it was serviceable. Each edge of the rounded node was all carved up, and much of the aura it was emitting collected around that grounded areas had predominantly gathered the bulk of. Ivory gulped; as soon as she stepped onto this platform the latent magic in her body would finalize the roughly-cast spell. At first, she stretched out her foreleg hesitantly. One nervous thump of her heart later, and she had abandoned such needless behavior. Ivory jumped onto the crystal and let the magic slam into her. The power was still too feral; she could immediately understand why nodes were rarely used by unicorns, if at all. The experimental technology had to 'read' the destination that was forced to the forefront of the mind, much like how unicorns envisioned their desired destinations with supreme focus. For a pegasus or earth pony, using a long-distance node required them to wrestle with their own thoughts and strain themselves to focus on absolutely nothing but that destination as magic was pulled about her in unnatural ways. Only then did she appear where she intended to be, all dirt brushed from her coat, and within the darkened halls of Twilight Sparkle's castle. ... Ivory Scroll was tapping her pen against her desk furiously and utterly delighted that no one else was in her office. Right now, if anyone were to see her, they would spy the way her forehead was creased with thought and the tightly contained rapidity of a coffeeholic in her eyes. Every word she could hope to grasp was evading her right now, ebbing away in a manic haze that practically bled from her. Heat smothered her, and her own thoughts were a vice she couldn't escape. She needed air; she needed anything but the walls of this office pressing down on her. ... Twilight Sparkle's castle hadn't been given the same level of security that Canterlot Castle had. At least, not yet. Mayor-Mare could have asked for no bigger favor. During their lunches, Princess Sparkle had blabbed about Princess Celestia. The sun goddess had not been able to work the same impenetrable wards over Twilight's home yet. According to Twilight, it was a matter of royal duties keeping Princess Celestia from having the time to make the trip to Ponyville. Ivory Tower couldn't help but see that as a stroke of good old fashioned luck being on her side. She had to hold in her breath. Even exhale felt like it would give away her presence. Rarely did Ivory Scroll have to slink around, and now she was going about the castle of an Equestrian princess — her superior — on tippy hooves. That is, until she nudged open the half-closed door that contained the very magic mirror she had been looking for. ... No one was supposed to wait for Ivory Scroll when she drove to Canterly's town hall. She had her own keys and never needed any help bringing anything with her. She hardly ever found herself needing to carry more than her spacious faux leather handbag with her. Raven's car was already parked in her designated spot, the vintage compact car shining in the morning sun. What made the sight so unusual on this particular morning was the woman leaning carelessly, unsteadily against Raven's car. Ivory's grip tightened on the strap of her bag. The stranger wore a veiled hat that stood out far too much. Not only was the weather wildly inappropriate for such attire, but it was entirely anachronistic. Madam Mayor imagined such fashion would have last been in-style when her great-grandmother was alive. Immediately, the thought to call the police was abuzz in her mind. Only the too-friendly, too-familiar wave of the strange woman halted the thought. When the stranger pulled off her veil entirely, Ivory Scroll dispelled the thought entirely. Standing across the parking lot, she finally took in the full appearance of the other woman. Her handbag was a larger, bulging thing — yet extremely posh in style. Her blouse and pin-striped pants were a pinnacle of perfection and looked exactly like something Madam Mayor would wear. In the sunlight, the white sparkle of the buttons was telltale about the material — it was very likely Madam Mayor's namesake. From under the flared pant legs, Ivory caught sight of two polished, uber-feminine heels that matched her own pair. As soon as the other woman pulled off her strange headwear, Ivory Scroll discarded all thoughts of calling the authorities. Instead, she stared across the lot at a woman who wore her face. ... "Heavens above, were the shapeshifter conspiracy theorists right?" gasped Mayor-Mare's doppelganger. Even from across the smelly, dull asphalt lot, the ex-mare could read the shock in the face of her simian counterpart. She had squeezed her coffee cup so severely that the contents were starting to spill on her hand. Ivory knew immediately that she should have packed a few hoofkerchiefs. Her new, awkward limbs were optimal for keeping herself unbalanced and little else. The slim digits were not the sort of thing that could be flexed in unison, but she was already guiding them to her bag. Each of the saddlebags that she had was incorporated into the fabric that covered her nigh-hairless form. The rest was reflected in the clothes that had materialized when she tumbled out of the mirror's other side. Inside, the newest addition to all her possessions was nothing other than a crumpled schedule for a metal caterpillar of a train car that barrelled along the narrow tar paths that passed as roads here. Without it, she would have never been able to locate her otherworldly twin. Equuish runes were not the predominant script here, but the Roaman alphabet adopted by unicorns since the Tribal Era was in wide-use. Only the use of bizarre pictographs most frequently featuring eggplants, puzzled expressions, feces, and assorted fruits was the close, if incomprehensible second. "Wait — Ivory Scroll, please wait!" The other Ivory's face flushed scarlet with mortification. Her unusual paw immediately plunged into her purse. "You mustn't leave, not when I have so much to tell you." Mayor-Mayor immediately whipped out her slightly crumpled photographs and her coin purse. She let the latter be seen plainly, and it jingled something fierce — that action was particularly deliberate. "If you can spare the time for coffee, I promise that everything I tell you will make sense. Search my purse, myself, anything! I bring harm to nopony!" The other Ivory took one large, visibly anxious breath in. She cocked her head to the side, eyes blank with how stunned she was. "Any... pony?" "Anyhuman?" guessed Mayor-Mare, balling her free paw clumsily. "Esteemed Mayor-Lady of Canterly, I need only a few hours of your time." Something about the way that Mayor-Mare addressed the other Ivory Scroll made the latter's lips curl into a thin, easy smile. "Only the time of a coffee break you say?" "Yes!" Mayor-Mare insisted. "I am a mar— woman of my word, as I'm sure you are too. Please, if we give the impression that there is a scene transpiring, what will the pedestrians think?" Oh, gods! Mayor-Mare's last words struck a clear sour chord — the mirror world's Ivory frowned visibly with the last question. "Yes, I do suppose that is true, who knows what my town will think..." "Just give me a coffee break's worth of time," Mayor-Mare said, her voice dancing between firm and pleading. She gripped at her photos and coin purse even tighter. "I promise that what I say will be enough to change your life — and you clearly could go for a new coffee. I'll pay." At last, the second Ivory took one step forward, towards herself and towards her future.