The sun shines bright in the afternoon and the Equestria’s capital’s streets are full of ponies strolling and going places. Marble floors gleam just bright enough as to not blind its citizens, making the entire cliff look like a giant snowball from afar, if not for the golden peeks of the castle’s towers. Just looking at the mountain side from a train’s window one is sure to drop their jaw even after a 1000th time.
But not Twilight.
All Twilight can think of is how instead of having breakfast she had to convince Spike not to follow her into Canterlot, gather her friends at 6 a.m., pay extra for the tickets since the train was about to leave, and then smuggle Pinkie pie and Fluttershy in the luggage cabin, because the train was already full. At least the conductor was kind enough to let them stay.
The train stops at the Canterlot train station. While Twilight races out of the train with a head full of thoughts and anxiety, Rarity nearly stumbles on her own scarf hanging down to the ground, much to Applejack’s and Pinkie Pie’s amusement, all while Rainbow Dash simply flew above the station to “stretch her wings”.
“Girls, we need to hurry.” Twilight says, looking back at the fallen pale unicorn.
“If you were so kind as to give me 5 more minutes in the boutique” replies Rarity, collecting herself. “Seriously darling, why such a mess over a single letter.”
Twilight turns around and wraps the scarf two more times with her horn, “Celestia just wrote a single paragraph, saying we need to be in her castle. She never does that” Right after she walks down stairs from the platform onto a Canterlot road, leaving her friends to catch up with her.
“I don’t understand.” Rainbow Dash hovers directly above Twilight, “could she at least have written what the hay a… Uhh” She stops in air, scratching her head “Dimensional merge is?”
“Yeah.” – Pinkie chimes in, hopping in line with Twilight. “Like, if it’s a dimensional merge, then who are we merging with? Are they friends? Do you think they like parties!?”
“Pinkie, I told you that on the Ponyville platform, I told you that on every mile the train passed and I’m telling you right now. I. Do. Not. Know. Why won’t you listen to me?”
“Hey Twi.” Applejack stops a bit short of two inches before Twilight’s muzzle as the rest stop with her.
The unicorn didn’t even notice how they walked half way between the station and the Castle. From here, on the central Square with a fountain in a shape of the three races merging and spewing water, a road directly leads to the castle’s golden gates.
Twilight only eyes the mare in front of her, up and down, waiting for her to speak up.
“Twi. Don’t ya think ya need to calm down? You’re walkin' like the ground is lava.”
“Yeah. Because the darn--”
“Because the princess wrote you a sentence.”
Twilight would probably say something rude if not for Fluttershy stepping in from the side and putting a hoof on her shoulder.
“Twilight, please, you’ve been on your nerves since the beginning of the day. We don’t doubt that it’s important, we just don’t want you to… you know.”
Whether it’s Fluttershy’s voice or her words, Twilight eventually takes a deep breath and looks down.
“I’m sorry girls, I just… yeah, I need to calm down.”
“That’s the spirit, Twi. Don’t worry, I’m sure it ain’t that bad” Applejack hugs her friend, to which Fluttershy and Pinkie soon joined. And although Twilight for a second feels more warmth than anxiety, Rarity’s worried sky watching soon brings her back to the ground.
“Rarity? Is everything okay?”
“yes, yes, I just… has anypony seen Rainbow Dash?”
It soon occurs to everyone that Rainbow Dash vanished somewhere along the way. As ponies ungather from a group hug they start to look for her and even shout her name. What is this mare even doing during such important matters?
Fortunately, the search ends within 5 minutes as the Pegasus emerges from behind a roof and lands next to her friends.
“Uh, guys. I think you need to see this.”
“Rainbow, we can’t just--” Says Twilight.
“Yeah, yeah. I know. Just come with me, okay?”
If not for the hug earlier, Twilight would’ve showered the wannabe wanderbolt with words she probably doesn’t even fully understand, but this can’t take too long right? She probably just found another signed Daring Doo copy for her collection.
The ponies follow Rainbow into an offshoot alleyway off the main road, not too far from the castle. This street is narrow enough for the sun to miss it with its rays.
Among the shadows, the cyan glowing crack in the otherwise smooth floor stands out more than ever. Small specks of dust float up from it, like tiny light bugs escaping an underground cave, Sadly, if there is indeed a cave, it’s at the very least a concern for future urban planning, and at worst a hazard.
Twilight, out of pure curiosity, eventually steps in, feeling a cold breeze on her fur as she comes closer and closer. Like this crack sucks the warmth out of the air, leaving a slightly metallic smell around it.
“Rainbow Dash, how did you find it?”
“I was bored and decided to do some loops when I saw this between buildings.”
“What do you think this is?” Pinkie nearly jumps over Twilight. And indeed it’s a good question. No book or scroll ever told the Celestia’s star pupil about a phenomenon like this, and if there ever was a lecture on it, she can’t recall any.
“I don’t know, but whatever it is, I think Celestia would know something about it.”
With a swift turn Twilight turns around towards the main road, and her friends follow. All but one.
“Uhh. Girls?” Pinkie says. “is it supposed to grow?”
All look back as they see the pink mare powerwalking away from the crack after the floor shakes beneath. This crack just grew wider, and grows wider still, chasing those stuck to the ground.
All at once, the ponies fly and run down the narrow alleyway, one turns right and another left, they can already hear the screams of the other ponies running to shelter all while the ground continues to rumble.
Finally, they escape their chaser, standing on the same square looking at the golden gates, the glowing cyan burrowing a ravine between them and the elements of harmony. This crack moves incredibly fast, already dividing the main road.
But the moment they try to cross the glowing line they are stumped by an invisible barrier. No amount of force breaks it as Applejack bucks it in frustration, and Twilight’s teleporting only brings her nose to nose with it. Rainbow tries to fly up but it has no end. The ravine only keeps growing til the end of the city.
In her last attempt, Rainbow Dash zooms off to overtake this barrier, leaving her signature trail and a gust of air. She nearly reaches the end of town when the creek turns beneath her, flinging back right to her friends as the barrier begins glowing bright white, blinding anything and anyone, and throwing anyone on hooves to the ground.
And then…
Twilight’s jaw drops and pupils narrow. Well, everyone’s jaw drops at this point. Since no matter one’s background and age, one can never really be prepared for such a spectacle.
Where the castle was, as well as the other half of Canterlot, is now a suburban road, with one and two flat houses hugging the pathway on each side. Thankfully this crack didn’t cut any houses in half, or at least the ones in sight.
These houses
The “main road” that our ponies stand in front is peculiar as weird carriage standing wheels up in front of one of the porches and idly sit with smoke coming out of it. It isn’t clear at first, but on the right side of it there is an upside down white on black sign saying “police.”
After smacking her lips, Pinkie Pie whispers: “I think that’s what Celestia meant by the dimensional merge.”
It is only then when Rainbow is finally able to fly over the cracked flooring, that turns from marble to concrete. And as rainbow flies, the rest decide to step over as well, some out of curiosity, some out of desperation to find the Canterlot Castle somewhere in this maze.
“Twi. Are you— “asks Applejack before Twilight cuts her.
“If this is what Celestia warned us about, then… No, no, no. this is stupid” she begins pacing in a circle mumbling to herself various physical terms.
“Twilight? Are you…?” Slightly mumbles pinkie, never finishing her sentence, much to Applejack’s confusion.
“Is she what?” Says Applejack.
“I don’t think she is” Whispers fluttershy.
“She is what?” Says Applejack again.
“Well, considering all that happened” Rarity chimes in, “she just might be”
“Might be what? Ya’ll being way too cryptic”
Rainbow Dash lowers to the ground in order to whisper something into the farm mare’s ear, but Twilight cuts them both.
“Unless I missed a historical account, and I doubt I did, no dimensional merge was ever recorded. So two answers emerge.” Twilight stops before her friends. “either someone erased it from history or it never happened to begin with”
“So,” Applejack says, “What’s your conclusion?”
“I don’t know. I honestly think I’m going--”
“Maybe they know” Pinkie Pie points towards one of the houses.
From that house a bipedal creature emerges, running towards them. They seem to have a long mane and more clothes than any other creature Twilight has met, wearing a short blue scarf, black and red pull over (or the closest equivalent of a pullover), a pair of pants trimmed to show their knees and two pieces of cloth covering the lower limbs’ ends that are strapped to some kind of platforms. Twilight can only watch Rarity’s disapproving look as the creature approaches them.
As it… they approach the ponies, a medallion on their neck shows itself in a shape of a face of an unfamiliar yellow creature with spiky hair and red cheeks. If not for the fact that this face’s eyes connect in an ungodly way, it doesn’t look that bad.
Finally, this creature, stumbling and out of breath, arrives right in front of the six mares. That’s when the final detail about them gets apparent: the smell. A combination of mildly sweet sugary note and very strong odor of sweat. Looking down and through the huffs they keep saying:
“Oh my god… Oh my god… Oh my god.”
The six looks rather concerned about the creature, but Twilight steps forward.
“Greetings., uhh… fellow being. My name is--”
“Oh my god It’s Twilight Sparkle, and Rainbow Dash, and Pinkie Pie, and… and…”
They later continue to repeat the same phrase for a few seconds, stunning the mares.
“You… Know us?” Says Rarity.
“Of course, you are superstars here. Millions, no, billions of people have watched your adventures.”
Even more confused, the six just stares at this creature as it kneels down. It slightly looks like a royal greeting, but with this anatomy it comes off more as a prayer than anything.
“Uhh, girls?” Twilight says, “Can we have a talk?” At which the rest of the mares turn around and form a circle.
“What’s the matter.” Asks Rainbow dash, slowly landing on unfamiliar pavement.
“We need to be really careful. This is clearly a really advanced being”
For a second Applejack looks above the circle to look at this “Higher being.”
“My name is Christine.” They wave back, still in a prayer position.
“No offence, Twi, but they don’t seem mighty advanced for me.”
“They have known us for a while and If my theory is correct, they may know things about us that even we don’t know”
“Like what?” – Pinkie asks.
“Hey Twilight, where are your wings?” Says Christine.
“Wings?”
“Yeah, Celestia gave you wings and made you the new ruler of Equestria. Where are your wings?”
In response, the ponies can only stare onto Christine as she looks back with a slight tilt to her head. Except maybe for Rainbow Dash, who after a second has a wide grin across her face, and hovers to the creature.
“Do you, like, know the future?”
“Uhh” They look away, scratching their head.
“Am I a wanderbolt in the future? Please, please, please, please, tell me, am I a wanderbolt in the future?” Rainbow presses on their cheek, but Christine decides to hug her instead. Then, with rainbow dash in one hand, they scratch their chin while Twilight tugs her friend’s tail with her horn, ready to berate her. But as soon as her lips open the creature speaks again.
“Oh, you must be from season 4 or earlier.” They say. “Oh, by the way, do you want to come to my house? I’m, like, your biggest fan.”
“But--” Rainbow dash cries, before tasting a lavender hoof in her mouth.
“Yes, yes. It would be a pleasure.” Twilight say.
“Cool” Christine says, turning around towards the house they came from. All while the rest of Twilight’s friends stare at her.
“Darling” Rarity approaches the tense unicorn “I don’t doubt your diplomatic expertise, but what are you planning to do?”
“They might be the only way to make Equestria whole again.”
Her friends glance over each other, then back to Twilight.
“Ya sure?” Applejack raises an eyebrow.
“Oh, if you have a better idea, I would really like to listen.” Says Twilight, her teeth grinding like they’re sharpening each other.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa. Dude. Chill. It was just a question. Calm down.”
At first the princess’s protégé’s scowl only widens at her friend, pulling Rainbow back from it. But soon enough Twilight closes her eyes, takes a deep breath, and looks down.
“Listen, I’m sorry. It’s just… The chance of that ever happening is incomprehensibly low, It’s millions to one. How was I supposed to be prepared for it?”
“Hey, are you guys coming?” Christine shouts from the porch near the shattered police car.
It takes a second to make a decision, but eventually Applejack strides forward, followed by a gentle walk of Rarity, then jumping pinkie and flying Rainbow. Only Fluttershy stops for a second, almost whispering in Twilight’s ear:
“I’m sure it’ll be fine.”
Twilight just sighs and proceeds forward.
“I hope it will.”
As they walk through the neighborhood past the houses, Twilight, and it seems the rest do to, notices similar to Christine creatures, except none of them go outside. They all close their curtains and only look through tiny slits at their door. As children try to get closer to them, their parents tug them away into the shelter. Is it the aliens of this world they’re afraid off, or the one they follow?
They arrive at the same porch that Christine ran from and shouted from. The house itself doesn’t look that bad. Cheap, but not bad. If only the birch planks and the white windows looked any different than any other house as far as Twilight’s eye can see. When you come from a place where the shape of your house matters more than your actual address, that monotony jumps into one’s eyes.
When Christine opens the door, welcoming their guests, Rarity stumbles on her scarf again, this time keeping enough balance to stay upright. And as Twilight fixes her scarf again, she notices the black marks on the ground next to her. They continue in jagged lines, ending next to the police car. Rarity, following her friend’s gaze, shares a serious look with twilight before heading back up again.
Once everybody is inside, the first thing that catches their attention is—
“Oh gosh, darling, what is this stench?” – Rarity says, covering her nose.
Indeed, the smell breaks into ponies’ nostrils before the room could hit their eyes. It’s the kind of smell one has to endure in a perfume shop, except more concentrated and way less flower full. Other than the smell, the interior looks fine: a kitchen to the left, a lounge to the right, leading to a backyard door. Again, cheap, but fine.
“Just deodorant. It’s the stuff we use when we don’t want stuff to smell.” – Christine replies.
“Yes I know what a deodorant is, for god’s sake” Rarity rolls her eyes, “The question was--”
“I think, Rarity wanted to thank you for keeping your house clean.” Yet again Twilight shuts someone’s mouth, this time feeling the victim’s breath as she grunts.
“It’s mostly mom and dad. I just draw stuff in my room and make videos. You want to see my room?”
“Y-yes. That would be wonderful.” Twilight says, prompting Christine to go upstairs right in front of the entrance, Rarity judging them with a glare.
“Not even a proper house tour.” says Applejack. “I’ve no clue what’s up with… them, but I doubt negotiations will be easy.”
You have to do what you have to do. Twilight steps upstairs and so do the rest, and while they’re moving up, another, saltier smell fills the air. Barely there, but still is.
Navigating the beige walls they find an open door, the one where Christine is walking into. As they follow him the smell of sweat and crayons becomes stronger, making rarity completely give up on breathing through her nose, and as they go inside, a truly mesmerizing sight lands on their eyes.
A shelve filled with plush, figurines, and strange flat boxes reaches the roof, showing off the collection of Twilight’s and Rainbow Dashes and Pinkie Pies, and even more sit in stacks and piles on the floor. Childish paintings of many characters cover the walls. One of the characters stands out in how often he appears, as well as his resemblance to the medallion on Christine’s neck.
As the unicorn draws her attention to these drawings, her friends walking inside behind her, Leans into her face like a pillow case, their skin sticking to twilight’s.
“Do you like it?”
“Uhh, yes. Yes, I do. I wonder who made them.”
“All by me.” Christine announces, still at the unicorn’s face.
“What? I mean, really? When?”
“Let’s see.” Christine points at two drawings next to each other, “This one I drew 5 years ago…and this one I did a week ago.”
“Oh, my… Uhh, great, I… I can really see the progress.” Twilight can feel her smile slipping like a mask. Thankfully, Christine already approaches another pony. This time Rarity, who has opened a window and hangs her head outside of it.
Twilight witnesses the creature’s arms extend and Wrap the fashionista, bending forward and pressing the face against her back. The sight that makes Twilight cringe in place after her own experience.
“I’m deeply sorry, but could you maybe--” Rarity’s voice shuts as the grip tightens, arms moving up and down her stomach. At this point Sparkle herself wouldn’t be mad if she just bucked them, but the short attention span plays in.
What grabbed their attention this time is Pinkie Pie, staring intensely at a figuring of herself, poking it as if to see if it’s alive.
“Do you like it?” Christine asks.
“Well… It’s accurate. Almost too accurate.”
“Cool, can I eat your hair?”
“It’s even… Wait, what?”
But pinkie can’t finish her sentence as Christine already chews on her mane and spits it out a second later.
“Hey, it’s supposed to taste like candy.” They proclaim.
“What? How? Do I look like I’m made of frosting to you?” Pinkie pie hugs her plushy mane.
“It’s supposed to taste like cotton candy. Why would you be pinkie pie if it doesn’t taste like candy?”
“I think I of all creatures know what my mane tastes like”
“What I think” Twilight teleports between the two, “is that we could use, uhh something to eat.”
“Oh, we have a lot of grass in the backyard.”
Christine earns a judgmental look from pinkie, which by all means is an achievement to behold, but it’s not a good time for it.
“Oh, maybe you have some cookies? If you know us, you know how much Pinkie loves her sweets.” Twilight pulls her arm around the pink mare, who in return refocuses the glare onto the unicorn, puling the fake smile so hard it hurts.
“Ok, I guess. Let me check.”
Twilight profusely stares at her host walking out and closing door, after which she finally finds time and room to breathe. While taking a break she finds something sticking to her hoof. A drawing. Even more drawings lie around the floor, and of those drawings some are clearly of more… suggestive content.
“Hey, Twi.” Applejack points underneath a bed where Rainbow seated herself, reading one of the handmade comics, “This fella’s got a stash here.”
With her teeth, applejack pulls out a one of them and opens it on the floor, Twilight joining in.
At first the comic starts somewhat coherent. The notorious character’s name is Sonichu, and a character by the name of Chris follows him in an adventure. The premise is that a mysterious disease plagues the town, and they need to find a cure. A bit cliché but certainly not bad.
If only the poor dialogue and incoherent narrative were the only things wrong.
The disease turns out to compel people to engage in homosexual activity, which generous illustrations of those acts prove thoroughly. It goes on to tell how Sonichu and Chris obtain the cure by—
Applejack shuts the comic “I think I saw enough for today.”
Meanwhile, as Twilight hides the comic back in the stash, Rainbow Dash kicks her book into a shelf, nearly toppling a few figurines, if not for Twilight catching them right before they hit the floor. She is about to berate the pegasus yet again, when she sees her shaking in place.
“Uhh… Rainbow Dash? Are you ok?”
“Well… I mean I saw this comic, and I was in it so I grabbed it… and then he started… and then I was…” Rainbow shivers in place.
Maybe it wasn’t a good idea after all. Things are already borderline insane in this household and they’ve been there for less than an hour. If this continues or spirals out of control, Twilight fears to imagine what Christine will do.
But then what else can she do? They are aliens, and betting on foreign civilization’s hospitality isn’t a good idea. But it might become the only choice.
“Uhm… Twilight?” Fluttershy says across the room near a desk with a vaguely cube shaped glowing screen. As Twilight moves towards it she sees a complex keyboard with all letters, numbers and punctuation marks written on it, as well as a few symbols of which the unicorn isn’t sure about the meaning.
The screen shows a colorfully, but incorrectly spelled “Goggle”. Next to it is a word “Rabbit” with a few pictures of rabbits underneath, and short sentences about rabbits further bellow.
“I think you can search anything in this” Fluttershy says, “It knows every animal I could think of.”
The unicorn, having grown up in a library, wastes no time to test this hypothesis, and looks towards the keyboard. Nothing is in alphabetical order, but fluttershy teaches her how to use what she could figure out.
Indeed, this thing finds everything, except maybe for things not related to this world. She learns that magic doesn’t really exist outside of speculations and fiction, then that the thing she’s using to find all these things is called a “computer” and it can do a lot more.
But then…
“Fluttershy? Have you tried searching Christine?”
“Well… I just stumbled into it and it was--”
“Hey, I don’t have any cookies, but I can microwave a pizza.” – Christine opens the door to her own room as Twilight frantically stands on hind legs covering the screen from her.
“Yes, yes. Pizza would be great. Just make sure it’s extra hot.” Twilight says.
“Extra hot? Why?”
“Because… It’ll probably cool down on your way up.”
Christine just shrugs and goes back downstairs, relieving Twilight from this awkward position. When she turns around, Fluttershy is already typing “Christine” with her wings, slowly but surely. Sadly, Christine is just a popular name in this place.
“Ok,” Twilight scratches her chin. “Let’s something else.”
This fictional town of hers had a name, right? Initially Twilight just glanced over it, but now, she flips all the comics and drawings with her magic to find that city. When she finds it, she’s ready to scream, but stops herself and types as fast as she can.
“Cwcville.”
The first result is an article describing said town. It would be fun to read, but there’re more important matters at hoof. At first she tries to search for the author, before glancing through the first paragraph.
“it was named after the founder's daughter: Christine Weston Chandler”
If this isn’t it, it’s time to just give up.
While typing with magic is faster than with wings, Sparkle nearly breaks one of the keys while putting in the name. For better or for worse this creature’s life is thoroughly documented.
And it’s then when everything becomes clear. As the rest of Twilight’s friend’s gather around, even Rarity takes her head out of the window to look, they read about Christine’s Autism, the idea guys and all of copious amounts of bullying she endured throughout the years.
It occurred to Twilight, and it seems her friends too, that there is a reason Christine is like this. She’s like an overgrown child… with questionable fantasies, but still.
“Do you” Fluttershy gulps “Do you think we should help them?”
“Oh, hell naw.” Rainbow Dash jumps into air, her wings’ gusts of air throwing the drawings on the floor near bye. “I’m not helping a dude who has worse fantasies about me than Zephyr”
“Pardon me too, Fluttershy,” Rarity says, holding her nose, “But I also feel violated by our host. Be it disabled.”
“But they’re clearly disabled. Where are even their parents. I mean, surely someone is taking care of them since… well…”
“Maybe the parents aren’t home?” Pinkie pie keeps brushing her mane. “If you ask me, we shouldn’t have followed the first stranger in sight. Seriously, let’s make this a mantra from now on.”
Then Applejack puts a hoof down Twilight’s shoulder.
“Where’d you bet they are now?”
“Probably still microwaving the pizza” says Twilight “I’ll get them before they burn the house down.”
“I’ll go with ya. We all need to talk real bad.”
And thus the two leave their friends scrolling down the page. As they walk downstairs, ruminating about how to even address such an issue, a faint but distinct clapping sound comes from the kitchen. Sounds almost like…
“Oh, no.” Twilight utters, leaving Applejack slightly confused.
At this point the unicorn slows down significantly, prompting still confused Applejack to do the same.
“Twi, what are ya--”
“Shh. Can’t you hear the noise?” Twilight closes Applejacks mouth for a second.
“Twi, I can tell you right now that big mac does worse things on Sunday afternoon, one time I--”
But as they move on the bottom floor and look around the corner they see Christine doing at first glance what you expect them to do, even if they… Why are they grabbing Fanta?
…
In utter terror the unicorn and the earth pony run upstairs, back to the room they came from, unable to unsee the sins of the world they made it into. It would be the first time Twilight wishes to scrub her own eyes with a household soap.
As they run inside and shut the door, Twilight sees Rarity trying to escape through the window. Before the unicorn herself could even react, Applejack is already tugging the pony by her scarf back inside, coughing on strands of cloth.
“What in the hey do you think you’re doing, Rarity?”
“Yeah, Rarity.” Pinkie says already half way through the window. “You’re way too slow. The rest of us also need to--” Twilight tugs her tail, pulling her friend back in.
“No one is jumping out of the window until I and Applejack know what is going on.”
The four mares who were trying to escape are now glaring at fluttershy, looking away from the screen. When Twilight approaches her, at first she hides the screen with her wing.
“Fluttershy. What is going on?” Twilight tries to look over the wing, before the pegasus’s head appears in its place.
“Are you sure you want to see this? It’s pretty… ugly”
“Fluttershy I just saw Christine do things I wouldn’t be able to describe, even if I wanted to. There can’t be anything worse.”
She can barely see the rest of her friends whispering something behind her until Applejack gives them a stern look.
“Are… Are you--?”
“Yes, I am sure.”
Finally, Fluttershy kneels down and walks away, letting Twilight see what looks like a news report.
“Online creator Chris Chan arrested on incest charge after leaked audio alleged she had sex with her mother”
A few seconds pass as Twilight stands still and stares at the screen, barely breathing even. It’s more than enough time for applejack to read what’s on the screen and turn from orange to light yellow in a matter of a few seconds. All while Twilight continues her blank expression.
“Uhm, Darling?” Rarity lifts the hoof from her nose to put it on her friend’s shoulder “How are you feeling.”
“…Let’s get out of here.”
“Phew, finally you said it.” Pinkie pie says, her lower body out of the window. “Even the dimensional merge is getting tired of waiting for you.”
“What?!” – Five ponies say in unison.
Twilight runs to the window, pushing pinkie out of the way, as the other mares make their way one by one to the door, climbing each other like a squishy jenga tower. Among the clouds and buildings, it’s not easy to see, but the cyan glowing ends of the dimensional merge are approaching one another with the window to Equestria shrinking.
“Quick. We need to run!”
As the unicorn teleports outside the rest dash, jump and fly out, running down the street. Twilight thinks about just Teleporting for a second, but yet again her magic only allows her to go to the edge of the merge. Then there are her friends.
What if Twilight is stuck in this world? Or anypony for that matter. Just one thought of living in the same universe as such a being as the first creature she met in this world makes the dizzy on the spot. The worst part is, it’s likely it isn’t even the worst she would’ve encountered, statistically speaking, it would be the average.
“Hurry up already!” Rainbow Dash says as she sweeps he friend, detaching Twilight from the ground at enormous speed before feeling Canterlot’s marble floors again. Applejack and Pinkie Pie are already here while fluttershy gets inside when the merge is no wider than the street it covered.
Rarity isn’t a runner by any means, but she should make it. Or she can, until the cursed scarf on her neck suddenly unfolds and curls under her hoofs. Her next step tugs her neck down, towering her whole mudding, her mouth might as well have left a dent in the pavement.
At this moment Twilight sees her friend through the window between the worlds now just 7 feet wide as the desperation flows down her face like a waterfall. The worst nightmare Twilight had just a few seconds ago now comes true in front of her.
How would the princess’s protégé live, knowing that her friend is possibly forever locked in the dimension where such creatures are allowed to exist. In Twilight’s case, she probably wouldn’t. OR at least she wouldn’t be able to bear the thought of it.
That’s why she won’t start now.
Only 5 feet left between the cyan crack’s ends, and Twilight teleports right to Rarity. It takes a moment for Twilight to concentrate on the exact spot rarity fell at, and this takes a 12 inches off of the merge. She grabs rarity by the shoulder. She tries to find a piece of ground to concentrate on, but her friends are blocking the view. There’s just a sliver of marble where Twilight could safely transport them both.
4 feet
And even then, this would transport them both only to the edge, if they can fit through the opening.
3 feet.
Being sliced in half isn’t all that better, but at this point is it that bad compared to being stuck here?
2 feet.
At two foot left Twilight throws her consciousness out of a window and casts the spell, and as before Twilight is nose to nose with the crack. However, this time she can at least partially cross. There is less than 1 foot left of an opening Twilight sticks her horn out of there, closes her eyes, and casts the same spell the second she feels the edges on her keratin horn touching the merge
Before she even opens her eyes, the familiar marble floor touches her hoofs, and once she opens them, the Canterlot’s colorful buildings engulf her view. She hears a snapping sound behind her, however, and as she turns around, Rarity’s scarf cuts inside Cyan glow, as the crack shrinks into nothingness.
“Hey!” Rarity says “That’s a perfect length”
A second later she sees Applejack a few feet down the road. Twilight is about to contemplate if she did the right thing before the farm pony grunts, scratching her head. Rainbow Dash is lying on a side of a round roof top, and as she falls down in a half sleeping state, Fluttershy jumps out of a trashcan nearby. And a coughing sound from behind turns out to be pinkie pie spitting dirt from her mouth from a broken flower pot on her head.
It’s finally over.
Perhaps more importantly, she sees Celestia and Luna flying down from above, landing right in front of the unicorn. But it seems like Celestia’s back is holding something.
“Twilight, are you ok?”
Spike’s way too familiar voice sends shivers down Twilight’s spine. He is about to say something else when the unicorn jumps at him, reaching her hooves around him, almost strangling the poor dragon.
“Spike! Oh my god, Spike. For a second I thought I’d never see you again, I thought, I thought… Hey, I thought you were at the library.” Twilight releases her dragon as he catches his breath. “How did you--”
“Yes, sister.” Luna glares at her older sister, “Tell Twilight how it came to be.”
At first a bit confused, Twilight turns to Celestia again, but sees her eyes avoiding Twilight’s like lasers.
“Uhh… Princess Celestia? Do you know something?”
Celestia sighs. “I assume you’ve met Christine in there, my dearest pupil.”
“Yes we… Wait, how do you know her?”
“Well…” Celestia Scratches her head as Twilight’s friend’s gather around. “You see, Twilight, before you were born, I experimented with some artifacts that let you communicate between dimensions. And at one point I found the dimension that you, apparently, just came from”
“And you knew all along about this dimension?” Rainbow Dahs hovers over to face the princess.
“Not exactly. All I knew is that the time there moves a lot slower than here and there was this extremely bizarre person that would take everything I say literally. And then… Well…”
“Say it, sister!” Luna says on the verge of her royal voice.
“What happened, princess?” says Twilight.
Celestia sighs again, deeper than Twilight ever heard from her. “I told them that anyone could become a princess and it came with a lot of power and… Somehow that ended up convincing them they are a god of this world.”
“Which apparently made them powerful enough to temporarily merge two universes together.” – Luna adds.
“We only learned about the dimensional merge earlier today. We tried to get into the castle as soon as possible, but all we managed is to protect Spike from this phenomenon.”
“But how--”
“And you won’t even mention those idea guys you met first?” Luna cuts Twilight. “The next time you screw up like that at least spend 5 more minutes to write a decent explanation instead of covering your butt!”
“Sister. Not now.”
“Oh, I think I read about the idea guys inside Christine’s house.” Fluttershy mumbles from behind the two sisters.
“You went inside her house!?” Celestia twists around, eyes in terror.
“Hey, uhh. Your majesty?" says Twilight "They told me something about me becoming a princess. Do you--”
“Oh, really?” Celestia smiles at her pupil, but at her face Twilight can’t help but read the same fake grin she pulled herself so many times today. “Ha ha… Ha… I really don’t know what they could be referring to.”
“And let me tell you, your highness” Rarity steps between the two “Should I mention that I was violated, by this… this… ugh, I can’t even put it into words.”
“Hey, you aren’t the only one.” Rainbow shouts from behind the white alicorn.
“What was that about the idea guys again?” Applejack taps the princess’s flank like a door.
This starts a very loud discourse of questions, elusive answers, and the competition of “who got violated the most” between Celestia and Twilight’s friends, all while Twilight herself can’t stop staring into the abyss of questions with no answers. She’s so consumed by it that when Luna taps her on the shoulder she jumps in place.
“Did you see the Fanta bottle?”
To be fair, in everything that happened Twilight almost forgot about it, but now when she’s been reminded of it, she feels the breakfast she didn’t eat run to her throat.
“I think the less you know from now on, the better.”
“… Yeah, I guess you’re right.”
And for next few minutes, in all the chaos, Twilight is thankful that she’s here with her friends and nowhere else.