//------------------------------//
// Journey Through the Dark - Part 14 
// Story: Book 1 - The Behemoth came to Canterlot 
// by Equimorto 
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Twilight thought about it for a moment before she answered that. "Twilight Sparkle," she said. "Princess Twilight Sparkle, though that's not particularly relevant here. But just Twilight is fine if you need a name."
"That doesn't really answer the question," the female unicorn noted. "Where do you come from?"
"That's a long story," said Twilight, "and not one you're likely to believe unless I proved it to you somehow."
"Tell it anyway," said the stallion. "We're listening. It can't be any more unbelievable than an alicorn appearing out of nowhere in our laboratory."
Twilight grimaced slightly, but nevertheless she complied with their curiosity. "I'm from Equestria. Not this one, though. A different Equestria, one where Nightmare Moon lost and was purged of her darkness."
"And here I thought some particularly reckless rebel group had managed to crack the secret to ascension," said the other mare after a whistle. "Oh well. The existence of multiple universes is a theoretical possibility at least, and I don't see why you'd be lying to us. Sounds like a nice place, sure. How did you get here, though?"
"I..." Twilight hesitated for a moment. "I found a way. This isn't the only other universe I've seen, though most of the others aren't really inhabited." She avoided any mentions of why, and by their nods assumed the unicorns assumed they never had developed life in the first place. "I'm not the only one who's figured out a way to get across though. If I'm here it's because things are starting to be sent over."
"What kind of..." The stallion stopped, and stared intently at Twilight for a moment. "I'm sorry," was all he could manage to say after a pause of silent realisation.
"No one has been seriously hurt yet, aside from maybe animals," explained Twilight, feeling some need to at least reassure the ponies. "I think they were just doing test runs. But I don't think they'll stick to just those."
The unicorns exchanged a glance. "That might be what those up north in the Empire are preparing for," said the mare. "We've heard some rumors, but nothing concrete." The full reality of the situation slowly dawned on her. "I'm going to fetch the test results. If you'll be dealing with a full scale invasion of those things, I..." She cut off after failing to say anything else, and turned to head towards a door.
"How did they learn about your world in the first place?" the stallion asked. "Coincidence?"
Twilight didn't blush, but only because she'd been trained not to in that kind of diplomatic contexts. "This is not my first visit to this world," she explained. "Most of them I went by undetected. Sometime ago though, someone else came through, and there was a little... incident of sorts." Her eyes darted nervously to one door in particular. "You might remember it."
The stallion blinked in realisation, looking between Twilight and the door. "That was you then? Explains why we didn't get fired for it at least."
Twilight nodded. "Nightmare Moon, or whoever for her, probably traced the magic used in that room, or the traces left by the portal, or even biological traces left around. It wasn't exactly the safest trip I ever took to another world, but it was kind of an emergency."
"I guess that is why she had us out of the place for a bit," noted the mare, who despite her earlier statement hadn't actually left the room yet, busy listening to Twilight. She frowned, thinking of something. "Say. How did you end up down here and passed out?"