//------------------------------//
// 1  Not as might be expected 
// Story: Diverted to a Different Destiny 
// by Amethyst Dragonfly 
//------------------------------//

Dee parked her car in the grocery store parking lot. She took her purse then got out and locked the door. But as she started walking toward the store a wave of dizziness washed over her that was strong enough to cause her to stop walking and drop her purse. 

She vanished from that world.


******

Dee suddenly found herself standing on a street in a small  village. Looking around she saw… Sugar Cube Corner? And some pastel colored little ponies standing about looking at her with fearful expressions.

Bon-Bon saw her arrival and thought, I don't know who... or what that is, but I better go make certain that it's not up to anything bad.

She walked over to Dee. "Excuse me but who are you, what are you, and why are you here?"


******

But The Author had seen the odd human Outsider that had slid between realities because their path had passed through the reality that Everglow was in. She noticed that the travel did not seem to have been of the human woman's own volition. The fabric of the Veil that divided worlds was still weak from that passage so she could see the woman in the place that she had ended up in. She decided to do something that she only extremely rarely did, directly interfere, and quickly wrote:
But even though the shift in realities was seemingly completed, something caused a tear in the Veil between worlds to open under the woman. It diverted her from her originally intended destiny, and into a passage to a different destiny.


******

Dee was about to answer the familiar looking pony, whose name escaped her at the moment, when a sudden tear in reality opened under them and they fell through it. The tear closed up immediately after them.


******

Dee appeared with her feet about a half inch above the cobblestones of a street in a town much larger than Ponyville. 

Bon-Bon appeared about the same distance from Dee as she had been in Ponyville. Her hooves were about a half inch above some other cobblestones. She landed without incident.

But as Dee had landed from that short drop, one foot landed on a cobblestone that had a wide streak of something slick across it. That foot slipped out from under her and she started to fall backwards.
-blip-
Dee appeared with her feet about a half inch above the cobblestones of a street in a town much larger than Ponyville. She landed from that short drop in a steady stance with both feet on dry cobblestones.

Bon-Bon appeared about the same distance from Dee as she had been in Ponyville. Her hooves were about a half inch above some other cobblestones. She landed without incident.

An elderly pony in bright purple robes saw their arrival. Both times! But it was the same time? It differed for one of the new arrivals. Under Score stared in wonder. "By the quill! That was a reality reset!" He then started quickly walking over. 

Even though others on the street had also been facing Dee's arrival, and were closer to where she appeared, Under was the only one that reacted to what had unhappened. No one else, not even Bon-Bon, remembered the different past.

Dee looked around in wonder and what was becoming fear. Nearly all of the beings that she could see were ponies wearing clothing. But for some of them the clothing was actually medieval looking armor of differing types. Also, some openly carried medieval looking weapons. She frowned worriedly while thinking, I don't like this, I'm somehow somewhere else for the second time. Judging from the armor and weapons, this place at least could be violent. I'm not prepared for that. And although they look like they are the same size and have pastel colors, those ponies look somewhat different from the ponies that I saw in Ponyville.

Bon-Bon had been looking around also. She had quickly realized that ponies on the street were definitely not Equestria ponies. She closed the short distance between herself and Dee and nudged her hand. "I don't suppose that you know where we are, or how we got here, do you?"

Dee looked down at Bon-Bon and shook her head. "I haven't got a clue. In fact I don't even know how I got to your world."

"Excuse me, but would you be willing to come with me to talk to Fore Word, the Mistress of the Library? She resides there in Luminace's Library." Under looked hopefully at Dee as he gestured with one hoof at a magnificent building that looked as much temple as library. "It is a truly rare event when somepony that can reset reality, even in a minor way, comes to Viljatown. I am certain that she would like to talk to you."

Dee blinked. "Uh, sure, I guess so. But I would like to know the name of the stranger who somehow noticed that minor retcon. To be fair I will tell you my name first. It is Deeann Rhiannon Ahearn but please call me Dee."

"Retcon? What a strange term. My name is Under Score, wizard and priest of Princess Luminace. Undoubtedly it is by her grace that I remember the replaced past." Under started walking towards the library.

"Oh, retcon is a term that I picked up from… some books. It is short for 'retroactive continuity' which is just another way to say that the past was changed." Dee walked along with Under, but still gave glances towards the crowds.

Bon-Bon followed them, studying the crowd along the way. "Yeah, wherever she goes I'm going also. Staying close to her might be my only way to get back to Ponyville. I know that I'm not as interesting as Dee because I didn't do a ret-whatsits, but my name is Bon-Bon."

"Did you learn how to do a retcon from the same books?" Under stopped walking after they had entered the temple.

Dee gave a short laugh. "Hardly. They were strictly works of fiction. And I didn't learn how to do a retcon, they just happen. But they have only happened rarely, just a couple of times when I was about to be injured. I thought that I was the only one who could remember both pasts."

Dee then looked around, staring at the stacks with their many rows of books. "What a magnificent library… there must be thousands of books." She sighed. "Since I am almost certainly not in the same universe that I started off in, and definitely not on the same world, there is probably little chance that I can read your writing… or numbers either. It's frankly amazing that I can understand your spoken language."

"From that sigh I take it that you like to read?" Under smiled at her while making a mental note of her Outsider status.

"Like to read? I can almost be sort of compulsive about it." Dee took a few steps towards the nearest shelf of books, peered at them, then walked right up to the books on it that were closest to her. "Wonder of wonders, I can read both the writing and the numbers!" She scanned rapidly over the books in front of her then frowned. "Unless I have interpreted your system wrong, this book," she pointed at it, "has been misshelved."

Under gave a start, walked over, and looked at the book in question. "No, you have interpreted our system correctly. That book is indeed misshelved." He took a few steps away. "Amazing how you figured out our system like that so quickly. Please wait here while I go speak to Fore. I won't be long."

Dee shrugged. "I am good at seeing patterns. Sure, I'll wait here."

Under nodded, hurried into the stacks, and was soon lost to sight behind the many rows of books.

Bon-Bon had been holding back a laugh. "You would have gotten along great with Princess Twilight Sparkle. Everypony knows that she is more than a bit obsessed with books. She would have probably put you to work beside her assistant Spike in making sure that the books in her castle were in the correct order."

Dee nodded distractedly as she took the misshelved book and put it in its proper spot a few books to the right. Another robed priest who had just walked up saw this and noted that Dee had handled the book carefully as she moved it. 

The priest walked up to Dee. "I can see that you respect books."

Dee gave a wistful smile. "At one time books were my only escape, and my only 'friends'."

The priest looked slightly troubled by that. "I hope that is no longer true. Oh, where are my manners? My name is Foot Note. Have you come here seeking knowledge?"

Dee smiled more fully. "You may call me Dee. One can never have too much knowledge. A wise person once said 'The more that I know, the more that I know I don't know.' But actually I am here because Under Score thinks that Fore Word would want to speak to me. 

"And no, it's not true anymore. I do have friends now, although I’m a very long way away from any of them at the moment."

Foot shook her head. "How is it that Under always finds such interesting beings? Your attitude towards knowledge, while common among us priests of Luminace, seems otherwise almost vanishing rare nowadays. Nearly all that visit here, while they might be seeking knowledge, are only looking for it in answer to a very specific question or problem. 

"And I feel confident that you would find new friends here."

Bon-Bon yawned, bored with the conversation that she wasn't a part of. She walked a short distance away so as to not look like she was rudely eavesdropping. A book fell off of a shelf right in front of her. She looked down at it, and saw that the title was "Steady Shepherd, The Lonely Chaos Hunter." She picked it up and started reading a bit

Foot noticed that Dee’s gaze had kept going back to the books. “You really want to pick out a book and read, don’t you?”

Dee nodded. “I do, but it would be rude to do that when Under should be back soon.”

Just then, Under came trotting back into view and approached them. “I see that you’ve met Dee, Foot. I am about to take her to meet Fore.”

“Yes, and I think that she would fit wonderfully as a member of the Library.” Foot smiled at Under. “I realize that’s not why you brought her here, but she has the heart of one of us.”

“And I don’t even keep it in a jar beside my bed”, Dee joked. “I do appreciate the sentiment, but I couldn’t help noticing that this is as much a temple as a library, if not more, and I know nothing about your religion, or your god or gods. I have to say that I didn’t have high opinions of at least most of the religions back where I came from.”

“That is a conversation that, at the least, needs to wait until after you talk to Fore.” Under turned back towards the way she had just come from and headed that way. “Follow me please.”

Dee started to follow him and then stopped for a brief moment. “It has been nice to meet you, Foot. I hope to talk to you more sometime.” 

“So polite too.” Foot nodded at her. “I enjoyed meeting you too Dee. And I also hope to talk with you some more sometime. Friendship guide you.”

Bon-Bon closed the book after noting the page number she was on, but kept a hold of it. She followed Dee and Under. I’m used to not being noticed a lot, but this is a bit ridiculous. It’s like there’s some sort of focus on this Dee, she mused.

The walk back to Fore's office was spent in silence. Dee glanced at the shelves that they passed. Bon-Bon silently thought over what she had read. They arrived at a nice office with even more books on the shelves around its walls. There was a robed elderly unicorn at a desk, reading a book that floated in the glow of her magic. Under knocked softly with one hoof on the side of the door frame as he and Dee entered the room. “Here’s the human named Dee that I told you about. Should I stay or leave?” 

Bon-Bon stopped at the door to watch whatever was going to happen.

“Please stay Under, whatever is discovered will be your concern also since you are one of the leaders of Everglow.” Fore used her magic to set the book on the desk. She then marked the page she was on with a soft cloth ribbon and closed the book. She looked at Dee. “So you actually reset reality, even if it only affected a very short time period. That’s very impressive even though Under did say that it isn’t something that you consciously do. Would you mind if I cast some analyzing spells on you?”

Dee looked thoughtful. “Analyzing spells? I don’t see any harm in that so go ahead. Maybe they will also explain how I ended up here, if not why.”

Bon-Bon shook her head. Dee is too trusting. Just because they say that they are going to be only casting analyzing spells doesn't mean that's the case.

Fore stood up and moved slowly out from behind her desk. She walked over to a chair close to it that had a stool in front of it. She then sat back down and motioned to Dee. “Please, come sit on this stool. My aged bones won’t take kindly to any attempt on my part to stand for as long as casting even the shortest spell that I have in mind will take. Also, it is easier for me to reach your head this way.”

Dee went over and sat on the stool, and then smiled at Foreword. “That sounds far too sensible. I’m ready whenever you are.”

Fore placed her front hooves on the sides of Dee’s head and started chanting in a droning manner. As she chanted she appeared to be looking through Dee, rather than at her.

A dim multicolored glow gradually built up around Dee.  It flickered and rippled as its colors moved around her. Dee giggled. “That tickles.”

Under gave a start but kept quiet. He had never before seen an analyzing spell cause that effect.

After some time Fore frowned slightly and changed the chant that she had been uttering. The glow brightened a bit and its movements increased in speed a bit.

“Ooh, now it is starting to feel nice.” Dee looked at Fore. “Hey, why the frown? Nothing’s wrong is it?”

Bon-Bon watched worriedly. I don't know this magic but something doesn't seem right.

Instead of answering, Fore continued chanting for a longer period of time. She then frowned deeper and changed her chant again. The glow got brighter and its movements sped up again.

“Wow, I feel like I’ve drunk a lot of caffeine. But you’re frowning more?” Dee looked at Foreword worriedly.

Fore changed her chant once more after even more time had passed. The glow increased in brightness several orders of magnitude and its movements sped to a dizzying whirl.

“Uh, I’m starting to feel really odd.” Dee closed her eyes as her very form started to seem indistinct because of the bright whirling glow surrounding her.

After an even longer period, Fore changed from saying a chant into saying what seemed more like a prayer in its pacing although she was still saying it in the same droning voice. After she did this nothing at all could be seen inside the whirling glow as it brightened even more and sped up yet again.

Bon-Bon paced in place. I hope that Dee is okay.

A couple of hours later Fore stopped abruptly with a gasp of surprise and dropped her hooves to her sides. An instance after she did so the glow erupted into a blinding flash 

When the dazzle from the flash faded from the ponies' eyes they no longer saw a very mature human sitting on the stool but a pony just barely past the cusp between being a teenager and being a young adult. She had a gold colored unicorn horn. Her coat was a iridescent dark forest green color that seemed to shimmer in the room's light but was clearly not that of a Gem Pony. Her mane and tail had bright yellow and medium blue locks. On her flanks a Brand of Destiny was displayed that was an open book with a stream of stars of different colors forming the top part of a question mark above the book. The clothing that she had worn as a human was gone.

Bon-Bon looked over the new unicorn in surprise. I wonder if Dee is still in that body? The body has the lines of the other unicorns that I've seen so far in my short time here. She isn't very similar to Lyra. … And now I want to go home even more. I miss Lyra so much already.

Dee opened her now bright green eyes. "What a trip and I don't even do drugs." She then noticed that her forward view had a pony's muzzle in it, and that muzzle was her's! Shocked by this she abruptly stood up on her four hooves and some sparks of several different colors sputtered from her horn. She then froze in position. She raised first one front hoof to look at it and put it back down. Then she did the same with the other. She rolled her eyes up to look towards her forehead as much as possible in order to look at her horn. Finally she craned her head around as far as possible and looked over her new body. She looked at Fore with a calm expression. “Well this is new and unexpected.” She then fainted.