//------------------------------//
// 01 - Fainting Session 
// Story: Dusk & Twilight Swap Places 
// by Cxcd 
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Today was nothing special.
It was now later in the evening. Celestia’s sun had long since set, leaving a dazzling array of stars on the infinite black backdrop of the night sky. Today had been one of Rarity’s few and quite rare boring days. A few dress orders had to be filled, and a few ponies came into the boutique to shop for or fit a new fitting of an older outfit, usually one of Rarity’s own designs. In terms of customer flow, no more or less than expected had flown through. Not a hair out of place in the grand scheme of running a business. It was, by definition, a totally average day. It was one of those days Rarity would instantly forget by the time next week rolled around.
Today was so utterly boring and so not-special that Rarity decided to visit her good friend, Dusk Shine.
Dusk Shine was a stallion of many talents, as his Cutiemark was the element of magic itself. He was the Magic Element of Harmony, protege of Princess Celestia herself, an advanced scholar, and savior of the world multiple times. (Along with Rarity and friends) He always knew how to create fun, even if it meant reading directly from a book on how to have fun.
Unfortunately, Dusk was the only stallion in a group of mares. As a collective group, as in all six Elements of Harmony, they never had sleepovers. It wasn’t because they collectively thought something would happen if they slept in the same room as Dusk, it was more principal of him being a stallion instead. It wasn’t anything he did, and it wasn’t anything he could help.
As a matter of fact, there was a single exception. Rarity and Applejack had once gotten caught in the middle of a thunderstorm, and due to Dusk being the closest friendly face at the time, decided to spend the night there. He was more than happy to let them stay over. Which was… eye opening to say the least.
Dusk was more than willing to do some activities that were conventionally mare activities. Like doing make overs and playing dress up. It made Rarity… think about the stallion. Not even remotely in a sexual way, not even close, but as a position of sympathetic understanding. Perhaps there was something Dusk was hiding just below the surface.
But that was neither here nor there. If her suspicions were correct, it was an incredibly sensitive subject for everypony involved, and she wouldn’t dare gossip about it, being liable to hurt one of her best friend’s feelings, and potentially, life. She had talked about it to Applejack later, and Applejack had noticed the same thing, and similarly, held her tongue. Applejack had confided her full support with Rarity, but that was a one-pony case study. Who knew how her other friends would react? Honestly, probably also supportive, but there was always the off-chance something would and could go wrong.
Rarity took a deep breath, clearing her thoughts as the Golden Oaks Library came into her view. Now was not the time for closet stereotypes of a potentially fragile stallion. Now, time was worth spending with her friend.
It was a massive structure, being about thrice the height of a conventional one story Ponyville house. It was carved completely out of an old type of tree that grew massively. The lower-half was dedicated towards the local library, and the upper-half was a loft for Dusk and his faithful dragon assistant Spines.
Unlike Dusk, there wasn’t a foggy doubt in Rarity’s mind that Spines was homosexual. Or, at the bare minimum, bisexual. Perhaps it could still be a massive misunderstanding of Spines motives. Perhaps simply Spines just looked up and adored Rarity as a role model. But the way Spines looked at her while helping with dresses, the constant affection, and even sometimes entrances that involved drooling, evidence pointed towards a deeper attraction.
Rarity stopped at the red front door. She took a deep breath and raised her hoof to knock.
Knock Knock Knock.
“Wha?” The unmistakable voice of Dusk spoke through the door. It seemed he wasn’t asleep, and luckily enough, was in the center of the library instead of being somewhere undefined upstairs.
“Dusk? Is it alright if I come in-”
“No!” He shouted. Rarity took a preemptive step back. “I’m casting a highly dangerous spell, and I need you to stand back! This requires full concentration!” He shouted. Rarity, sensing the urgency in his voice, listened. She took a quick few steps back and pointed her ears intently.
It was some kind of faint humming being emitted from inside the library. In a sudden sense of concern, she could feel the magical harmonics being resonated through her horn, a bit like a tuning fork to vibrations. She bit her lip as the humming gained in intensity, feeling her coat standing on edge like a shock of static electricity was going through her.
Finally, she cleared her throat.
“Dusk-?”
Then, in a moment of pure confusion, the library exploded.
Well- not quite. A massive bang erupted from the interior. Simultaneously, every single window on the lower half of the library erupted, spilling out glass from every point of exit. The door was thrown open, and although Rarity was a good few hooves away, was unceremoniously flung from the ground by the shock wave. She landed harshly on the dirt, scraping her back and dirtying up her once tidied mane.
Her hearing was nothing more than a high-pitched whine. She pushed herself back into a sitting position, blinking back the torrent of pink light that had left a mark on her iris. She blinked even harder, shaking her head forcefully.
Rarity had half a mind to begin tidying up her mane. Rarity had half a mind to begin complaining, getting mad at Dusk, and then storming in to give him the yelling of a century.
The other half of her mind, however, was instantly concerned that Dusk had just blown himself up.
“Dusk!” Rarity yelled, forcing herself to her hooves. A few ponies had come out of their homes, apparently curious as to what the loud explosion was. Rarity, after a little galloping, felt the pain in her knees vanish. She burst into the main foyer of the library and rapidly looked around the desolate library.
Books were scattered from all of their shelves, spilling out onto the ground. The entire room still smelled of an intense wood-burning smoke smell, still lingering witth the pink fog thickly in the air. Glass was across the floor, and if Rarity wasn’t extremely concerned for Dusk, would’ve been equally concerned for glass poking a hole in the frog of her hoof.
But she instead let her eyes land on the black spot on the floor.
“Dusk!” She shouted, putting a hoof over her mouth. A little bit to the left of the black spot was four hooves, carved out by presumably the explosion.
Then, her eyes moved to the right.
Right there was another set of hooves.
They were significantly smaller. If Rarity didn’t want to disturb the crime scene, she would’ve put her own hoof on where the imprint lay, and more than likely, it would’ve fit perfectly.
Then, her eyes slowly drifted away from the center.
Black hoofprints. Black hoofprints of definitely not Dusk’s was going up the staircase, towards the loft of the library. Due to how far they were spaced apart, she could safely assume that the pony was galloping. Even by the staircase there was a massive black soot smudge where the pony presumably lost traction and slid into the bookcase.
Rarity trotted towards the bottom of the staircase, looking upwards and into its horrible darkness. The fog was mostly cleared, and the lanterns were lit down here, but up there? It was pitch black. Not a single flame licked.
“What the hay happened in here?” A voice asked. Rarity looked to her left and towards the open door. A pale-yellow Earth-pony was looking at the mess left behind.
“Nothing, Roseluck.” Rarity said. “Just… another failed experiment. Please, be a dear and close the door?” She asked. Roseluck made a sour face, obviously detecting the hesitance in Rarity’s voice, but eventually conceded and gripped the knob with her hoof and latched it shut. Rarity swallowed her spit, turning her gaze back up the terrifying staircase.
With a hollow breath, she began her trek up the black void.
Not a single lantern was lit. Everything was more than black. Everything was vanta black. Dark-dark. Rarity stopped at the top of the staircase, igniting her horn and dowsing the immediate area in a pale blue light of her own aura. She looked up, extending her magic upwards and enveloping a lantern hung from the ceiling. It flickered that same pale blue for a moment, before igniting a bright yellow and extending its tendrils out and into the dark floor.
To her left, a kitchen. Right, the bathroom. But her eyes were firmly on the black soot ridden hooves. They had begun fading ever since the pony got to the top of this staircase, but were still strong enough to see. Once again, the area became an immediate black, and Rarity lit another lantern. It flickered the same blue, and like the last one, ignited into a bright yellow as her magic erupted by the oil.
It was another staircase, this time leading into the main loft area, where Dusk’s bed, personal library, living room, research desk, and sometimes dining room was. It was a massive space, and right about now, as Rarity stared up at the only other logical place that the mystery pony could’ve scampered off to, her heart dropped.
She really wished she asked Roseluck to come with her.
Rarity carefully trotted up the staircase, igniting yet another lantern with her magic. It didn’t help to ease the tension she was feeling, but some light was better than none.
Rarity grasped her magic towards the light switch. She had been manually activating the lanterns before, but with larger spaces, they usually had actual switches for the ponies who happened to not have a horn. She twisted the valve that ran oil to the lanterns and pushed the button that created spark.
Every lantern instantly ignited, much to her relief.
It was a huge loft, just like she was used to seeing whenever she came over. The hoofprints faded halfway into the room, leaving the mystery pony’s location ambiguous. Rarity took a deep breath and entered the loft.
She was not attacked. Instead, she stood in the slightly chilly air for a moment, looking around dumbly. If this was the last place a pony could go, then surely, they would’ve tried to run away by now, right? Or perhaps try and attack Rarity? She didn’t know of many defensive spells, but she knew that pooling magic was never very good for the physiology of other Unicorns.
Rarity began preparing her pooling of magic when she heard the unmistakable sound of shuffling.
Her breath hitched, her eyes going wide. Slowly, she turned around and looked up to the balcony that housed Dusk’s bed. Although she had now identified a sign of a potentially dangerous pony, she still was surprised that she hadn’t been attacked yet. From her angle down on the lower floor, she could distinctly make out a lump on the bed.
Her heart began thumping.
There they were. Dusk had… teleported a pony into his home? Created a pony?
Now that was a heavy thought. What if Dusk had created a new pony, and right now, this pony was terrified of a scary Unicorn pooling her magic around her horn?
Or Dusk simply finally went mad. Honestly, that was more likely the case then Dusk creating a new life form.
Rarity began her trek up the third flight of stairs and entered Dusk’s room. There wasn’t really a dividing barrier, being barely a support beam of the tree itself diving from the third set of stairs and the bedroom itself.
The intimidating hump on the blanket was barely moving. Perhaps it was shivering slightly. Rarity’s heart began jumping into her throat, a thin layer of sweat building on her brow. If she wasn’t already battered by the explosion, she would’ve immediately stopped everything to wipe away the thin layer. But right now, she had to confirm whether or not Dusk had just exploded himself.
She finally stopped walking at the foot of the bed. It was obvious that this wasn’t Dusk. The lump was way too small to properly house the stallion. Where Dusk went and if he was okay was a question to be answered later. Right now, Rarity had to know who was in Dusk’s bed, and what he had summoned.
Rarity took a huge breath, and without a single plan running through her head in case the pony was hostile, yanked the blanket.
“Gah!”
“Aah!” Rarity shouted. She took a few quick steps back, expecting to be attacked, and raised her hooves in front of her face. Instead, there was a surprising amount of silence, and an even more surprising amount of no-movement.
Slowly, Rarity lowered her hooves.
There, on the bed, with her hooves pulled close to her chest, was a mare. It was obviously the mare who had planted the hoofprints on the ground, as her face and coat was an ugly shade of burnt black soot. Luckily, though, it seemed most of it had been rubbed off in some way, leaving a slightly disheveled pony behind. Rarity put both her hooves back on the ground, and asked the only question she could.
“...Dusk?”
Despite the black soot covering her face, it was still painfully apparent that this was Dusk. His purple coat. His dark sapphire mane, and his purple streak. Although, they did look a little bit less than straight, her mane sticking up wildly from the explosion downstairs, Rarity could recognize the pony from a mile away.
“Um… Surprise?” Dusk said, shrugging pitifully. Rarity blinked, shaking her head. She still felt a little lightheaded from all the adrenaline that had been pumped through her system.
“Surprise?” Rarity asked. “Surprise?!” She shrieked. “Dusk, I thought you had died!” She shouted. “And look at my coat! You ruined my coat!” She huffed. “This is going to take all night to wash out!” Dusk shrunk on the bed, like a foal who had been caught with their hoof in the cookie jar. “And my mane! Don’t even get me started on my mane!”
“Are you not-” Dusk swallowed. “Are you not confused at all?” She asked. Dusk made a wild motion at her body.
“Oh, puh-lease.” Rarity waved a hoof. “I knew you were a Trans-mare a long time ago.” She half-lied. She had her suspicions, but now she could play the I knew all along card perfectly.
“Trans-mare?” Dusk asked, full of surprise. She chewed on her lip for a moment, looking to the side.
“Yes, a Trans-mare. Do you not know what a Trans-” Rarity asked.
“What?” Dusk suddenly screeched, as if Rarity’s words caught up to her. “No-no-no!” She jumped off of the bed, landing on all four hooves. If Rainbow was here, she would’ve been impressed. “I-I’m not a Trans-mare! I’m not even Dusk!”
Rarity blinked, putting a hoof to her own chest and leaning away from the crazy mare.
“W-What, darling?” She asked. “Y-You’re not Dusk?”
“No!” She said quite loudly. “My name is Twilight Sparkle, and I come from another universe.”
Rarity stared with wide and crazy eyes for a few moments longer. The silence after her statement was astounding. If the library wasn’t confirmed empty before, the little amount of sound transferring through the walls was sure as hay evidence that it was empty now. Rarity began feeling her head develop a massive migraine as she started at Twilight.
“I-I’m sorry…” Rarity said slowly. “But did you say… another universe?”
“Yes.” Twilight nodded. “And in my universe, you’re a stallion named Elusive.”
“Oh.” Rarity said. “Huh. Interesting.” Rarity put a hoof to her head and promptly fainted onto the ground. Without a proper fainting couch.