Rarity slowly awoke.
Her eyes fluttered open, blinking back the layers of confusion that clouded her vision. Above her, she could distinctly make out the familiar and warm setting of the Golden Oak Library. Specifically, the loft area. She snuggled deeper into the pillow she was on, rubbing her head back and forth as a yawn forced her jaw open, closing her eyes dreamily. It was still dark out, and she didn’t know why she was on the red sofa of the Golden Oaks, and honestly, she didn’t mind. The red sofa was the comfiest sofa she had ever slept on. Why not resume her little catnap?
But… that was strange, wasn’t it? She couldn’t remember falling asleep. Her brows furrowed in concentration as she tried remembering the series of events leading up to her being here. She was here to visit Dusk… did she fall asleep during one of his lectures? Surely not. Right? All she remembered was…
A big explosion.
Rarity made a faint grumbling sound, pushing herself up into a sitting position, letting the comforter she wasn’t aware she was being covered by fall to her lap. It was obvious Dusk was uninjured. It wasn’t like she watched Dusk explode himself, then decide to make herself a bed and then fall asleep as Dusk’s corpse resided downstairs in a million pieces.
She rubbed a hoof below her horn, looking around. The fireplace was in front of her, flickering politely as a coffee table separated them. She blinked again, looking over the back of the couch and down the staircase. A few lanterns had been manually turned off. Not enough to be creepy, but-
Rarity faintly remembered turning them on. Why? She was… tracing somepony’s hoofprints. That was it. But what did she find?
She took a moment to look around the loft. It was the main living quarters, and boy was it lived in. Rarity’s profession was designing dresses and suits, so it really wasn’t her place to criticize the interior decoration of a Canterlot-native. But… well, the place looked horrendous. The shelves that weren’t full of completely randomly colorized books were instead full of junk. Amenities that Dusk had picked up, like empty flasks signed by a famous scientist, an extra set of her favorite quills, or a random drawing Dusk forgot to put away. If she had her way, the entire place would’ve been picture-perfect for a postcard.
Her eyes flickered back to the dark hole emanating below Dusk’s bedroom balcony. Down the staircase was an empty, all-consuming void. The lights she had turned on had been turned off, leaving a black space where a staircase should’ve been. She listened as hoof steps echoed up the halls and into the room.
Around the corner came a tray of tea supplies being levitated in a pink aura. Rarity almost let out a sigh of relief before noticing the pony who carried it.
Twilight Sparkle.
She remembered now. Throwing off the covers, Twilight Sparkle, and fainting.
Rarity hoped this was a dream. She could only stare dumbly as the mare clumsily dropped a teacup to the ground, thankfully not shattering upon impact. She levitated it back up, rubbing it off on her fur before straightening it on the plate. There was no way Dusk would willingly cast a spell that ripped open the fabric of reality just so he could swap places with his double, right? That wasn’t something Dusk would do, right?
Oh. Rarity thought. That was exactly something Dusk would do.
Twilight seemed to finally notice the pony staring at her from the couch.
“Oh. Hello!” She greeted with a huge smile. “You kinda fainted, so I thought ‘why not make some tea for us when you wake up?’ and then I did! And now we’re here!” Twilight rounded the sofa, depositing the platter onto the coffee table with a clatter. Rarity kept staring blankly. “You’re not gonna faint again, are you?”
“Oh- uh-” Rarity blinked harshly, clearing her throat as politely as possible. “Of course not, darling. I just-” She blinked even harsher, resisting the urge to try and clear her eyes. “Wow.” Twilight blushed a little, distracting herself by sitting on the floor with her back to the open flame, levitating up the teapot. She poured herself a cup.
“I didn’t mean for you to discover me. Not yet, at least.” She moved the teapot over to Rarity’s cup, marked by the three diamonds on the front. She hesitated pouring, looking up. “Oh- uh- would you like some tea?” She tried asking politely.
Dusk wasn’t exactly known for having delicious tea. As a matter of fact, every time Dusk had tried to make his own tea combination, it always, without fail, turns out terrible. Revolting. Salty and sweet at the same time, spicy and minty. It was honestly a scientific miracle how Dusk had managed to make his tea so terrible. Whenever he used store-bought teabags, it was fine. But Dusk was always trying to prove his recipe to whoever would listen, and a lot of the times, it was Rarity.
“Is it your own brew?” Rarity asked.
“Of course! I- er- Dusk didn’t have any teabags, so I whipped this up myself!” She chuckled. “I forgot to buy teabags last time I was in the market, too… Oh, I wonder if the same thing is happening on the other side!”
“I-I guess I would like some, yes.” She nodded. Twilight smiled broadly, letting her tea mixture flow into the cup. Rarity exchanged magical auras with Twilight, lifting the tea to her muzzle and inhaling deeply. It smelled… fine.
But Twilight isn’t Dusk. Rarity thought. Twilight’s a mare. She was raised like a mare. She must know how to make tea! So, without a second thought, Rarity pushed her lips into the rim of the cup, taking a quiet and polite sip-
“Pfft!” Against her will, the tea in her mouth involuntarily left at a high rate of speed. Twilight ducked, letting the barrage of tea fly directly over her head and sizzling in the fire behind her. It was salty, sweet, spicy, and minty! And it tasted identical to Dusk’s!
“Interesting!” Twilight said with a giggle. “You reacted the same way Elusive does whenever I make tea!” Twilight levitated over a tall glass of water into her line of sight. Somewhat forcefully, Rarity quickly exchanged auras, letting the cool liquid flood into her mouth and drain any awful lasting taste out.
“Y-You make tea the same?” Rarity asked, hunching over and wiping her mouth with a hoof. If she wasn’t already filthy from the shock wave of the explosion, she would’ve been revolted at herself for creating a damp spot on her fur. “V-Very interesting indeed…” She said sarcastically.
“I also got you a napkin!” Twilight said, levitating over an embroidered towel. “Just in case!”
“Just in case…” Rarity repeated, shaking her head in disbelief. She would have to spend a good few hours in the shower to recover from the dirt that had now made its home somewhere in her mane. Rarity couldn’t remember feeling this filthy for a long time. “You make tea the same as Dusk…” She let out a sigh. “Because you are Dusk.”
“Yep!” Twilight agreed, nodding. “We should be as close to identical as ponily possible. Our biological sex being the only difference. That means the only real difference should be things like puberty, gender norms, estrous cycles, you know. Sex things. Like-”
“Alrighty! Thank you, Twilight!” Rarity quickly interrupted, fearful of where she was going to go with that line of differences. “This is all just- very confusing for me.” She began playing with her terribly matted mane. “Honestly, I thought Dusk would have a list of questions as tall as himself ready for me to answer, but-” Rarity spotted Twilight slowly levitate something up. “What’s that?”
“A list of questions as tall as myself.” She responded bluntly, letting the scroll’s latch relax and fold down a list as tall as Twilight. Rarity blinked.
The proof was in the pudding.
She wasn’t crazy. Rarity wasn’t dreaming, and Dusk pissed off into another dimension because he was probably bored of this one, honestly. Dusk replaced himself with Twilight, as Twilight did with Dusk. They were the exact same pony.
Which could also explain the reasoning behind the huge explosion. The exact same pony with the same amount of magical potential casting the exact same spell in the exact same spot in different dimensions. Although Rarity was a Unicorn, she wasn’t exactly very well-versed in spells and the like. But, she did know enough to know that she didn’t know anything. But she could safely deduce that that combination of factors was a bad thing.
“A-Are you going to ask me those?” Rarity asked, pointing a chipped hoof at the list.
“Yes.”
“N-Now?”
“Mhm.” Twilight levitated the scroll over, reading the top of the list. “How does the reversed gender ratio of mares to stallions affect the geo-political sphere?”
“Well-”
“Are houses on average smaller over here because the dominant gender is female?”
“I don’t-”
“I don’t mean to be sexist, but it’s unavoidable here. Is Equestria generally more sanitary because-” Suddenly, Twilight let out a sharp short gasp of pain, letting the scroll hit the ground dramatically. Rarity watched with concern as Twilight massaged the spot right below her horn.
“Are you alright, darling?” Rarity asked, raising a concerned hoof. Twilight blinked back the pain for a moment.
“I’m fine.” She said. “Just- jumping through dimensions takes a lot out of a pony.” She let out a nervous laugh. “I was planning on going straight to bed, but- I wasn’t ready to be chased by Elusive’s double.” She let out another giggle, levitating the scroll back up. “So. Where were we?”
“No-no, darling.” Rarity leaned far enough forwards to bat the scroll out of Twilight’s magical aura. “You need rest!”
“I’m fine!” Twilight said, waving a hoof. “I’ve had worse-” She let out a huge yawn. “-magical exhaustion before.” Rarity hadn’t ever really cast any demanding spells before. The closest she had ever gotten to becoming magically exhausted was the day she got her Cutiemark. But she could still remember the dull ache behind her horn that forced her into a nap the moment she was done with the play. And she also knew how uncomfortable it was.
And, in some cases, dangerous. Running a pony’s magic on E for hours on end wasn’t very healthy and could cause permanent damage. Rarity let out a frustrated huff, annoyed at how similar Twilight was to Dusk.
“I insist, you must go to bed!” Rarity stood up, stretching like a cat, and hopping down from the red sofa with a clop of the hooves on the wooden floor. “I simply must invite you to go to the spa!”
“W-What?” Twilight asked, her face full of surprise. “Y-You’re actually inviting me to the spa?”
“Why wouldn’t I, dear?” Rarity laughed. “You seem like a…” She hesitated. “Nice mare.” She decided to deliberately forget the magical explosion and poisoned tea. “Besides, we both desperately require a shower.”
“O-Oh.” Twilight looked down at her hooves, which were still covered in a thin layer of black soot. “I-I guess you’re right. It’s just that whenever I ask Elusive, he always says no because I’m a mare and it would be weird.”
“What a brute!” Rarity shrieked. “Mares like you or I must be properly pampered from time-to-time! I definitely…” Rarity’s words died in her mouth when a question forced itself into her brain. “If you don’t mind me asking, who is this Elusive you speak of?”
“You.” Twilight responded simply. “From my world, you’re a stallion named Elusive.”
Rarity stared in awe for a moment. How many times had Dusk asked her to go to the spa? And how many times had she said no on the principle of being a stallion, her a mare? “O-Oh.” She suddenly felt a red-hot wave of guilt rush over her. She tried to flush it out, instead focusing on the here and now. “But no matter. That’s neither here nor there.” But she still made a mental note to apologize to Dusk whenever he got back, and more importantly, take him to the spa as a sorry.
“I would love to go to the spa!” Twilight said enthusiastically. Rarity smiled. “I’ve always wanted to go, but- every time I try to go, they always ask me these really hard questions about mud baths or whatever.”
“Then let me be your tour guide.” Rarity said. She rounded the coffee table, stopping in front of Twilight. Rarity, without really waiting for permission, plucked Twilight’s mane and looked at it with her hoof. “I can tell you keep good care of your mane, but I’m sure Aloe or Lotus would love for you to-” Rarity’s hoof brushed against Twilight’s head as she let her blackened mane fall back. Rarity let out a gasp, now putting her wrist below her horn. “Dear, you're burning up!”
“Yeah, well-”
“Off to bed!” Rarity exclaimed. Twilight almost made up a retort, but unfortunately, she was being escorted by a demanding unicorn. “You should’ve been sleeping hours ago! Magical exhaustion is dangerous!”
“I’m fine, really!” Twilight complained. She finally got to her hooves, walking away from Rarity’s incessant pushing.
“You, go to bed!” She demanded. “I will go home and get properly cleaned. Tomorrow, we must be off!” She spoke. “No more magic, missy!”
“Fine, fine!” Twilight shook her head, hooves in the air. Rarity nodded contently, turning around and beginning to walk towards the exit.
“I’ll be back around twelve!” She said. “Make sure you shower before hoof.”
“But… we’re going to the spa anyways!” Twilight said. “Why would I need to shower?”
“Because, darling…” Rarity turned around, her eyes glossing up and down the Unicorn. “You’re filthy.” She shrugged. “Ta-ta! Don’t blip out of existence while I’m gone!” She said.
“Wait!” Twilight exclaimed. Rarity stopped just below the arch leading downstairs, turning back to look. “I didn’t even get your name!”
“Oh, dearie me.” She giggled. “How unladylike of me.” Twilight’s eyes flashed for a second in compounded recognition at the sentence. “My name is Rarity.”
“Hello, Rarity.” Twilight waved. “Bye, Rarity.” Rarity giggled, finally descending down the staircase and leaving Twilight alone. Without Spike- or, rather, Spines- the library felt quiet and lonely.
But, despite the absence of any living life, Twilight still felt something swelling in her chest. A feeling she hadn’t felt for a long, long time.
For once in Twilight’s life, she didn’t feel out of place.