Twilight sighed. She kicked her hooves idly off of the hard red bed that she was currently sitting on.
She hated hospitals. And she really didn’t know why. Perhaps it was because somepony had went around putting disinfectant spells on everything, leaving a terribly lingering smell of medical alcohol behind. Perhaps it was because the bright white lights that were flickering in the ceiling made an awful monotonous humming sound. Or, perhaps she was simply scared of the doctor.
Doctor’s were bad news. An apple a day keeps the doctor away? Yeah, right. Ponyville was Equestria’s capital for apple production. And yet, there were at least two or three doctors currently in this hospital, with an entire army worth of nurses. That statement was positively false.
Twilight had been waiting about five minutes now. The nurse had followed her to the room (that didn’t have any windows) and had done an array of preliminary tests. Blood pressure, heart rate, height, weight, all of the fun stuff. Now, Twilight was forced to sit and stare at the pretty white wall, or observe the metallic jars on the desk with Popsicle sticks in them, or quite simply, groan in boredom.
But the boredom that kept her mind occupied eventually fizzled away into a subject she didn’t even really want to think about.
Rainbow Dash. Did she actually like Rainbow Dash back? It was all very confusing, and Rarity was right. This wasn’t Twilight’s homeland. At best, she was just visiting. At worst, she was stuck here until Prince Solaris- or his equivalent- could find time in their schedule to cast the spell in her absence. She didn’t like bothering the prince, but if the situation was dire enough, she would be forced to. It didn’t help that Spike- or Spines- or whoever- was currently out of town helping The Crystal Empire. She would have to calculate in the entire time it took for a letter to get sent to Canterlot, which could be an entire week.
She didn’t want to break Rainbow Dash’s heart. But… maybe it was just unavoidable.
Twilight’s thoughts finally broke away as the door to the room opened.
In walked a pony she recognized as Doctor Horse. He was an orange coated stallion with a spiky, but flat, brown mane. Twilight wasn’t exactly sure, not being in the hospital much since she moved here, but she could’ve sworn that her Doctor Horse, the mare equivalent, was an ER doctor. What was the stallion doing here?
“Dusk Shine…?” He asked, his spectacle brimmed eyes flickering up from the clipboard floating in his magic. Twilight watched as his eyes grew wider upon seeing her. “Well. That answer’s that.” He said, walking into the room fully and letting the door swing closed behind him.
“Answers what?” Twilight asked.
“The tests the nurses took… I was expecting them to be different.” He tapped the clipboard. “Because your gender is written as Male on your medical documents.”
“Oh.” Twilight laughed awkwardly. “Sorry?”
“It’s okay.” Twilight watched in envy as he set down his clipboard on the counter top, using his magic to swivel over a rolling stool. He sat down on it, getting comfortable. “It’s not my place to judge. If you want to be a mare, that’s fine by me.” He swore, putting a hoof on his chest. “But that’s enough. What brings you in today, Ms Shine?”
“Well…” Twilight gulped, using her hoof to fan her head. “Sorry… I don’t like hospitals…”
“Oh, that’s fine.” He said. “Patients tend to feel claustrophobic in these rooms. It’s a shame you didn’t get a window room.”
“Yeah…” Twilight said awkwardly, eyeing the buzzing lights. “Yesterday night, I casted a heavy spell. My friend thought I should have my magic back by now, and made me come to the hospital.”
“Oh?” He said, his attention instantly peaked. He picked up both the clipboard and a fresh piece of paper in his magic, clipping them together as they were levitating mid air. A pencil began scrawling as he held it up to his face, creating a new paper. Twilight couldn’t see what he was writing, much to her dismay. “Your blood tests came back with about a twenty percent raise in ambient magic. What was the energy output of the spell?” He asked.
“Meh…” Twilight waved a hoof. “I think it was about ten-thousand Thames?” She guessed. Doctor Horse looked up from his clip board, the pencil stopping in it’s path.
“You’re joking.” He said simply. Twilight, by looking at his eyes, got the faint impression that he didn’t believe her. He let out a sigh, the clip board dropping by a few hooves. “What did you cast?”
“A dimension-hopping spell.” She said. “Takes a lot out of a pony.”
“You’re telling me…” He clapped his hooves together. “That you casted a spell with ten-thousand Thames to it’s name… and you didn’t instantaneously explode?”
“There was an explosion…” Twilight said slowly. “I was in between universes when it happened, so I was safe.”
“Raising the sun takes about fifty-thousand Thames. Are you telling me that you- an average Unicorn- was able to output a fifth the energy it takes to move the sun?” He laughed, almost mockingly. “If I scan your Magic Reserves, and they aren’t shattered, I won’t believe you.”
“S-S-Shattered?” Twilight stuttered, her pupils shrinking to pin pricks. “You don’t m-mean that, right?”
“I do.” He stood up from his stool, approaching Twilight. “I’m going to run an MRI spell on you, okay? Close your eyes.” Twilight nodded, squeezing them shut. Her head was filled with concern as she began feeling a very strange sensation.
It was like somepony had put an ice pack on her skull. All at once, she could feel the temperature drop, and even the eye sockets in her skull form a hard edge. It was like Doctor Horse had begun trickling ice cold water down her horn, stretching along the surface of her brain and pooling in the cerebellum. Through her eyelids, she watched as her veins began glowing with the same golden aura of Doctor Horse’s.
As quickly as the sensation appeared, it vanished. Twilight opened her eyes.
Doctor Horse shook his head.
“Congratulations, Miss Shine.” He applauded. “Your Magic Reserves are completely shattered.”
“What?” Twilight shrieked. “S-Shattered? B-But that’s not even- I didn’t- am I going to be okay?” Twilight asked hurriedly, not enough breath in her lungs to satisfy her questions.
“You’ll be fine.” He waved his hoof so-so. “It’s a hairline fracture down the subliminal broad head. Magic is leaking out and into your blood. Which explains why the ambient magic concentration in your blood was so high.” He sighed, scrawling down a few last minute notes into his clipboard. “The truth of the matter is- Comminuted fractures rarely ever heal back to one-hundred percent.”
“So…” Twilight hadn’t realized she had begun sweating, only wiping the sweat off of her brow after a dollop had almost rolled into her eye. “A-Am I never going to use magic again?”
“You’ll use magic…” He trailed off, mumbling under his breath. “In three months…”
“Three months?” Twilight repeated with excessive volume. Doctor Horse shrunk a little under the intensive volume, but managed to keep himself together enough to begin writing a prescription on the counter.
“Not the full three months.” He corrected. “Three months for the hairline fractures to fully heal- or, rather, heal as much as they’re going to.” He let out a little chuckle, eyes glued to the piece of paper he was writing on. “About one week for basic levitation spells.” His eyes flickered up, staring a hole into Twilight’s own. “No multi-tasking with your magic. Zero. Nadah. Anything, and I mean anything more intensive than lifting a jug of water with an average weight of twenty pounds will exasperate the fracture, and we will begin discussing emergency surgery. Got it?”
Twilight’s only response was a comically loud gulp.
“Good.” He looked back down. “Okay. One prescription for Dusk Shine.” He flared his quill in his aura with a final flick of his magic, setting it down. He picked up the paper with his magic beginning to hoof it over to Twilight. “This should help with some of the headaches that will develop.”
“Ooh- actually?” Twilight piped up. “Can you change the name to Twilight Sparkle?”
“Name-change?” He asked, setting the paper back down. “Sure. But- I didn’t recall any of your medical information saying Twilight Sparkle on it. Hay, your medical information still says Male under the gender box.”
“That’s because I don’t come from this dimension.” She stated simply. The doctor looked up. “I come from a different dimension.”
The doctor’s only response was more laughing.
By the time she had left the hospital, it was already three in the afternoon. She had to sit there and explain to a laughing stallion that she wasn’t joking, and that she genuinely hopped dimensions. After that, he seemed less argumentative when it came to how powerful of a spell she cast- and her own ability for casting spells. After the whole ordeal, Twilight’s mood had seemed to take a sudden dive through the floor. She had been bantering back and fourth with Rarity and Applejack, trying to convince them nothing was wrong. Yet something was wrong, and she should’ve seen it coming. But she didn’t, and she felt useless for it.
Rarity said she would be at her boutique. Just like her world, it was a circular building that was designed to look like a pitched tent, purple and pink frills adorning the outside. Before walking in, Twilight shot a cursory glance at the sky. The sun had begun it’s descent back down, and sunset was scheduled for six this evening. That meant Twilight had about three hours to get ready for Rainbow to come over.
Rainbow. She had almost forgotten about her. Of course, she didn’t really give a time for when Rainbow should arrive, only giving a ‘later tonight’ for the Pegasus to follow. Rainbow could interpret that as three in the morning, but Twilight decided to err on the side of optimism. She had to sort these feelings out with Rainbow, and more importantly, come to a decision. It was eating her up that she didn’t even really know what that decision was going to be yet.
Twilight opened the door, stepping inside the boutique. It was a spacious area, taking up the majority of the ground floor, mirrors adorning the purple frills that hung off of the ceiling. There were stages, marequins, and dresses packing the walls. Twilight’s eyes glossed over Rarity, almost mistaking her for a marequin for how stationary she was standing.
“Welcome to the Carousel Boutique, where every garment is chic, unique, and magnifique!” She let out a little rehearsed laugh as she turned away from the dress she was perfecting on it’s stand, making sure it was presentable for any passing customers.
“Hey, Rarity.” Twilight greeted. Rarity let out a little gasp, turning to look at the purple Unicorn.
“Oh, Twilight!” She let out an actual laugh, letting the dress fall flat from her magic. “I do apologize for not coming to the hospital with you, darling.”
“Oh, it’s okay.” Twilight waved as Rarity turned her attention to yet another dress. Rarity turned around one more time to glance at Twilight, who kept standing still as the white Unicorn’s gaze traveled over her.
“It’s strange, seeing you.” She said. Twilight simply cocked her head to the side as Rarity looked back to her dress, to which she was currently using a steamer spell on to remove the wrinkles. “My brain does a little flip. It’s strange seeing Dusk on a mare.” She shook her head. “Anyways- enough about psychology- what about you? What did the hospital say?” She asked, raising her voice to be heard. Twilight let out a sigh of defeat, lowering her head to the ground.
“You were right…” She admitted. Rarity raised an eyebrow, turning to look at Twilight’s dejected posture once more. “I can’t use magic for the next week…”
“I was… right?” Rarity asked, once again letting her dress fall from her aura. She trotted towards Twilight, stopping a distance away. “Are you alright, dear?”
“I should be fine.” Twilight said, still looking at the ground. Rarity’s features only creased more with concern. “The doctor said I put a hairline fracture in my reserves. Yeah… I fractured my reserves.”
“Fracture?” Rarity shrieked suddenly. “Reserves?” Twilight’s ears clamped down at the excessive volume, shying away. Unfortunately for her, Rarity had other plans. She quickly crossed the very little remaining distance, gripping Twilight’s cheeks with both of her hooves and pulling her close. “Oh, you poor thing! Will you ever be able to use magic again?”
“Yesh! Lhike I shaid!” Twilight said while squirming out of her grip. She brushed herself off, backing away from the Unicorn. “Three months. If all goes well, and I don’t exert myself too much, my magic will be one-hundred percent in three months.” She looked uncomfortable, looking down. “Well… there’s more than a good chance that I won’t be one-hundred percent, but…”
“Y-You won’t be one-hundred percent?” Rarity asked. Twilight nodded. “B-But how will you get home?”
“I’ll have to ask Prince Solaris-”
“Princess Celestia-”
“-Princess Celestia to cast the spell in my place.” Twilight corrected. “I don’t like asking the Prince or Princess for favors, but- desperate times cause for desperate measures, right?” She chuckled, before becoming serious. “But I didn’t come here to tell you that.”
“Oh?” Rarity asked, tilting her head. “Then why did you come here for?”
“For a favor.” Twilight elaborated. “I… kinda invited Rainbow out to dinner?” She pawed the ground nervously. “Well- not dinner, per say, but-”
“Sex?”
“Not sex!”Twilight shouted. “I mean- just to talk things out.”
“Talk things out?” She let out a little laugh. “Ah. I forgot that you and Rainbow are… what, exactly?”
“I don’t know!” Twilight shouted, suddenly frustrated. The white unicorn, noticing the sudden aggravation, knew perfectly well the frustrations of love. In an attempt to cool down the Unicorn, she moved back over to one of her dresses, fighting with the trim. “She… kind ofcame onto me? And then said I was hot?” Twilight sighed frustratingly. “She seemed… upset?”
“Upset how, darling?” Rarity asked, still poking at a trim.
“Like-” Twilight sighed once more. “She seem nervous? And I didn’t react very well… I was kinda shocked. But I invited her over to talk later tonight, so… I was wondering if I could get come help!”
“Help?” Rarity hummed. “Help how?”
“I mean- what do I do? I’ve never been on a date before! Hay, I’ve never even been attracted to another pony in the world!” She let out a frustrated laugh. “Whether that means I’m Asexual, I don’t know! But-”
“You’re going to have to hurt her feelings.” Rarity said. Twilight shook her head, taken off guard by the bluntness of the fact.
“W-What?”
“You have to go home, correct?” Rarity said, finally letting the trim of the dress drop. She turned back, trotting towards yet another dress. “You can’t exactly take Rainbow with you. And I don’t know if she’s willing to drop her life here in Ponyville to run away with another pony. But that doesn’t mean we can’t make this night perfect, now can we?”
“Perfect? Perfect, how?”
“What were you planning to do for dinner, Twilight?” Rarity asked, stopping short of one of her dresses and instead sitting down on the floor.
“Err- I’m not very good at cooking…” Rarity let out a short laugh at that, the tea incident still fresh in her mind and mouth. “I was probably just going to order take out.”
“Absolutely not!” Rarity recomposed herself. “If you would let me, I would be more than happy to assist you in this date!” Rarity stood up, and suddenly, Twilight watched as the fashionista reignited a very familiar flame in her eye. “I simply cannot let this opportunity go to waste! Will you let me help you, Twilight Sparkle.”
Twilight, honestly, should’ve taken more time to consider who she was talking to. Instead, all she did was immediately nod her head ‘yes.’
“Ohmygosh!” Rarity squealed. Much to Twilight’s relief, she put both of her hooves on her own cheeks instead of hers. She stood up, galloping away so quickly that a nearby dress fell off of it’s stand in a heap. Twilight, a little more cautiously than Rarity, began following the dust trail left behind.
Just like the library, the bottom floor was dedicated towards the business aspect. However, a small staircase in the back led upwards into a similar loft area. Unlike Twilight and Dusk’s library, however, the loft was much simpler in design. The kitchen and living room was connected in one of the larger spaces, the walls curving outwards from the circular design of the building. Unlike Twilight and Dusk’s immediately recognizable library, the interior of this place could be easily mistaken as an apartment in Manehattan.
One of the larger rooms was Rarity’s inspiration studio. A room dedicated to her dress making, and one that Twilight was currently in the door of, looking on in awe as Rarity began levitating what looked like a million different pieces of fabric from every corner of the studio into a center raised platform. Rarity, for all of her credit, was trotting around the center platform like an overexcited school filly, talking to herself like Twilight wasn’t even there.
“Two of my best friends?” She asked herself, summoning a marequin that had been innocently sitting idle by a window. “Going on a date?” Rolls of fabrics unrolled themselves on the ground, seemingly every color of the rainbow was going into whatever she was designing.
“You think I’m your best friend?” Twilight asked. Rarity barely glanced over at Twilight, before continuing her maze of colors.
“Of course, darling.” She said quickly, continuing right on with her magic.
“I mean- I just got here.” Twilight shrugged.
“Purple? No- blue. Night sky blue.” She levitated up a dark blue fabric, draping it over the back of the marequin.
“I know I’m just Dusk from another world, but- I thought it would be harder to connect, you know?”
“Mmm- even lighter blue for the trim? Yes. Yes, perfect!”
“So far, everything is going… really well.” She tittered. “Too well.”
Then, that’s when she saw it.
It was one of the strangest feelings she had ever felt in the world.
About a year ago, Princess Celestia sent Twilight two tickets to the Grand Galloping Gala. After some shenanigans, those two tickets turned into seven, one for each of her friends. Elusive had went to work, slaving over the sewing machine for hours on end to get their suits done. For Twilight, however, Elusive went above and beyond, creating a beautiful dress. Yes, the suits for all of her friends were also very stylish, but nothing could quite compare to the way her dress glowed.
Now, as Twilight stared dumbly, she watched as the exact same dress was being threaded together. Everything from the stars on the hem of her dress, to the excited popped collar that extended to her ears. It made sense, really. In this world, the dress had never existed. Instead, it was the other way around. Dresses made for all of her friends, and a suit for Dusk. There was never a reason to make Dusk a dress like his other friends.
And here it was, being assembled for presumably the first time.
Rarity levitated up a star, placing it on the collar. She tittered, immediately removing it.
“Wait- No!” Twilight shouted. Rarity’s magic temporarily faded in surprise at the shrill shout.
“What is it, dear?” Rarity asked, slightly annoyed.
“That star goes on the chest.” She trotted forwards, pointing. “See? Right here.”
“Oh?” Rarity put the star back on the chest, connecting the two halves of the dress. “Oh, I suppose that does work.” She let out a small laugh. “I didn’t think you had an eye for fashion, Twilight. Perhaps you aren’t as much like Dusk as I thought!”
“Well… you see, Elusive already made this dress.” Twilight explained. Rarity raised an inquisitive eyebrow. “For the Gala. Your just… making it again.”
“Ooh, really?” She made an awwing sound. “That means you know how this dress is going to turn out!”
“I do. I’ve worn it. It was perfect!” Twilight beamed. “And now I get to see how it was made!”
“Well…” Rarity suddenly let the dress go from her magic, the entire thing falling to pieces on the ground. Twilight’s jaw opened wildly at the mess now made of the once perfect dress. “Unfortunately, I don’t have your measurements. Only Dusk’s.”
“What do you-” Suddenly, Twilight was grabbed by Rarity’s magic, her entire vision going a shade of blue. “H-Hey! Rar-ity!”
“Stand still, would you darling?” Twilight was levitated off of the ground, hastily deposited onto the stage, knocking the marequin off of the platform. Twilight flailed helplessly, knowing that breaking Rarity’s aura would require the use of her won magic, which was currently out of the question.
“I didn’t sign up for this!” Twilight yelled.
“But you’ll look so good!” Rarity argued, setting Twilight down. The pieces of fabric flew back up, recompiling into the familiar dress once more, this time only on Twilight’s body. “Trust me, darling. This will only take a-”
“Mom?” A young voice asked. Rarity froze, turning around quickly and seeing a small white Unicorn enter the room. “I was wondering if I could go with Scootaloo-” She stopped her own sentence, seeing Twilight being forceably held in Rarity’s aura.
“It’s not what it-”
“I’m going to just… go.” Sweetie Belle turned around, closing the door, and pretended that she didn’t just see that.