The silence was deafening. I know that sounds cliché, but it seemed to really fit the moment. We both stood there, just looking awkwardly at each other. Zipp looked pretty scared. I'm not sure why, but it seemed to have something to do with the fact I was there. Not a surprise, really. I know if something I valued but wanted to be kept a secret was suddenly found I'd be pretty surprised. Like the fact we can't fly. I know, that's pretty standard and we know the truth now, but only the Royal Family and their close retainers and staff knew the truth.
I simply continued looking. Zipp still seemed to be frozen in place. She was like a statue, only she was definitely breathing. I sat there, waiting for one of us to speak, the tension boiling over like a gunfight in one of those old frontier movies Zipp watches every now and then.
Finally, Zipp spoke. "H- how do you know what's down here?" she stammered, apparently mostly baffled by what was happening in front of her. "This place is meant to be a secret!"
Oh, yeah. I'm not supposed to know this place exists, which is totally my bad, but anyway. She deserved an answer so I gave it. "I might have followed you through the corridors whilst you were sneaking about," I replied. "You really don't need to sneak about like you're a spy in a Tom Hooves movie, Zipp. This is literally our house!"
"I suppose it is in the middle of the street."
I should probably let you know that before I ended up here I had dabbled in British music, specifically the 1980s scene. Having said that, the reference Zipp had made was really obscure. She'd quoted a line from a Madness song, for Luna's Sake! Very few ponies would get that reference. She'd blown her own cover, really.
"Now I know something's truly going on. You're quoting Madness? That's a really obscure reference for most peo- ponies." Oops! Made my own slip as well it seems. But Zipp didn't seem to notice.
In fact, she'd seemingly entered pleading mode, based on her facial expression. "Pipp," she pleaded, "please don't tell mom. This place contains so much stuff vital to bringing the magic back, and if it were to be destroyed we may never be able to fly again. Keep this a secret, please?"
Now that I could do. "Err, I kinda know this place is important, Zipp," I said, with a small smile on my face. "Besides, where else would you have a place to write numbers on a chalkboard? Nowhere, that's where." I knew she liked writing numbers on chalkboards. She's a curious mix of athlete and academic in that regard. What one of the Guardians of old would have termed 'egghead'. And athletic egghead. That has a nice ring to it. Must use it in a stream someday. Anyway, I had more important things to focus on in that moment in time.
"That's true," Zipp replied. "It beats being stuck in a boring princess lesson. Now, do I have your promise or not?"
I paused, and then decided to select something they'd likely recognise. If they were this invested in this place, the chances they were a brony or pegasister before ending up here was pretty high. "Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye." I finished it off with a wing flourish, quickly moving them back and forth. The previous generation of the show had often had a joke about wings flaring out at innapropriate moments, or what the fanbase called wingboners. I hadn't noticed it here, although Pegasi do seem to use their wings to indicate their mood.
"Thanks," Zipp said. "Now, can I ask you something?"
"Sure!" I replied, before noticing Zipp staring at me oddly for my wing exercises. "Sorry, had some wing cramp there. Helps to keep them moving about a bit."
Zipp then dropped a pretty big question. "This is going to sound odd, but this is the million dollar-"
"Pound."
"Excuse me?"
Time to demonstrate that I had been paying attention. As seemed to be the norm for us Royals I produced a pound note from nowhere. "Zephyr Heights uses pounds and pennies, not dollars and cents. Seems each of the three tribes have their own currency." I mean, it made sense. All those years in isolation and no interaction would render the bit rather pointless, don'tchathink?
Zipp took a second to process this. "Well, let's rephrase that then. This is going to sound odd, but this is the million pound question, which is- where are you originally from, and who were you?"
I half knew where this was going, so decided to jump in right at the deep end and answer Zipp's question directly. "If you're asking what I think you're asking then I'm not from around here. I'm originally from another world, and wasn't originally a pegasus. Hopefully that doesn't sound too crazy."
Zipp audibly sighed in relief. Seems she'd been expecting a different answer. Having said that, I had been blending in remarkably well. "Looks like I need to tell the truth as well. I'm in the same boat myself. I'm from a long way from here in a different body that wasn't originally my own."
I clicked what she meant almost instantly, seeing as I'd been in the same position as her. It wasn't too bad a transformation, I guess, but getting the other set of equipment wasn't exactly fun. "Genderswap? Yeah, I can tell you that's not fun."
I saw Zipp wince. I can only assume her transformation and arrival here was fairly traumatic based on her reactions in the hospital. "Well, at least that cleans some stuff up. But I have to ask you something else."
I jokingly snorted. "You're asking a lot of questions today. This is busier than one of my 'ask me anything' streams!"
If Zipp planned on reacting to that, she didn't do so. "If you're not from here, and originally a human as I suspect, how then were you able to blend in so well? Why didn't you arouse any suspicions from anypony?"
I smiled, suppressing a giggle as it probably wouldn't be appropriate. "You'd be amazed how easy it is to go undetected as a younger sibling. Not only that, I learned how to do all the mannerisms and actions pretty well. What can I say? It beats my old life, and having a thorough knowledge of G5 helps me along with the more difficult stuff."
Zipp nodded, seeming to process this and bring it together in her mind. "Brony or pegasister?"
"Brony then, technically pegasister now," I answered. Clearly my comments on genderswapping didn't give the game away. "Same for you?"
"Yeah," she replied. "Can get kinda awkward at times. When exactly did you enter the world?"
I thought to myself, reckoning I could clear up a lot of things at once. "Before you, I think." I pointed to my coronet before resuming speaking. "I was at a concert when I found this. I then fell into this place, did some stuff in my bedroom, then a whole bunch of stuff you'd find boring happened. But you slipped on a banana peel and hurt your head! That was when I think you and the original Zipp switched places, as when you woke up you were totes freaking out!"
There was a short pause. "So, you said you know G5, right?"
I nodded. "Yep! I take it you do too!"
Zipp sighed before resuming speaking. "Mostly, though there are some bits of lore that aren't there, probably because the show hasn't talked about them. That means we need to be on guard. The Royal Celebration is next week, and the program for the Jubilee is already underway. We need to be ready for Sunny and Izzy's arrival next week, or else things could be thrown into chaos which we really don't need right now."
I grinned, having a distinctly Pinkie Pie esque idea. "Great idea! I'll prepare a wel-"
"No!" Zipp said. "Mom mustn't know what we know. If she hears what's going on and that we have information we shouldn't, she'll have us thrown in the loony bin!"
Interesting choice of words. "Were you British or something?" I asked. "And yeah, I can see the problem with that. Act normally, and pretend nothing odd is going on. No different to normal, then."
Later on we left the underground lab and made our way back to the palace. Apparently we were supposed to meet with mom, who was acting a bit weirdly. I sensed something was off- she suddenly seemed to be unaware of the fact there was a parade today (it had been in the calendar for months!), and seemed confused about other things she should have known.
We set off later, a little worried and deciding to keep notes. Perhaps walking into things runs in the family!