//------------------------------//
// 02 - There's no Simple Explanation 
// Story: Four's A Crowd 
// by IGIBAB 
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The princess bringing back a hydra wasn't the afternoon the crystal ponies had planned for today. Even less so a living and talking hydra.

Maëva was surrounded by small ponies looking at her weirdly. She had to ward off foals playing with her tail. "That's dangerous," she said to them. And it was, she didn't know how to move that thing around without breaking anything. Coming to this place, in the middle of the city right in front of the castle, had already been hard enough.

She had seen Flurry as small, but turns out she was a little bit taller than most of the other ponies here. But she wasn't as tall as her mother, princess Cadance, standing right in front of Maëva after her short introduction. Some explanations had been given to the princess of love.

"I've never seen a human get transformed into something other than a pony," she said, worryingly impressed.

"The tales in my world also talked about people being turned into ponies through the portals, if that's any reassurance."

It was Maëva's polite way of saying she didn't have any clue as to what was happening either.

"I didn't even know there was more than one portal," Cadance explained with surprise. "We're not even sure as to who built it. You talked about ancient mages?"

"People wielding magic," Maëva confirmed. "It's not something we know how to use in my world. But they knew. They came through portals of their own making when my people had barely mastered copper. But they didn't stay long, and the portals were lost, for the most part."

"But you found one. Or at least, your friend did."

Maëva nodded slowly, thinking about Éma. Her heart sank a bit. And something was off.

"I shouldn't be the first one to come here," she pointed out.

"Well, I didn't hear anything about talking hydras showing up," Cadance said, sorry for her. "But I'll contact the other princesses and the nations of the world, just to make sure."

"I'll send an expedition to where you said the ruins were," added the white unicorn right next to her, before turning to his wife. "We should also contact Twily. She understood enough of the magic to change the mirror, after all."

"She also has her book to contact Sunset Shimmer," said a pegasus with a salmon-pink coat standing right next to Flurry. 

"We'll work on that," Cadance abridged. "In the meantime, you're our guest, Maëva. Welcome to the pony world."

"Thank you, princess."





"Oh dear..."

"Yep, I told you."

Maëva looked at the mirror Flurry was holding with disgust and fear. So, that was her face now? She had never thought of herself as a pretty girl, but this... this was beyond horrendous. No amount of makeup would fix this face.

"I don't even have hair," she noted, horrified.

"You're a hydra," Flurry repeated, flying by her side. "That would be weird for a reptile to have hair. Pretty sure a wig would make it worse."

Maëva didn't even have arms to reach for her own face. She could only look at it and accept it was hers.

They were both standing in the middle of a great stadium. Since she was taller than most houses, Maëva had been assigned to live here. At least she had a roof, and Flurry had cast a spell to keep it warm.

"How old even are you?" asked the alicorn – that's the term she had employed to designate winged unicorns like her and her mother. 

"Nineteen. You?"

"Eighteen. You're young. I couldn't have told that from your appearance."

"... That's mean."

"Hey, at least your voice sounds feminine. Almost. A bit."

Maëva could hear her own voice. It didn't sound feminine at all. It was deep and distorted.

The pegasus from before came to them, flying up to Flurry.

"We have an answer from T-Er, princess Twilight," the newcomer corrected, after briefly glancing at Maëva. "She's coming soon, your highness. Your father said he's going to greet her and accompany her here. The mirror is coming as well."

"Thank you," said Flurry, before smiling. "You don't have to be so official around me, you know."

"Yeah but... In front of someone else?"

The pegasus nodded towards Maëva, wincing from embarrassment.

"I don't care," Flurry said categorically. "You're talking to me. I'm already surrounded by people bowing and picking words with such precautions it's like they're working crystal with my feelings. I don't need my best friend to do that."

"Crystal isn't fragile around here, you know," the pegasus mare pointed out.

"It's an expression!"

Maëva looked at them both. She could tell they were friends, simply by the fact that pegasus didn't bow when coming, nor did she present her respects. She looked about the same age as her, with a long blue curly mane.

"Anyway, I don't think I've introduced you, right?" Flurry said. "Maëva, this is my friend, Cozy Glow."

The pegasus briefly nodded politely.

"She'll be the one to help you if me or my parents aren't around," Flurry added.

"What!?" Cozy replied, surprised. "I wasn't aware of that."

"Well, now you are."

The princess giggled, looking at her friend with a mischievous smile. But that didn't seem to make Cozy laugh.

"Come on," Flurry said lightly. "It's not like you have anything planned."

"Well, it turns out I do," the pegasus replied, raising an eyebrow, before acting all dramatic. "But you never ask me, so how could you know I'm actually busy? What I feared has become true, I'm just a servant to be sent around, not a real friend. Oh, poor me, I-"

"Cut it out, will you?" Flurry interrupted with a little laugh. "What do you have to do?"

"I wanted to do a bit of research about the portals."

"With Twilight coming?" the princess doubted, raising an eyebrow. "As if you could find things she doesn't know already."

"I have my ways, mind you," said Cozy, defending herself with self-importance, raising a leg against her torso. "I know I can't really compete against the princess of books, but don't doubt my skills."

"Yeah, sure."

"In the meantime," Cozy pointed out, "Your guest is looking a bit left out. That's not very royal of you."

"What?" said Maëva, suddenly coming back to reality, a bit surprised to be involved in the discussion. "No, no, I'm fine."

Flurry looked at her with concern. Not because she had seen something on Maëva's face, but because her friend had said something about it. She knew how observant Cozy could be, especially with people.

"You were clearly lost in your thoughts, tho," the young pegasus insisted.

"I-... Well it's just... You two remind me of my friend."

"She didn't die, right?"

"I don't think so," Maëva said, a bit of fear rising in her at that simple possibility. "But my world is in such a mess that she could have... And I probably won't see her again."

"Unless we find a way to get to your world," Flurry said. "Why do you think we called for some help?"

"I... I don't know? Because you want to send me back or something? Or you don't want others like me?"

Flurry seemed shocked, while Cozy Glow couldn't refrain from displaying a little smug and mocking smile.

"She has a very nice opinion of us, I see," the pegasus noticed.

"We want to help your world!" Flurry said in disbelief. "You told us it's a mess, we're going to find a way to fix it. Then, yeah, probably send you back if you want. Or at least find a way to give you a body with arms."

"Why would you do that?" Maëva asked, thinking she was joking. "You don't know my world, you barely know me."

"Oh, she's deep in darkness," Cozy giggled, impressed.

Flurry was losing her mind.

"What do you mean "why"!? Because you don't leave people in a bad situation if you can help!? Even if you don't know them!"

Maëva was perplexed by her tone. It seemed so obvious to her. Well, she was the daughter of the princess of love after all, but Maëva had thought this was more like an honorary title given by another noble ruler just to sound great. Cozy Glow noticed the expression on her face and guessed:

"Are people selfish in your world?"

"Well, like everyone I would say," Maëva explained, unsure. "We all have a busy life, especially since things started to go to shit, so we only help each other if we have something to gain or if we feel like it on a given day."

"Hardships don't always bring harmony, huh?" the pegasus smugly said with a mischievous smile.

"We're not like that," Flurry cut. "We have a princess of love and a princess of friendship for a reason. We help, we care, we rescue, we forgive. In this world or another."

"That... sounds like something a cartoon character would say" Maëva couldn't help herself to say.

"A cartoon?" Cozy asked, interested.

Yeah, they probably didn't have TV here, huh? Or so Maëva thought.

"Er. A story. Like a comic, but animated. For children."

"Oh, that was like an insult then?" Cozy guessed.

"What? No!"  

Maëva looked at Flurry, afraid she might have misunderstood her. The alicorn looked more confused than anything, but just to be sure, Maëva added:

"It's just... Well, people in my world would call that very naive."

"What's wrong with that?" Flurry asked, almost offended.

"I... I don't know, really. People think you can be exploited if you see things brighter than they are."

"Well, the blame is on the people taking advantage of that then."

"... Guess so... How do you even intend on helping my world?"

"We'll see. We'll need to get there first."

Maëva didn't really reply. What could little ponies do against the end of the world? Even with magic, it didn't look that overwhelming. At least from what she had seen.

"On that note," Cozy said. "If you'll excuse me."

"Fine, fine," Flurry sighed, waving a hoof. "I'll stay with her."

Her friend had her wings already deployed anyway. She flew off the stadium, leaving them both alone.

"... Am I an annoyance?" Maëva asked, not sure as to what Flurry's sigh meant.

"Oh, no," she giggled. "Trust me, life as a princess gets boring around here. It's just snow, snow and snowstorm. I'm glad something is finally happening. And the fact you found some ruins will maybe shake things a bit."

Maëva thought of the dome she crossed when coming to this city. It was weird, that line between cold and decently warm. Like the spell Flurry had cast around them, but applied to a whole city. No wonder why they didn't seem to need electricity here, if magic could act as both insulation and heater.

"Why so much snow?" She asked, curious.

"Because we are in the north...?" the princess replied, unsure as to what kind of answer she had been expecting.

"Fair enough. So, things aren't like that to the south?"

"Oh, no. South, that's Equestria. There's pretty much every climate there because it is so big. Continental, mild, there's even a desert and a tropical forest if you go south enough."

"Wait, so we aren't in Equestria? I thought Equestria was the name of this world?"

Flurry bobbed her head left and right, breathing in through her teeth.

"Well, not exactly but in a way yes. We're like an independent region. My mom is still a princess of Equestria. And, no, the world is called... world. That would be weird if we had a name for it, wouldn't it?"

Maëva thought about it. Yeah, she didn't have a name for her own world either, aside from "world". That made sense, weirdly enough. Flurry suddenly realized something:

"Wait, how do you know it's called Equestria?"

"Well, I think that's how the ancient mages called it?"

"... How long ago was that?"

"I don't know, two or three thousand years? Why?"

Flurry frowned, a bit skeptical about one thing.

"I'm not sure Equestria existed back then..." she muttered.

"You don't know for how long your country has existed!?" Maëva shouted with surprise, causing Flurry to cover her ears. "Sorry."

"I said I'm not sure. I'm not a history book!"

"Well, you should ask your princess of books then."

"Princess of-"

Flurry facepalm with a hoof, sighing:

"Twilight isn't the princess of books, it's just a name Cozy gives her. Don't call her that in front of anyone."

"What is she then?"





"The Princess of Friendship, Twilight Sparkle!"

Trumpets and flugelhorns echoed throughout the stadium, as the procession made its way towards Maëva, standing up in the middle of the field. She bowed respectfully, seeing the purple alicorn approaching, followed by a trailer carrying a mirror surrounded by crystals, as well as a pile of books next to it.  

Twilight tilted her head forward, saying:

"It is my pleasure to meet you, Maëva from another realm."

"The pleasure is mine, princess Twilight."

The alicorn giggled kindly:

"It's a bit weird to hear a hydra talk."

"It's even weirder to be one, believe me."

"I can imagine that."

Maëva smiled, asking:

"I understand you went to a human world?"

"Yes. Few are the ponies that can say that. Flurry told you this, right?"

Maëva nodded, noticing that this princess was about as tall as Cadance. She seemed nice.

"I didn't hear about it in my world, tho," Maëva pointed out.

"It stayed a secret. But it's more likely an indication towards the fact that your world isn't the same as the one I visited. Your name shows that as well."

"Is this why your ancient mages never came back to my universe?" Maëva asked. "You found other worlds?"

Twilight winced. She had to admit:

"I don't know who those ancient mages are. I couldn't find anything about them in my old books. As far as I know, no one from Equestria knew there existed other human worlds before you came."

"Great..."

"There's also another problem..."

Maëva tilted her head on the side, as it was the best gesture she could do. Twilight's horn began to glow and a book was lifted from the pile.

"This book is supposed to be connected to that other human world. A friend of mine in it has an identical copy, and they are linked to transfer messages. I hadn't really noticed up until now, but she hasn't written to me in months now. And when I tried on my way here, the words stayed on the page without being sent to that other world."

"Which means?"

"That a link has been severed."

Twilight looked up to Maëva, following with a compassionate:

"If something similar happened with your world as well, that might explain your... state."

"So, I should have been a pony, right?"

"Well..." said Twilight, a bit embarrassed. "It's more complicated than that. I thought I could recall,  but actually, there's no documented cases of someone from outside coming to Equestria through a portal. Only ponies went to other realms and back again, never the other way around. So this might be the natural transformation for someone from another world."

If Maëva had arms, she would have scratched her head, confused. She tried to sum it up:

"So, you don't really know more than me?"

"In your particular case, no. But that's why I'm here. We're going to try some things."

"Will it involve cutting my head to see if another one grows?"

"Wha-No!" Twilight said, shocked. "I would never do that!"

Maëva let out a sigh of relief. Flurry's proposition from earlier had stayed in her head and she was afraid they would put that to the test. The princess stated:

"First, we're going to try and reconnect you to your world. Since we want to help you fix it, we'll need a reliable way of going there."

So she wanted to help as well. All of this sounded really weird for Maëva. She had never come here with the intent of finding a solution for her original realm. Only to run away from an inevitable doom. And now she was feeling a bit selfish for that reason.  

"You're alright?" Twilight asked, seeing her distant gaze.

Maëva shook her head.

"Yes, yes. Sorry, I lost track of my thoughts for a moment."

"Hmm..." The princess pondered, looking at her. "Maybe it's because of your neck. Your brain isn't as irrigated as it was when you were human."

"I... don't think that's the problem, don't worry."

That pony was really worried about her. In fact, all of the ponies she had encountered up until now were very kind to her. Maëva couldn't help but think how she would have been atomized from the very first moment she laid a foot in her world with that body.

Maybe she could trust them.

"Do you have any idea as to how you can... reconnect me with my world?"

"Yes. A few, actually. May I examine you first?"

"Go ahead."

The alicorn began to fly around her, sometimes a bit closer, sometimes a bit further.

"Oh, you have a bag from your world?" Twilight noticed.

"Oh, right. I forgot. It's not like anything in here is going to be of any use."

It barely weighed on her tail that she didn't even realize it was still there.

"Well, it will," the princess corrected. "Your items have your world's essence in them. That's great! Can I take a look?"

"Sure."

She would have shrugged but, again, no shoulders.

The bag was carefully lifted with magic. Twilight began to take the items out to analyze them. A coat, a bunch of vegetables. She looked at them, thinking a bit, before having an idea.

"Great!"

She carefully lifted the mirror off the trailer, getting it down on the grass, surrounding it with strange devices, some looking like plain old metal scraps and others like weird magical artifacts.

Maëva sat down, looking at the princess of friendship doing whatever she was doing. She was thinking out loud, mumbling some "this should be here" and "the resonance will be better there".

The guards that had followed her looked imperturbable. Maëva had almost forgotten about their presence, to be honest. It's only because they moved out of the way of Shining Armor that she paid any attention to them. A quiet nod from his part also sent them away.

The unicorn came by the hydra's side, looking at the princess.

"I'm guessing she's going to try something?" he whispered to Maëva.

"She looks like she got an idea, yeah."

"Alright. I'll stay here then, just in case she tries to pull you into something you don't understand."

"Would she do that...?"

"No, unless it's something really really interesting."

"There!" Twilight suddenly said. "It should work!"

She turned to Maëva, only to see Shining by her side.

"When did you arrive?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

Shining giggled.

"About ten seconds ago, little sis. What do you have in mind?"

"Well, since the mirror hasn't worked in a few years, I want to reignite it and make sure it connects to our guest's world."

Twilight looked back at the portal.

"The mirror can actually link itself with her world?" Shining inquired. "I thought it was only to go to Canterlot High?"

The princess of friendship argued:

"At its creation, maybe. But relocating its destination shouldn't be complicated, now that we know other worlds exist. Can I borrow the coat?"

She looked at Maëva, seeing her nod. Twilight took the cloth out of the bag and placed it next to the mirror, before thinking twice about it. Shining had come to the same conclusion than her:

"Wouldn't it run the risk of closing off any access to Canterlot High?"

"Probably..." Twilight slowly said, thinking, before her face brightened. "Wait! Human energy! That could work!"

"Human energy?" Maëva and Shining repeated.

"Yes! Even if you're not from that world, you're still a human! That might be enough to restore the link!"

"So like, I give a part of my soul or something?" Maëva said, raising an eyebrow.

"No, nothing like that. You just touch the mirror when I ask you to. Your tail should do."

They both looked at each other, Twilight smiling eyes into Maëva doubtful ones. After a second of silence, the princess added:

"It won't suck your soul. Promise."

"How do you know?"

"Because I've been through it a couple of times."

Maëva thought a bit. Unless those ponies were masters of deception, they seemed full of good intentions. She agreed:

"Fine, princess. I'm ready then."

"Great, come closer."

"There?"

Maëva carefully moved her massive body next to the mirror.

"Perfect. On my command."

Twilight focused on her magic. Maëva saw a bright purple halo engulfing her horn and the mirror, as well as the objects she had scattered around it. The crystals engraved on its outlines began to glow. A weird buzz came out of the portal, as the polished reflective surface seemed to shake like waves on water. Twilight frowned in her concentration.

"Something's off... It's like... There's something stuck in between the worlds... And Canterlot High feels so distant."

Maëva had no idea what this meant, but she was feeling all the more unsure about all that. Yet, Twilight followed with determination:

"We need to bring it back to normal. Touch, now."

Maëva hesitated slightly. But that purple alicorn looked like she knew what she was doing. So, moving her tail around, she laid the tip right on the pony figure on top of the mirror.

The portal suddenly turned bright. So bright it blinded everyone looking. Maëva felt something, like electrical sparks climbing up her tail, yet she could not move it.

Everything went fast. There was a great noise, as if the mirror was trying to swallow everything around it, before it stopped and unleashed a large orange and purple smoke cloud, making Maëva and everypony else cough.

"What's that!?" the hydra said, raising her head high to breathe in clean air.

"I don't know!" Twilight answered, waving around a fan she had just teleported in. "Maybe some kind of magical exhaust?"

"T-Twilight?" A new voice suddenly said, confused, surprised but also deep and deformed. "Is that you!?"

"Huh? Who's there!?"

"It's me, Sunset! Oh, I finally managed to get to the other side!"

"Sunset...?" Twilight repeated, confused, as she wasn't recognizing her friend's voice.

The smoke dissipated and Sunset was nowhere to be found. But, on the other hand, Maëva had grown a new head.