//------------------------------//
// 04 - Trapped Inside a Pocket World 
// Story: Four's A Crowd 
// by IGIBAB 
//------------------------------//

"So, things are really bad?" Flurry summed up.

"Afraid so," Maëva nodded.

Twilight had gone with the ex-portal to bury herself into her research, desperately trying to find a solution. So it was only the now three headed otherworldly being and the daughter of the princess of love.

"At least you're not on your own anymore," Flurry tried to reassure. "You have people that can explain this world with you."

"I only know what I've been told," said the other Twilight – which they'd collectively decided to name Twydra to avoid confusion.  

"Right, only Sunset really knows about this place," the princess conceded. "Now that I think about it, I would have really loved to see how my aunt looks with glasses."

She looked at Twydra, half disappointed, half amused.

"Sorry...?" the third head hesitantly said.

"It's fine. But today has been really interesting."

"I wouldn't say that," they all said in sync.

Flurry had to contain a burst of laughter. And the three of them didn't really look happy about that.

"Right, right. Sorry," Flurry apologized. "You all went through a lot today. Especially Maëva."

"About that, I had a question," the later said.

"Go on?" Flurry invited with a smile.

"What am I- are we going to eat? I haven't had lunch since breakfast."

"Oh, right. I don't know if they have anything planned."

"What do hydras even eat?" Twydra wondered. "Meat?"

"Swamp creatures, most likely...?" Sunset guessed, but that deduction wasn't really uplifting.

"According to auntie, they can also hunt ponies", Flurry added, remembering an old story.

"I don't think that's going to work out," Maëva pointed out, sighing. "I knew the vegetables my friend packed wouldn't be of any use."

"I'll check in with the cook," the princess reassured. "In the meantime, I'm going to show you your bedroom."

She led the way, and the gigantic monster followed.

"Oh wow, you actually got one large enough?" Sunset said, impressed.

"Yeah, but don't expect luxury or anything."

"As long as we have three different pillows, it'll do," Twydra told.

"As long as none of you snores," Maëva added. "Stop moving your heads like that, I can't balance properly."

"Oh, sorry," the two others apologized.

Sunset contemplated her own body moving without any intervention from her side. Her head was just following, without even hoping up and down. Her neck was naturally designed to cancel the motion. Like a chicken.

"It's weird seeing your foot move but having no control over it," she observed. "Nor any sensations."

"You're not missing much on the sensations side of things," Maëva replied. "I feel like a two-legged elephant."

"Maybe one day I'll know how it feels to be a quadrupedal..." Twydra pondered.





"Tadaa!"

All three heads looked at the large mattress in front of them. It was the thing where jumping athletes  would fall onto. They actually had a few of them. One large enough for the body, and four others. Coupled with pillows and a few large blankets.

Flurry looked at them with a smile, as they stood in the entrance, a prood hoof lifted. They were in one of the training rooms, rearranged for them. Even the door frame had been removed as well as part of the wall, to let them pass.

"How do you like it?" the princess asked.

"That'll be definitely better than grass," Maëva honestly said.

"Grass can be comfortable when you're a pony," Sunset corrected. "But I agree."

"I haven't had a safe place to sleep in months..." Twydra thought out loud. "At least I'll rest knowing a fire won't start while I'm asleep."

"Oh, you have random fires too?" Maëva asked Twydra, curious. "We had those at the start, but they stopped after two years."

"I'm sure we'll find a solution to those problems," Flurry said confidently.

"Yeah, maybe."

Maëva moved her body without much conviction, turning around to sit quite heavily on the main mattress. The thing barely held her weight, but still felt comfortable.

Maëva looked at the alicorn in front of her, thinking. Before she finally said:

"... Thank you."

"It's not much, don't worry," Flurry giggled, waving a hoof.

"I meant for everything you're doing. I'm a stranger from an unknown world in a monstrous body, yet you decided to help me without even asking anything in return. Can't say my friend and I expected that when we planned on coming here."

"It's only natural," Flurry assured.

"Welcome to Equestria," Sunset added with a smile, which was still very uncanny with that face.

"I'm going to ask the cook what can be done for you, alright? In the meantime, you'll get to know each other a bit more."

Maëva nodded, along with the two others. Flurry briefly bowed, before flying out of the room.

An awkward silence fell. Maëva looked at Sunset on her left, then Twydra on her right.

"So, uh..." she started. "What's Canterlot High? A country or something?"

"It's a school," Sunset explained.

"You're still in school?" Maëva said, surprised.

"I was the head council," Sunset defended. "And Twilight works in a research lab not too far away."

"We often did partnerships," Twydra added.

"Oh, so you're like..." Maëva started, before stopping herself.

"Like?" Sunset asked.

"... Old."

"Not that much. How old are you?"

"Nineteen."

"Alright, we're old," Sunset admitted.

"But that means..." Twydra slowly realized. "You were four when the Collapse happened?"

"Yep," Maëva confirmed. "I don't recall my world being anything other than broken. My first memory is from that day, actually."

"Wow..."

"I wonder why it happened to our world so much later..." Sunset thought out loud. "And what started all of this to begin with."

"We haven't found any answers in years," Maëva said, sorry. "The best theories we have is either something in our laws of physics broke, or it's because of magic."

"You have magic in your world?" Twydra asked, curious.

"No. But the ancient mages did. They came from Equestria through portals of their own making. And while the legends aren't really clear – they're legends – it's pretty certain that they could use magic in my world too."

"Which means your world must contain a bit of magic, at least," Sunset concluded. "Or they were able to draw it from Equestria through the portals. Which is somewhat of an oddity."

She glanced at Twydra, who didn't catch what she was saying, lost in her own thoughts.

"Why is that?" Maëva asked.

"Well, here in Equestria, I was a unicorn. I could use magic. But at Canterlot High, I can't. I'm a normal human. Only magical artifacts keep their powers."

Maëva was more surprised by her first sentence than the others.

"You're from here?"

"Yeah, it's a long story," Sunset sighed. "I... ran away. And did some bad things."

"But you were friends with the princess, so people forgave you?" Maëva guessed.

"What? No, I just... Well, she stopped me and offered me a second chance."

"Because you were friends?"

"No!" Sunset defended. "We didn't know each other before those events! And I wasn't kind to her. But she still extended a hand to me. "

Maëva leaned back on the mattress, sighing, letting her head rest on one of the pillows. Sunset and Twydra stayed straight with their necks, looking at her, wondering what was wrong.

"You truly are all naive," the middle head said with an almost envious tone.

"Well, not all," Sunset corrected. "But she... Twilight's just like that. She always tries to see the good in people."

"Lucky you, I guess," Maëva commented, looking at the ceiling.

"Is there something worrying you?" Twydra asked.

"I'm mostly tired."

Twydra and Sunset looked at each other. They would have shrugged, but couldn't really do that. So, instead, they just winced.

Maëva was lost in her thoughts. But not just there. She was lost on mostly everything. She understood those worlds a bit, how this Equestria and Canterlot High interacted, who the people around her were. She had always been good at listening, but her qualities stopped at that. Now, she was there, only representative of her world, coming after the Collapse of another more important and close one. And she couldn't even be alone, left in peace. She had the responsibility of moving those heads around. What kind of day was that?

Her neck was itchy as well. She tried to reach it with her tail, but the mattress was in the way. And she didn't really feel like moving.

"I still don't understand why your world is so different," Twydra said.

"What do you mean?" Maëva asked.

"Equestria and my world are a reflection of one-another. Sure, we are humans and don't use magic, but the people are the same, the names are the same. Yours..."

"Never heard of anyone named Maëva," Sunset confirmed. "It's not even a name that really exists for us."

"Maybe that's why the mages kept a link to yours and not mine..." Maëva mumbled.

"Who are those mages?" Twydra asked.

"Don't know. And no one seems to know, even here."

"It's weird," the third and most recent head thought. "At Canterlot High, there was no memory of people coming through a portal."

"And in Equestria, we knew but no one really cared," Sunset added with a sigh. "Weird thing is, Starswirl banished the sirens to that world, so he knew. Was he one of those ancient mages?"

"We have no memory of their names," Maëva precised, in case Sunset was expecting her to answer.

"That's a bummer..."

"So, like, do you girls wear clothes in your human world at least?" Maëva suddenly wondered.

"Of course we do," Twydra said.

"I feel so naked right now," Maëva realized. "I mean, I was expecting it, but still."

"Trust me, there's worse," Sunset reassured. "At least you're not going from bipedal to quadrupedal. Or trying to write. That's the really embarrassing stuff."

The middle head raised an eyebrow at her.

"How do you even hold a pen with hooves?" she asked.

"You don't," Sunset said. "You use your mouth. Or your magic, if you're lucky enough to have some."

"I wonder what kind of pony I would have been..." Maëva slowly thought.

She was feeling weird. Not just because she was naked. Being there, in this world, was just plainly strange. She was thinking strange. She was... wondering. Looking at the future, at what could have been. She did that in her own world too, thinking about tomorrow, but there was always the possibility that tomorrow might not even exist. And the past was a thing that was best to not be dwell on too much. Especially for the younger people like her, who only knew chaos.



"Good news, we found something you can eat."

"Shh!"

Flurry stopped at the entrance, after Twydra had told her to be quiet.

"They're sleeping," the head with glasses added.

Indeed, Maëva's head was resting on the mattress, eyes closed, with a slow and quiet breathing rhythm. Her consciousness had just drifted away after a few minutes. That day had been a lot. Sunset wasn't fairing better.

"Oh, sorry," Flurry whispered. "When they wake up, tell them that we found some meat-substitute for you girls to eat."

"I... think we're gonna have to stay here for now," Twydra noted. "She has control over the body."

"No problem. If they wake up during the night, just call for a guard or something."

"I think we'll do that, yeah."

Twydra looked at the alicorn in front of her, thinking.

"What?" Flurry asked.

"Technically, you're my niece, right?"

"I... guess so?"

"I don't recall meeting your equivalent in my own world."

The princess frowned.

"Aren't my parents together in your world?"

"It's more complicated than that."

Twydra was still staring at her, fascinated. She moved her head closer, as her own neck was the only part she could control freely.

"They got together, broke up, then together again. I guess that's why I missed out on being an aunt."

"Huh... I can't imagine my father reacting to a break up other than by crying for hours."

Twydra giggled.

"Yeah, that's probably how things played out."

Flurry eyes went from a bit playful to slightly worried. And she asked:

"Is he okay at least...? And my mom?"

Twydra's eyes looked away, bitter.

"They're not your mom and dad, you know..." she said.

"I know, but are they okay?"

"I... haven't had any news for months," the third head confessed. "I wish I'd know, but... I also fear that kind of knowledge."

Flurry frowned, nibbling on her own cheek. She knew she shouldn't feel concerned by that, but. Well, she was.

"Yeah, I understand that..." she sighed.

"I understand that you have quite the troublesome friend?" Twydra said, moving on from that awkward topic.

"Cozy's a good mare," Flurry answered with a slight shrug on the side, smiling. "Ponies give her a bad rep only because she did some dubious things when she was younger."

"So I've heard."

"She's better now!" the princess said, immediately defending her friend.

Twydra smiled, looking at the young alicorn in the eyes.

"She's a good friend?"

Flurry's cheek took on a slight pink taint.

"A very close friend... Closer than most people would like her to be."

A thought suddenly crossed the young princess' mind.

"Does she exist in your world?"

"If she does, I've never heard of her," Twydra confessed. "And with current events..."

"Yeah, I suppose..." Flurry sighed. "It's not even guaranteed that she's a nice person at all. So, maybe it's for the best if you've never met her."

The hydra looked at the princess in the eyes, squinting a bit.

"What?"

"Hmm. Nothing."

Twydra shook her head and looked away, before thinking out loud:

"I guess I should sleep too. Otherwise I'm going to be tired when they wake up and move around."

"I suppose that would be a good idea, yes. Do you need something, like a blanket?"

She lifted by magic the one that was already nearby. But Twydra politely refused:

"I think we're warm enough, thank you princess."

"Alright."

Flurry gently bowed, to which Twydra responded with a polite salute of her own.

"Have a nice rest."