//------------------------------// // That time Twilight and the girls went to hell // Story: Intertwined Reflections: That Time Everypony Swapped Bodies // by ThistleRose //------------------------------// đŸ”„Chapter 6đŸ”„ That time Twilight and the girls went to hell CURRENT STATUS Twilight inhabits Trixie Trixie inhabits Twilight  Rainbow Dash inhabits Rarity Rarity inhabits Rainbow Dash AppleJack inhabits Fluttershy Fluttershy inhabits AppleJack PinkiePie inhabits PinkiePie TW: INJURY DETAIL “AUGH! Wh
 FUCK! NO! SHIT! DARN IT!!”  AppleJack was on the floor, having just sworn to herself in a voice that definitely wasn’t her own. She had realised what was about to happen just as her brain registered that she was looking at her reflection, and before she had a chance to stop it, she had already been violently flung out of her body and into somepony else. But who? She felt
 tiny.  Slowly opening her eyes, she got quite a surprise at seeing who’s hooves she had. The skinny yellow legs matched with the huge swoosh of pink hair that nestled on the floor beside made it pretty obvious. “Hello
” The soft, quiet voice confirmed it. She was Fluttershy.  She gave a tiny little sigh of relief (far tinier than she had intended). Her main fear was that somepony untrustworthy would be left in her body, but she at least knew it was in safe hooves with Fluttershy. But she didn’t have time to worry about her right now
 she needed to worry about herself. Carefully rising to a standing position, the main thing that struck her was how small she felt. Sure, Fluttershy had long legs, but her frame was miniscule compared to her usual body. The last time she could remember feeling like this was when she was a tiny little filly, even younger than Apple Bloom. It felt incredibly disconcerting, and the earth pony didn’t like it one bit.  There was also the strange feeling of having extra limbs. She glanced back at her body to see her wings, neatly placed either side of her. She tested them out, figuring out how to extend them. They were so delicate that AppleJack felt that if she moved them too fast they would break like a twig. Delicate. That was the word that hung around in AppleJack’s mind like a gnat. She had spent most of her life being the strong and stable one, always there to hold up others on her mighty back.  What was she now? “Fluttershy? Darling, are you alright in there?” came the voice of Rainbow Dash from the next room. AppleJack was momentarily confused, before realising who it actually was. Fuck. Rarity. She pushed all of those thoughts to the back of her brain.  “Uhh
 Nnope.” She replied, looking to the door that the voice emanated from. She took a deep breath that somehow didn’t seem to get enough oxygen into her lungs. Very carefully, she opened the door to greet the blue pegasus that she knew was waiting. Rarity’s eyes narrowed. The way that ‘Fluttershy’ had entered was certainly not like her usual self. The yellow pegasus seemed to be looking around the room intently, her eyes finally settling ok Rarity. She gave a small, sad smile.  ‘Heya
 Rarity.” She said, doing a small nod of her head which inadvertently made her mane flop over her eyes. She pushed it out of the way with some annoyance. Rarity tilted her head. How did she know that she was Rarity and not RainbowDash? “Uhm, I ain’t Fluttershy anymore, if that’s what you’re thinking.” She said, the slight southern twang of her accent filtering through Fluttershy’s soft voice.  Rarity’s eyes widened. There was a tiny pool of ponies who knew about their specific swap, and an even tinier pool of one who had that accent.  Well not really a pool. A puddle.  “AppleJack!?” “Eyyup.” She said awkwardly, smiling weakly.  Rarity approached her for a hug, but paused, tilting her head. Even though she had hugged Fluttershy multiple times in this body, it still felt
 odd. AppleJack sighed in an affectionate way as she saw Rarity quibble. “A hug wouldn’t be too bad right now, Rares.”  Rarity smiled back at her, and embraced her. It was awkward at first, but as she felt AppleJack start to shake a little, she unfurled her wings and used them to wrap AppleJack in a feathery cocoon. AppleJack appreciated this. “W-What happened when you looked in a mirror? I mean, what was happening?” Asked Rarity quietly.  “It wasn’t a mirror. It was your gemstone! We may have had to rob a bank.” She said, a little bit of pride in her voice (which shrank away as she admitted the felony). Rarity let out a short laugh, before realising she wasn’t joking.  “Oh! My
 RainbowDash’s idea, I presume?” “Nope. Maud was there. It’s a long story
” she said.  The image of the specially made hat was bouncing around in her mind. Should she ask about it?  Nnnnot now. Maybe later when she was in a more stable place. “I feel so
 weak.” She mumbled out. “How am I supposed to keep everypony safe when I feel like I couldn’t even snap a twig?” Rarity let out a little sigh, as she looked up at the ceiling, trying to figure out what to even say. Fluttershy was strong in her own ways, but not in a way comparable to AppleJack.  “You are
 smaller than you were before.” She said with a little laugh. “But remember, no matter if you’re as powerful as an ox or as weak as a flea, you’re still you. The strongest, bravest and most honest pony that I’ve ever met.” She said softly.  AppleJack could feel her eyes welling up with
 tears!?  AppleJack couldn’t remember the last time she cried. She mostly kept it buried deep down, getting rid of her negative emotions by breaking things in the woods when everypony else was sleeping. Maybe being Fluttershy had an inbuilt tear response she wasn’t aware of.  “T
 Thanks, sugarcube.” She managed to get out as she felt the tears start to leave her eyes, and found herself placing her face into Rarity’s temporarily blue neck.  Rarity froze for a moment, seeming to consider something. She let out a happy little sigh.  “Anytime, My Beloved.” AppleJack shuddered. And it wasn’t because of the cold. As she lay there in a strange slightly sweaty smelling embrace of RainbowDash’s body, she noticed something a little odd as she swallowed. “Since when did Fluttershy have such pointed teeth?” RainbowDash stood there, stunned as she stared at Fluttershy. The shy pegasus, who was now in the body of the hulking giant of a horse, had just informed her, her girlfriend, that she was a vampire.  “You’re a WHAT!?” Fluttershy immediately broke down again, falling into a lying position and placing the hat over her face, squeezing it in tight. She moved her back in a weird way before another loud sob came out from the hat. Rainbow Dash could only assume that she was trying to cover herself with her wings. She didn’t have wings. RainbowDash groaned at herself internally. She knew exactly how Fluttershy’s brain worked, and such sudden and aggressive confusion at something she had said would wreck her even at the best of times. These were not the best of times.  “I-I mean
 I
 W-What do you mean?” She said, moving down next to her and placing a hoof on her back.  “I-I’m a
 m-monster
” she whimpered. “A horrible, dangerous, blood sucking m-monster. A-And n-now AppleJack
 s-she’s going to hurt somepony
 and it’s all my fault
”   RainbowDash’s ears flattened back. She was being serious. Fluttershy wasn’t good at lying; this was her at her most truthful.  “Why didn’t you tell me?” She asked very softly, managing to mask the slight hurt in her voice.  “You’d
 y-you’d leave
 e-everypony would leave and I-I’d be left all alone a-again.”  “Fluttershy.” She said, very sternly. “You look at me. Right now. In the eyes.”  “I don’t
 want to.” She whispered, but Rainbow Dash put her hoof down. “I don’t care. Look at me.”  Shaking like a leaf, Fluttershy tipped the hat up to look at the face of Rarity. She had to remind herself that somepony else was behind those eyes.  “You are not a monster. You are Fluttershy. The prettiest mare in all of Equestria. And no matter what, I’m not going anywhere.”  Fluttershy couldn’t look away, her heart racing as she could almost hear the true voice of RainbowDash saying those words. She crumpled. Tears flowing, she gently embraced RainbowDash, crying into her sweet smelling mane that didn’t belong to her. “T-Thank you
 I’ve
 m-missed you
” she whimpered. She managed to smile a bit. The comforting warmth of RainbowDash’s presence was starting to spread through her.  “And as for you being
 well, a vampire
” she said, and smirked a bit. “That’s so cool
 you’re like, an amazing gothic creature of the night!” She said, genuine excitement in her voice. She grinned a little and  moved up to her ear and whispered. “Does that mean you’ll bite me if I ask you to?”  Fluttershy shook her head, looking at her. “Uhm
 I’d rather if you didn’t j-joke
 about that if that’s ok.”  “Sure.” Replied Rainbow with a supportive smile, immediately moving away.  “May I kiss you on the cheek?” Fluttershy considered for a moment
 Rarity did this often.  “Yes please. B-But just the cheek. It would feel
 e-even more wrong.” She said, feeling her strange new mane on her neck.  “Got it.” She said, giving her a brief peck. Even in the wrong bodies, Fluttershy got a little shiver. She loved her girlfriend. 
 Had she ever actually
 said that to her? That she loved her? This thought was interrupted by RainbowDash talking. “Am I good to ask something about your vampirism? Just to
 get some information.” She asked calmly, moving out of the embrace and into a sitting position. Fluttershy rolled onto her front to face her. It was weird being this much taller than her, even when lying down.  “S-Sure.” “Does anypony else know?” She asked. Fluttershy felt guilt flow through her. “J-Just Twilight and Z-Zekora. Zekora helped me with m-my need for
 you know, a-and I told Twilight b-because I
 don’t usually have a reflection.” Rainbowdash nodded. She still felt somewhat hurt that FlutterShy hadn’t told her, but she could imagine doing the same thing. She had been guilty about keeping up a lie because she was fearful of others being sad
 she had to tell PinkiePie about her hatred of pies someday. “And your body
 how long will it be until AppleJack gets, uhm
” she tried to phrase it in a good way. “Hungry? Thirsty?” Fluttershy gulped a little. “W-Well, uhm
 I’m usually fine with animal b-blood for a few days. Usually I have a Zekora potion to help me
 stay calm. I just hope that they manage to get down the mountain I-in time to find Twilight
 or Zekora.” “And
 what will happen if she doesn’t?” “W-Well
” she looked down anxiously at her oversized hooves. “She’ll
 she’ll start to get
 agitated
 a-agressive
 s-show signs of batpony features, and eventually attack the closest
 p-pony too her. Which would p-probably
” “Be me.” RainbowDash finished for her. The pair sat in awkward silence as the danger of the situation really set in.  “Well
 if anypony can fend off an angry AppleJack, it’s Rarity! Especially in my awesome body! So I think it will be fine, as long as we all meet up when we agreed. S-So I think we should both do our best not to worry, Kay?” She said, reassuring herself as well as Fluttershy. “I-I know
” she said, smiling a tiny bit as she remembered something. “W-We did manage to fend off D-Dr Cabaleron together! H-He was a Yak!” “WHAT!? You got to fight a Daring Do villain!? No fair!”  Fluttershy giggled a little. “Yeah! It was
 mostly me
 OH! Th-that’s right! We got the ice!” She said. “Oh! Yeah! Awesome! W-We got the gem! I think it’s what AJ was looking at when you two swapped, so we should be careful with that.” “Oh! Good! That’s
 g-good!” “Yeah! Do you think Twilight, Trixie and Pinkie have gotten the thingy from Tartarus yet.” “I hope so
” she said, looking up at the ceiling. How WERE the others doing? “S-so we can return back to Ponyville, right?” Rainbowdash laughed awkwardly. “Well
. We are kind of wanted by the horse police.”  “
 what.”  This had to have been one of the most infuriating days of Twilight’s life.  They were about a day away from Tartarus by now, and she and Trixie (in HER body) had been pulling the caravan together all the way. She didn’t understand why Trixie insisted that they take the cart. She could, however, understand why PinkiePie had insisted she took the position of ‘evil pony looker outerer’, which consisted of her sitting on top of the caravan with a comically large magnifying glass to spot any shifty looking ponies that may approach. Unfortunately for them, many ponies were approaching due to one of their number being a princess.  And Trixie was loving the attention. The first couple of times, Twilight had tiredly explained that she was in fact Twilight, and her usual body was inhabited by Trixie Lulamoon. But this always ended with Trixie showing off her new magical prowess in the background as Twilight tiredly reaffirmed to stay calm and not look into mirrors. Eventually she gave up and instead just endured Trixie pretending to be her. What wasn’t helping was how much PinkiePie was laughing at her jokes. A little too hard, to be honest.  As dusk began to fall, Twilight turned to Trixie. “Okay Trixie. I need you to fly up and see if you can see a safe spot to camp.” asked Twilight calmly. Trixie smirked at her. God. She was getting sick of that smirk. “What’s wrong, Sparkles! Can’t you fly up and do it yourself?” she teased as she undid herself from her harness. Twilight just rolled her eyes.  “Gooooing up! Hehe! I am getting so used to flying, Twilight! I’m somewhat of a natural
 maybe I should have been the alicorn princess!” she laughed, flying up into the sky to look around. Twilight sighed, and looked up at PinkiePie. “Thanks for coming with us, Pinkie
” she said. PinkiePie beamed back. “Of course! I’d never abandon a friend in need! Especially you right now because, not to be, mean or anything, but you’re REALLY in need. Some crazy horse is in your body, Twilight! That's kind of
 Scary, right?” she said, the beaming smile slowly draining. “I’d hate having somepony else’s body! I’m not sure they’d be able to squash and stretch as much as I do. And what if somepony got into MY body! Then they’d be like noodles! Flopping around everywhere! BLLEUAUAUGHGHGHGH!” she said, waving her arms like an inflatable tube man. Twilight laughed as she did. PinkiePie’s smile grew wide again. “I love to see you smile, Twi!” Twilight nodded. “And I love to see you still so full of energy despite everything.” “Why wouldn’t I be? I’m FREE! I’m free to run around the fields and through the meadows and the streams! I’m not rotting in a cage somewhere like a trapped songbird, yearning to be free!” she said, staring off into the horizon happily. Twilight tilted her head slightly, but before she could follow that train of thought, her hair was blown everywhere by the huge gust of wind that announced the haphazard landing of one Trixie Lulamoon. “A CAVE, TWILIGHT! I FOUND A CAVE!” She declared happily. “I found it all on my OWN! Are you proud of me!” “YES! YES I AM!” said PinkiePie, clapping rapidly. “You’re so talented!” “Yes, I rather am, aren’t i?” She agreed. “Using my wings
” Grumbled Twilight.  “Aww
 is somepony jealous? You jelly? Jelly jelly horse jelly? Want your wings back? Hehe you CAN'T because they’re mine now!” She said, grinning at her as she trotted around, proudly displaying the wings.  “Trixie
” Twilight groaned. “Please, let’s just get to the cave you saw. You can continue whatever this is when we’re there.” “Anything for a mare as delectable as you~” she said, and happily trotted away. Twilight let out another big sigh. Trixie had been making flirty comments towards her this whole trip and she kept on having to remind herself that it was only because she looked like Trixie (which was of course the object of Trixie’s affection). It had weirdly gotten her thinking about herself a couple of times. It was strange seeing yourself from different angles, but Twilight could be happy that she still thought she was quite pretty.  She had decided to simply not deal with how she felt about Trixie’s body when she thought about how naturally pretty the blue pony was. Some feelings are best left buried far, far down within you with an unbreakable lock and no key. After a short trip, the three ponies found themselves staring into the dark cave in front of them. Trixie and Twilight ignited their horns to create light, whilst Pinkie summoned a pair of night vision goggles from wherever it is she usually gets her props.  “Perfect!” Said Trixie, who trotted in without much thought. Twilight was much more cautious.  “Be careful, Trixie. Caves like these can have all sorts of creatures. Wyverns, Cockatrices or-“ She was cut off by the whimpering squeak that involuntarily came out of Trixie’s mouth. Twilight felt the wind from the creature's breath before she saw it towering over Trixie.  The gently glowing outline of an Ursa Minor. “T-Trixie.” She hissed in a panicked whisper. “Slowly back away. M-Maintain eye contact.” Trixie wasn’t moving at all. She seemed to be paralysed with fear. Twilight saw her wings clamp to her side; a similar response that Fluttershy had when scared. Twilight looked back at Pinkie, who had a brave face on but she could see her legs wobbling like jelly.  Turning back to face the great starbear, she readied herself. Nopony else could deal with this creature right now.  “Pinkie
 on my mark, grab Trixie
” whispered Twilight. Pinkie nodded. Twilight built up as much energy as she could within her horn. It was significantly less than usual, but it would have to do. Trixie was slightly more powerful than an average Unicorn but nowhere near the level that Twilight had been when she was one. However, Twilight had cottoned on to there being a certain type of magic that the blue unicorn had a natural innate talent for. Muttering the spell and making the correct motions, she let out a cry as there was a bright flash. The Ursa Minor roared, rearing up onto its hind legs as it was blinded by the light.  “PINKIE! NOW!” PinkiePie didn’t wait. Shooting forward she tackled Trixie aside, dragging her outside of the cave. The Ursa Minor slammed its paws on the floor angrily right in the spot that Trixie had been inhabiting moments before.  Twilight was on her own. Sure, PinkiePie would probably be able to run distraction work, but Twilight wasn’t willing to risk her actually getting hurt.  The star bear now towered above her and Twilight was rapidly trying to remember the semantics of the spell she was trying to cast. It was one that she had tried many times before but hadn’t been able to pull off successfully. But with this unfamiliar cutie mark on her flank she was sure she’d be able to pull it off.  Swirling magic around in a tight circle as she dodged another colossal paw slamming down, she pictured the image of herself, and stomped down her hoof. Releasing the spell, a blueish orb flew across the cave, and the image of Twilight Sparkle appeared, 3 dimensional and moving. The Ursa turned around and snarled at it, trying to slap it with a paw. It vanished, reappearing a few feet away. Twilight had cast the spell a few more times, and there were now five different twilights around the bear, confusing it into a deranged rage. Twilight hid behind a boulder, and muttered something. All of the illusionary twilights flew up, and just as she had hoped the Ursa Minor tried to swat at one, smashing into the side of the cave. The whole structure shook, which was Twilights cue to leave. The cave collapsed in on itself, crushing the Ursa Minor. Twilight landed in a heap on the outskirts of the cave, Trixie’s frail legs giving way.  “Twilight!?? Did you just murder that BEAR!? WHAT IS WITH YOU AND MURDERING!” Exclaimed PinkiePie.  “Who else have I murdered?” She asked, sliding up into a sitting position. “All of my clones, duh!” “They weren’t really alive. Anyway, I didn’t kill that bear
” she said, pointing at the cave. Shimmering out of the cracks between the rocks came what looked like a Liquid Aurora Borealis with the consistency of oil gently flowing up and into the twilight sky. “When an Ursa gets mortally wounded, it reforms into the stars it’s made of. It will reform in the next couple of months, fresh and reborn!” PinkiePie seemed uncharacteristically upset as she stomped back off to the caravan. Twilight let out a confused little ‘hmm
’, and turned to see- “How did you do that!?” Trixie was right in her face, causing Twilight to jump a bit. “D-Do what!?”   “That spell! I can’t do that!” “Well
 you can. Have you ever tried?” “Well, no-“ “Well there you go then.” Said Twilight, sounding a little smug. “Your Cutie mark is in illusion magic, right?” “I
 is it?” She asked.  “Wait, you don’t
 how don’t you know!?” “I just sort of thought it made me powerful.” “That’s not how
 ugh. Anyway, It’s not a spell I could ever manage to do. So I guessed that I’d be able to do it as you. Maybe if you spent some time reading books instead of annoying everypony, you’d be able to truly become great and powerful, huh?”  She said, giving a very Trixie like grin to her as she passed her by.  For once, Trixie was on the back hoof.  Twilight moved back towards the caravan to check on Pinkie, leaving Trixie alone with her thoughts.  Back in the cave, the sight of the great starbear had paralysed her completely. It brought back memories of her and Twilight’s first meeting. Her having to admit that she was a fraud. Her sad and lonely escape to a tiny cave where she had cried herself to sleep. The burning hatred for Twilight Sparkle that had started to fester. All of that came back at once and sideswiped her like a Manehatten taxi.  But she could have done it. Back in Ponyville, she could have used magic to defeat the bear. She was capable. But she didn’t know how.  She looked between Twilight and then at the cave in complete disbelief. She had always assumed that she was just bad at magic. But maybe she just hadn’t been taught it properly? Well, she had never really been taught in the first place; her only real teacher was herself.  ‘You’d truly become great and powerful
’ That sentence from Twilight wouldn’t leave the back of her mind as she moved over to the caravan, staring at Twilight as she lit a fire. She decided not to let it bother her. She had more pressing matters at hand
 mainly speaking, how gosh darn PRETTY her body was. The brief moment of inner humility was washed away by what came out of her mouth.  “Twilight, can I kiss you?”  “W-What!?” Twilight’s head shot up.  “Well, more accurately, can I kiss me?“ she followed up, smiling. Twilight was mystified. “No!? What? Why would you want to-“ “I just want to kiss the hottest girl in Equestria, obviously?” She said, as if it was a no brainer. “Plus! You get to kiss an Alicorn!” Twilight tilted her head. She had never thought about it
 it WOULD be a unique experience to kiss oneself
 something that nopony else could ever experience. Perhaps she could even figure out what she liked- “And then, who knows! Maybe we can even get married! Have foals! Get divorced! Then you’d have to pay me alipony!”  The reminder of who was currently inhabiting her body shook her STRAIGHT back to reality.  “No.” She said firmly. “I do not want that, Trixie.” She said, firmly.  Trixie sighed, and nodded. “FIIIInnneee
. Your loss though, Sparks!”  Twilight shook her head as she glanced up at PinkiePie. She seemed to have returned to normal, bouncing up and down as she watched a bird freely fly around in circles above them. Twilight loved Pinkiepie’s love of the world.  Moving over to the caravan, she got out a certain book, and started to write. Trixie tilted her head at it.  “What is that? Your dream journal or something?” Twilight shook her head, and finished writing her sentence. “Just writing to a friend.” She said, shutting the book. “Soooo
” said Trixie slowly. “You know when we, like, get to the gates of hell and all of that
 what’s the plan exactly?” “Well
 we shouldn’t need to head that far in. We’ll need Pinkie to distract Cerberus for a bit. All we’ll need to do is head to the highest floor and steal some of the metal that is usually kept in ingots, used by the prison keepers to make the cages. It’s virtually indestructible. Your job will be keeping us safe if anything big attacks us. Do you know how to do a simple beam spell?”  “Uhh
 of course!?” She said, and directed a beam at a nearby tree. The tree exploded. Twilight dropped to the ground as splinters rained everywhere.  Trixie blinked.  “It seems the great and powerful Trixie forgot how even more powerful than usual she was
” she said nervously. PinkiePie’s eyes were wide
 staring at Trixie. Neither of the horn having ponies down there noticed, but her eyes narrowed. Something was whirring away in that brain of hers. “W-Well, it seems like you do know that spell.” She said, slightly terrified of how much untamed power Trixie had in her body.  “Brilliant! Well, that sounds like a wonderful plan! I shall now be retiring to my bed! Would either of you like to join me?” She said hopefully. Twilight just glared at her. PinkiePie shook her head. “No thanks! Twilight is Smokin’, but you’re kind of cringe!” She said whimsically, causing Twilight to blush a little.  “THE GREAT AND POWERFUL TRIXIE IS NOT CRINGE!” Trixie roared. “You are a bit.” Twilight giggled. Trixie roller her eyes.  “FINE! NEITHER OF YOU MAY SLEEP NEXT TO THE MOST ELIGIBLE BACHELORETTE IN EQUESTRIA!” She declared angrily, and slammed the door of the caravan behind her.  Twilight and PinkiePie’s eyes met. They didn’t say anything for a few seconds, before bursting out into laughter at the sound of Trixie tripping over and banging her head inside the caravan.  Little did they know, that was the calm before the storm. “HEY CERBERUS! WHAT DO YOU THINK OF ME?”  Twilight and Trixie were hiding behind a rock, watching PinkiePie dance around in front of Cerberus wearing a costume that emulated having three heads. She seemed to be trying the oldest trick in the book: seduction. And it was working? Cerberus had all three heads focused on her, at least. “Come on.” whispered Twilight. She gave a little wave of confirmation to PinkiePie, who nodded back as the pair of swapped ponies entered through the huge gates into Tartarus.  Both their ears flattened as the gates shut behind them.  “I’ve studied countless maps of this place
” whispered Twilight. “The main storage room should be
 this way. Follow me.” “Oh Twi, you already know I’d follow you to hell and back!” Trixie whispered back.  “Not now, Trixie.”    After a few minutes of walking along the narrow path down, they entered the first floor.  They were met with a room filled floor to ceiling with cages of various different sizes, housing all sorts of different monstrous creatures. A particularly ferocious looking sabre toothed bear snarled at Trixie as the pair passed its cage. Trixie barked at it in response.  The bear didn’t know how to respond.  Twilight was trying her best not to look at any of the caged creatures. She knew if Fluttershy was here, she’d be protesting for their release. Twilight partially agreed with the sentiment, but now was not the time.  “How many monsters are in here?” Said Trixie nervously. “Thousands
 if all of these creatures got out, Equestria would be doomed.” She said with a gulp. They were almost at the huge wooden door of the storage room, when something in a cage started shaking violently, rattling its chains in an incredibly frantic way. Muffled cries from it emanated throughout the room.  Twilight’s stomach lurched a bit, but she shut her eyes. She couldn’t look at these creatures right now. She had to stay focused. “Uhm
 T
 T-Twilight? I really think you s-should
 see
 oh my goodness
”  It was the sudden drop of all Trixie’s usual mannerisms that really made Twilight’s blood run cold. She turned her head to look at what Trixie had seen. The sight before her made her vision go slightly blurry. With chains around her neck and attached to an an iron muzzle placed over her mouth, a creature that looked just like PinkiePie sat, unable to move. It was making horrible mumbling noises through the mask.  Her face was not normal, however. Her left side had her usual mane but her body had some burn marks around her leg and a strange hook-like apparatus that covered what Twilight assumed to be an amputated stump instead of a hoof. Her right side looked desaturated and faded, hair straight and flat as it flopped down around her hooves. And those eyes
 they were eyes that Twilight knew well, but there was a wild panic behind them.  The horrible realization of what this thing was dawned on Twilight. She wanted to throw up. It was a PinkiePie clone from the mirror pool. One that she hadn’t zapped.  And she had to have been here for years.  “W-What do we do?” Asked Trixie, looking at Twilight. The horrible anxious feeling in her stomach kept on getting deeper as she tried to stay calm.  The strange PinkiePie shouted something muffled once again.  “T-Trixie, c-can you remove her muzzle?” Twilight asked, her voice wobbling. Trixie nodded, and managed to undo the clasp with her magic. The metal muzzle dropped to the floor, and the creature was left gasping for air.  “T-TWI! I-IT'S ME! I-ITS PINKIE! THE REAL P-PINKIE!l she spluttered, the chains around her neck rattling as she took in long, raggedy breaths. . “W-WE D-DEFEATED DISCORD AND TIREK AND CHRYSALLIS TOGETHER! I BAKED YOU MINT CHOC CUPCAKES FOR YOUR CASTLE WARMING PARTY!” “Wait
 what!?” Twilight couldn’t comprehend what was going on. This was all true. And recent. A clone of PinkiePie couldn’t know this.  Trixie was also clueless.  “What do you mean!? PinkiePie has been with us this whole time!” Asked Trixie.  “N-No! Trixie! You were there! You saw me swap!” The PinkiePie in the cage pleaded.  “You WHAT!?” Twilight looked at Trixie with shocked anger.  “Y-You swapped!?” Trixie said in disbelief, looking at Twilight with confused fear. “She told me she was still PinkiePie!“ “B-But
” Twilight started to voice the question that she had been dreading.  “If the real PinkiePie is in there
” said Trixie Slowly, dawning on the same realization.  Twilight gulped.  “Then who-“  The PinkiePie in the cage suddenly screamed. Twilight had experienced many things in her life, many that nopony would ever get to experience. Becoming an Alicorn. Fighting a god. Travelling across time and dimensions multiple times. But being stabbed in the neck was not one she had hoped to add to the list. She tried to scream, but instead started violently coughing up blood. She fell to the floor, doing her best to press her hooves to the point of impact, and looked around wildly to try and find her assailant. The PinkiePie that had been travelling with them was standing over her, knife in her hoof, dripping with blood and grinning.  Screams from Trixie and the real PinkiePie were ringing in her ears as she tried her best to stay conscious. Through the blood that was starting to fill her mouth, she sputtered out a whimper of confusion. A billion thoughts were running through her mind, being slowly muffled by the pillow of blood loss. She weakly tried to send a spell up at her, but all that came out of the tip of her horn was a few sparks. “YOU BASTARD!!” She heard Trixie screech, and a beam of energy shot over the PinkiePie’s head.  “Fuck OFF! TRIXIE! You do NOT need to be here for this! You are a HOOFNOTE IN HISTORY!” Snarled the PinkiePie, who suddenly grabbed a broken shard of reflective glass from inside her mane.  Twilight looked up just in time to see Trixie’s horrified look down towards her, which was only broken when she looked at the PinkiePie
 And blinked.  And just like that, she was gone. The body of Twilight let out a confused cry as it fell backwards into a sitting position. It looked around the area with fear and confusion. Somepony else was in Twilight's body, too disoriented Twilight didn’t see what happened after that, as the PinkiePie had moved her head back to look up at her.  Twilight could feel herself start to fade. “"Nopony to protect you now, PRINCESS..." "You thought you got ALL of us.” The PinkiePie above her Spat. “No. You didn’t. I lived. I am a PINKIE PIE FROM THE POOL! THE LAST REMAINING PINKIE PIE.  “Call me Freako Funtime Icecream Suprise.” “You may see me as just some sort of MISTAKE
 but you forget! I had all the MEMORIES of PinkiePie, Twilight. I remember you. We ALL loved you. And then you killed them. All of my TWINS. You murdered each and every one of them. All of us thought we were the original
 and when you zapped me, I didn’t die. I didn’t go back. I survived. I found out I was a fake; a mangled clone of the real deal.  A fake. Do you have any Idea what that felt like, Princess of Friendship? Feeling like you want to claw off your fur and mane and hooves and eyes because everything about you is wrong?” “So I ran. I escaped. I plotted my revenge. I was going to strike. Then your stupid fucking Zebra friend found me and sent me to fucking Tartarus. I was in here for a YEAR, Twilight! An entire fucking YEAR!” She slammed her hoof down on Twilight’s chest, which made her cough up even more blood. She could hear the real Pinkie screaming hysterically as Freako Funtime continued her deranged monologue.  “Then
 as luck would have it
 this whole calamity makes me swap bodies with the first Pinkie Pie
 imagine my luck? I’ve been planning this for such a long time, Twilight
 it’s a shame you aren’t in your original body
” Freako Funtime said, and raised the knife once more.  “But as long as it’s you feeling the pain, then I don’t care. This is for my sisters.”  Twilight closed her eyes.  She thought of her friends.  She remembered them all in the donut store after the first grand galloping gala. Laughing about how much of a disaster it had been.  She kept that moment in her mind as she waited for the inevitable.  She would be with her friends at the table as she waited for the end. For eternal peace. But it didn’t come. The sound of a spell above her rang throughout the chamber, and PinkiePie’s wailing suddenly ceased in a hiccup of surprise.  “WHAT!? How do you KNOW-“ Freako Funtime started, but- “STAY AWAY FROM HER!”  Twilight heard her own voice speak. Weakly, she opened her eyes to see her body blasting another spell at Freako Funtime. The pink pony snarled as she was blasted away from Twilight. One more spell was fired in her direction, and Twilight heard the sound of a body hitting the ground with a thump.  She soon saw her body again, looking down at her, and casting a spell on her. She recognised it as a healing spell. True healing magic was incredibly advanced, so this spell was more of a stabilisation one. Slowly, Twilight felt herself being pushed away from the edge. Somepony who knew how to use magic like this
 who could it be!? Celestia? Cadence? Luna!? The only other pony who she could even think of having this kind of magical aptitude was Starlight Glimmer, but she had vanished into the ice caves months ago! “I must say,” exhaled the pony in Twilight’s body, “I didn’t expect to be seeing you again so soon.” She said with a little smile.  Laying on the floor, Twilight managed to tilt her head.  “Who
” she coughed. “Who
 are you?” She saw the pony in the body give a short little laugh of exasperation at the situation she was in. She took Deep breath, and then spoke the two words that Twilight expected to hear the very least out of any. “Sunset Shimmer.”