//------------------------------// // 1. Strange Magic // Story: Crisis on Two Equestrias // by RainbowDoubleDash //------------------------------// It was a dark and stormy night. The blue unicorn pony hunkering down under a meager tree trying to not get wet, and failing miserably at it, couldn’t believe that line actually popped into her head. She’d read some bad novels in her time, but even they had never stooped so low as to actually make use of that phrase, not even to call attention to it or mock it. But, there it was, floating in her mind. Besides, it was a dark and stormy night, and no amount of concerns about cliché would change that fact. The unicorn – her name was Trixie, or technically Trixie Lulamoon, or most recently Dame Trixie Lulamoon, the last of which still made her smile with glee whenever she heard it – forced her mind back on task, brushed her soaking wet mane from her eyes, and looked down at the spellbook lying on the rocks beneath her. It, too, was soaked. The spellbook was illuminated with a blue glow emanating from her horn, which cast the entire area in an eerie cerulean light. Trixie was using her hat, tall and pointed and studded with silvery stars, to try to keep the book at least somewhat dry, even as her cape, similarly star-studded, failed utterly at doing the same for her. She had tried to teleport for the first time in her life, from one end of her house to the other. Instead, with a blue flash, she had found herself on a rocky precipice Stars knew where in the world – with the storm being this wild, she probably wasn't in Equestria anymore, at least. There were a few trees around her, doing little to protect her from the rain falling in torrents all around her, resulting in her her hat, her cape, and herself being soaked through in seconds, and her book a few moments after that. Trixie grumbled as she crouched over the book, trying to figure out how to make the teleporting spell work. Unfortunately, she’d never had much of a talent learning spells from books. She compared it to trying to learn a dance from a book: sure, you could write down the individual steps and movements, but the feeling, the very core of the dance, was lost utterly. However, at the moment, the book was all she had, so she dutifully set about trying to memorize spell matrices and formulaic applications of magic and all that other dull stuff in the hopes that she could use it to teleport herself somewhere drier. At length, Trixie closed it, as lightning flashed, striking the ground a few hundred feet away and sending her scurrying tighter against the small tree's trunk for protection. Equestria was not often prone to wild thunderstorms, which meant that her knowledge of what not to do during a thunderstorm – that is, stand under a tree – was essentially nonexistent. It wasn’t her fault: a pony who’d spent their entire lives in the middle of a desert, after all, would not have known what to do if she had found herself in the middle of the ocean. Trixie, having spent her life in cities where the pegasi were adept, at the very least, at posting weather schedules so that Trixie could make sure to stay indoors during bad weather, was at a complete loss for what to do about thunderstorms. It went a long way towards explaining why Trixie felt it was a good idea to place the spellbook into her hat, where it would be magically stored, put her hat on her head, and step away from the tree, running out into the open, away from any trees as she tried to get as clear and wide a space as possible, figuring that she must have had at least a minute before the next bolt of lightning struck the ground. She didn’t know where she was, but she knew where she wanted to go: Ponyville. She didn’t trust herself enough to try and teleport to any particular location inside of Ponyville right now, however. Instead, Trixie tried to imagine Ponyville as a whole, as though seen from a bird’s-eye view. She imagined the town with its dirt and cobblestone streets, its wooden buildings, its railway station, its post office, that would soon have one of those new telegraph machines connected to it. She thought of the weather patrol station and its cloud silo, the wide plaza that surrounded the town hall. She thought of the farms that surrounded Ponyville – carrot farms and grape vineyards and wheat fields, of course, but most prominently, much to her own consternation, were the apple orchards of Sweet Apple Acres, the bedrock of the community. Still, she didn’t push the thoughts from her mind yet, as she needed to focus now on getting back to Ponyville, getting dry, and just writing teleportation off as a bad idea. A stray thought did enter her mind, though. “This is all your fault, Twilight Sparkle,” she said aloud as she set her horn aglow. It wasn’t really fair of her to think so, she knew; sure, it was one of Twilight’s spellbooks that she was using, but it wasn’t like Twilight had burst into her home and held her down and forced her to teleport. But she was in a bad mood, and it made her feel a little better to blame somepony else for her problems, at least right now. Still, after a moment Trixie shook her head, grit her teeth, and focused on the blue glow of her horn and the thought of Ponyville. She gathered her magical energy to herself, imagined a hole in space and time through which she could hop and end up in Ponyville, focused that thought forward and out of her horn, jumped forward… The chances of a pony being struck by wild lightning are about one in one million. Of course, this is just an average, based on the number of times a given pony has been struck by wild lightning in a given year, divided by the total number of ponies in Equestria. The chances of being struck go up considerably if the pony in question is actually standing in the middle of a summer’s thunder storm. They go up even further if that pony is a unicorn – after all, unicorns have a natural lightning rod sitting right on top of their heads. They go up most of all, however, if that unicorn is actually casting a spell, as spells have a tendency to serve as conductors of electricity. Even so, the chances remain fairly small – about one in five thousand. One would have to be particularly unlucky to be struck by wild lightning in the middle of an uncontrolled storm while one just so happened to be casting a spell. Trixie was a particularly unlucky pony. She had just enough time to register a white flash, a cacophonous sound, and a shooting pain all the way down her horn, into her skull, and throughout her body…but then, there was nothing but blackness. --- The place didn’t really exist. But if it had – it wouldn’t have mattered, because it had no air. But if it had air – then it still wouldn’t have mattered, because nothing could survive in this place, even assuming that it existed in the first place, which it did not. But if it did exist, and if there had been air, and if somepony could have been there, then they would have heard nothing, because what happened was far too complicated for mere sound. But if it had not been – if there had been a pony in this impossible nonexistent place, breathing air that wasn’t there and hearing a sound that couldn’t be made… Crack. And if one could look around this impossible place and seen the impossible sight of it, one would have seen the crack was but one of many, a splintered, fractured wall, already thin, already barely keeping itself together. The impossible sight of a blue unicorn, of all things, flying through the wall and leaving behind more cracks as she did certainly did not help matters. Falling, falling, Trixie fell what would have felt like forever and through very painful, weird matter, had she been awake. She was not – she was unconscious, leaking magic like a sieve, leaving behind a trail of her very self as she fell, heading for another wall in the very make-up of spacetime, this one in no better condition than the first one… Crack. --- It was a bright and sunny day. But Twilight Sparkle, Student of Princess Celestia, Head (and only) Librarian of Ponyville, and Element of Magic, didn’t have time to enjoy it as she read the letter levitating in front of her aloud. “Dear Twilight Sparkle, “After some careful consideration, I have decided to let you go through with your plan to examine the Elements of Harmony in greater detail. I must admit to being curious, as you are, as to the reason why the Elements worked differently upon Nightmare Moon for you and your friends than they did for me, yet both Luna and I wielding the Elements achieved the same effect that you and your friends did with your recent ordeal with Discord. I have my suspicions, of course, but it would be good to formally examine them. “I do, however, have one small requirement: I wish to be there with you! In light of recent events, I fear we haven’t spent as much time together as teacher and student as we used to, and I would hate to think of us as beginning to drift apart. Therefore, I have cleared my schedule for this Tuesday, and look forward to spending the day with you. “Your loving mentor, “Celestia.” Twilight read the letter that her number-one assistant, Spike, had handed to her a second time. Then she read it a third time, then a fourth. On her fifth read-through, some distant part of her brain noted that Spike had noticed the look on her face, shot off, and returned wearing a pair of pillows and a hoofball helmet for protection. This part of her brain, however, was not in contact with the rest. Thus: “Spiiiiiiiiike!” It was a well-known wail to the baby dragon, who had already preemptively covered his ears for it. When Spike again looked at Twilight, she was already pacing back and forth, eyes wide. “What are you worrying about?” Spike asked Twilight as he cautiously slipped of his impromptu armor. “You used to do this sort of thing with Princess Celestia all the time back in Canterlot – ” “No, Spike, it’s completely different!” Twilight exclaimed, stopping her pacing. “Princess Celestia is coming here! This isn’t just some laboratory or magic circle in Canterlot, this is Princess Celestia in my home!” She looked around. “And it’s a mess!” She wasn’t referring to the first floor of the library, of course; that was impeccably organized at the moment, every book put away precisely where it belonged, catalogued, dusted, and so on. Her actual home, however, on the second floor of the library… “My bed needs to be made, and – and I don’t think I’ve washed the sheets recently, but I should have – oh, and my pillow! My pillow’s looking flat, and Princess Celestia wouldn’t like that, I’ll need to get a new one – and then there’s my desk, it’s a mess, there’s ink all over it and papers everywhere, and my telescope! My telescope isn’t in focus right now, and it needs to be polished, and I need…I need…” Twilight had stopped pacing back and forth, though only so that she could fall back on her haunches and take in deep, gasping breaths of panic, one hoof at her chest and eyes wide and pupils dilated down to tiny pinpricks. Normally she was far more organized, but every now and then she’d find herself deep in the middle of a study session trying to learn a new spell or read a new book, and then one book or one spell would turn into two, and then three, and the next thing she knew, her home would be a mess! And of course now of all times… She couldn’t help but see Princess Celestia, looking around her home, a look of increasing disappointment on her features… “I suppose you still have a lot to learn, Twilight,” she’d say with a sigh and shake of her head, and this would be coming so soon on the hooves of last week’s mishap with her misuse of the want-it-need-it spell… “Twilight, calm down!” Spike insisted when she nearly fainted. He had run off and returned with a quill, inkwell, and sheet of parchment, holding them in front of the unicorn. “Just make a checklist like you always do!” Twilight paused at that. “Yes! Checklist!” She cried out, horn glowing as she telekinetically grabbed the items from Spike and set to work. When everything else had failed her, a well-organized checklist would not. “Alright, first item – make checklist. Second item – make bed. No, wash sheets! Yes! Third item…” Spike waited as patiently as possible while Twilight worked, glad to have at least partially diffused the situation. Twilight finished her checklist in record time, an expertly made fifty-two point document that would let her clean her home as swiftly as possible with plenty of time to spare for double-, triple-, and quadruple-checking before Princess Celestia arrived. When she had finished her checklist, she levitated it over to Spike. “Okay!” She said, her panic forgotten. Now, Twilight had a list to work off of, a plan for her day, and by Celestia and for Celestia, she was going to follow it! “Make checklist?” “Check!” Spike said, putting a mark at the top of the checklist. Sometimes he couldn’t believe the enthusiasm that he actually approached these lists with, although then again when Twilight got on a roll, it was hard not to get caught up in it. “Now you just have to – ” He was interrupted when something cyan-and-rainbow came barreling in through Twilight’s balcony, without first opening the doors. Both Twilight and Spike yelped at the sudden chill – winter had been going for a few weeks now, but it had been relatively mild up until just a day ago, when the pegasi of Ponyville had kicked things off in earnest with four inches of snow and a cold front. One of those pegasi in particular was even now picking herself up from where she’d crash-landed against the wall on the other side of Twilight’s room Twilight’s shock was dispelled as soon as she saw that her friend was unharmed. “Rainbow Dash!” she exclaimed, telekinetically closing her balcony door against the chill. “I have a front door, why don’t you ever use it?” Rainbow Dash paused a moment at that, casting a glance at the front door as though noticing that it was there for the first time. She didn’t give it much more thought, though. “No time for that,” she said, turning around and looking at Twilight. “We’ve got an emergency!” Twilight’s next set of objections were forgotten at that, as she set aside her checklist, quill, and inkwell immediately, and trotted over to Rainbow Dash, ears flopped back in concern. “What is it?” she asked cautiously. Rainbow Dash beat her wings a few times, taking to the air. She rarely stood when she could fly instead, especially when agitated. “Down at Sweet Apple Acres,” the Element of Loyalty said, “I was there catchin’ some Z’s in a tree after last night’s storm – ” “Just out in the cold like that?” Spike interrupted, head tilting to the side. Rainbow Dash shook her mane. “Pegasi don’t get cold easily,” she said, jerking a hoof at the nearest window. “It’s barely freezing out, I was fine. More importantly, though, next thing I knew I was woken up ‘cause Applebloom was screaming her head off. So I flew over there as fast I could. Applebloom was on her way to school, see, and guess who she found lying in the snow right at Sweet Apple Acres’ front door?” She gave the two a few moments to guess, but when neither unicorn nor dragon did, she learned in. “Nopony else but the Great and Powerful Trixie. Oh, sorry – the Great and Apologetic Trixie.” She made sarcasm-motions with her hooves at both titles. Twilight, meanwhile, had whickered, backing up. “Trixie?” she asked. “Was she okay?” Spike asked. Twilight mentally kicked herself for not asking that first. Rainbow Dash shrugged. “She was breathing,” she said, “after that, I dunno. Applejack and Big MacIntosh came outside then, and they brought her in. I went to the hospital and let ‘em know, then came straight here. Figured you’d want to know.” Twilight nodded. Rainbow Dash was right, she would want to know. “I’m going down to Sweet Apple Acres,” she decided, looking around a few moments before levitating her scarf, magically enchanted to keep out winter’s chill, from her drawer and around her neck, before looking to her number-one assistant. “Spike, get to work on the checklist while I’m gone,” she instructed. He gave a salute – normally he might gripe at being left with chores to do, but apparently he understood the gravity of the situation. Twilight looked back to Rainbow Dash. “Okay,” she said. “Go and tell Applejack that I’m on my way down. I don’t know why Trixie came back, but I’m going to help any way I can!” Rainbow Dash gave a salute of her own at that, and shot off – out through Twilight’s balcony, the unicorn noted. Sighing, Twilight once more closed her balcony doors, and then set out. --- Apart from the chill, it was actually a beautiful winter’s day. The sun was shining, the snow was fresh, and the ponies of Ponyville were going about their business as usual. The only thing disturbing the morning was a seemingly mad lavender unicorn charging as fast as her hooves could carry her through and then out of the town’s center, heading for the farmlands that surrounded Ponyville, and one farm in particular. The citizenry of Ponyville gave the unicorn a glance, saw that it was Twilight Sparkle, and returned to their business – something was always going on with that one, or her friends, and their antics were all but a part of the charm of Ponyville these days. Twilight was not privy to such thoughts, though, as she arrived at the front door of Sweet Apple Acres. A medical cart was sitting in front of it, red lights prominent, though not flashing. Despite her rush, she nevertheless paused at the front door in order to knock, if for no other reason than to catch her breath. After a few moments, she was greeted by the sight of Applejack – one of her closest friends, the Element of Honesty, and one of the most dependable ponies that Twilight had ever met. Applejack was wearing a smile when she saw Twilight, though it was clearly put-on, masking some worry. “C’mon in, Twi,” Applejack said, her country drawl thick as she opened her home’s door. “RD said you’d get here quick.” Twilight nodded, knocking her hooves on the front porch a few times to shake off snow and dirt before entering. “I came as soon as Rainbow Dash told me,” she told Applejack. “Is Trixie…okay?” “Doc’s checkin’ her out right now,” Applejack said, as Applejack guided Twilight through her house and up a flight of stairs, taking her to her room. Big MacIntosh was standing outside, still and stoic enough that he could have been doing a good impersonation of a Royal Guard, though he looked worried rather than stern. The two mares stopped before the closed door of Applejack's room “Ah feel bad for sayin’ it, but Ah’m a bit more worried ‘bout Applebloom. Ain’t somethin’ ya want to start the day with, exactly…” she lowered her voice slightly, “especially if’n things go south, if y’know what Ah’m sayin’.” Twilight stiffened slightly at Applejack’s tone, eyes wide. “Th…that bad?” “Don’t know,” Applejack said, taking off her signature Stetson and placing it against her chest. “Trixie didn’t look too good, an’ Ah don’t know how long she was out in the snow. No offense, surgarcube, but unicorns ain’t known for their fortitude, least not if’n they decide to pass out some winter night.” Twilight didn’t take offense at all – of the three pony tribes, unicorns were indeed the frailest, lacking the temperature resistance of pegasi and the sheer endurance of earth ponies. She glanced to Big MacIntosh, who looked like he was about to give his own thoughts on the matter, when the door to Applejack’s room opened, and Doctor Stable, an bespectacled, orange unicorn, came trotting out, along with a pair of assistants. He nodded to Twilight in greeting, before taking in the three ponies before him. “Well, I have good news, and bad news,” he said. “The good news is that Ms. Trixie in there is stable, healthy as far as I can tell, and doesn’t seem to have frostbite, or any signs of exposure. Her cape seems to have some kind of warming enchantment on it.” Twilight tugged at her own scarf unconsciously; the same enchantment was woven into it. It may have just saved Trixie’s life. “What’s the bad news?” she asked cautiously. Doctor Stable took a moment, looking over a clipboard he’d brought with him. “Well, first, Ms. Trixie’s received quite a shock, and I don’t mean the surprise kind. Unless I’m much mistaken, I’d say she was hit by a powerful electric jolt – lightning, wild lightning at that, much stronger than the bolts that weather pegasi generate.” Twilight, Applejack, and Big MacIntosh all blinked in confusion at that, looking between each other. “Y’all ever heard of lighting during a snowstorm?” Applejack asked. “Eenope,” Big MacInotsh said. Twilight tapped a hoof to her mouth. “I think it’s possible…” she said, “but I didn’t hear any last night…” Doctor Stable shrugged. “I don’t know what caused it, but that mare has been struck by lightning, mark my words. Right in the horn, too, probably when she was trying to cast a spell – must be the unluckiest mare this side of the Canterhorn. Now, fortunately, as much as magic tends to attract lightning, it also serves to insulate the body against it a little, so she doesn’t seem to have been badly hurt. But that leads to the second problem…she overchanneled.” Twilight eeped without being able to stop herself, backing away slightly. Applejack and Big MacIntosh started at her reaction, looking between the two unicorns oddly. “Over-whatnow?” Applejack asked. “Overchanneling is what happens when a unicorn uses too much of his or her magic in a single go,” Doctor Stable explained, his horn glowing blue as an example. “It leaves a unicorn completely drained and in a coma. Without aid, the coma can last for days or weeks, or even longer.” He raised a hoof before panic could overcome the three ponies before him. “Before you worry too much – we got here just in time and were able to give her ether to restore lost magic before the coma could set in. She’ll be unconscious for a day, but it shouldn’t be much longer.” Twilight brightened at that, but Doctor Stable again raised his hoof before she could get her hopes too high. “Having said that,” he warned, “we can’t know much more until she wakes up. She could have some other form of trauma caused by the lightning strike, or overchanneling, or both.” He turned to look to Applejack. “As much as things might be easier if she were at a hospital, I’d rather not move her, if possible. The best thing I can proscribe for her right now is bed rest, at least until she wakes up.” Applejack nodded. “Ah can bunk with Applebloom,” she confirmed. “Would it be okay to see her?” Twilight asked. “I think so,” Doctor Stable responded. “In fact I’d recommend keeping a pony with her at all times. She should wake up some time tomorrow, though she might drift in and out of consciousness in the meantime, and I wouldn’t be surprised if she’s only awake for an hour or two at most.” He nodded to Applejack. “I’ve left a good supply of ether in her room; whenever she wakes up, get her to drink some. Even a few drops are enough to start with. And if anything changes, come and get me immediately.” “Will do,” Applejack promised. With another nod, Doctor Stable and his assistants left. After a few moments, Twilight looked to Applejack, and after receiving confirmation, steeled herself, and went inside. Applejack’s room was generally green in coloration, and relatively small and simple in setup. She was a simple pony, and her room was arranged to match, with a pair of wall-hooks for her Stetson and lasso, a low desk with a sitting pillow next to it, and a wooden, inviting bed with thick, hoof-woven and inviting sheets on it. The pony in the bed, however, drew all of Twilight’s attention. Trixie lay on her side, her hat and cape hanging from the wall-hooks at the moment. Her silver hair was matted with sweat despite the cold conditions she had been found in, as was her brow. Her eyes were screwed tightly shut, and her forehooves gripped one pillow. Despite her sweat, the covers were pulled over her, wrapping the unicorn in a tight cocoon of linen. Her breathing, at least, was strong and steady, and she didn’t look like she was in any kind of pain. Twilight put a hoof to her chest at the sight of her. Trixie had twice come to Ponyville – once, not long after Twilight had first arrived herself, more than a year ago now. She had been a boisterous, arrogant, vain showpony, unable to admit to her own faults. This had played heavily into her more recent appearance with the Alicorn Amulet. Trixie had somehow convinced herself that she and Twilight were rivals, and had done horrible things in Ponyville after defeating Twilight in a magic duel – but that had been the Alicorn Amulet influencing her, inflating her ego beyond even its previous proportions. After Trixie had been relieved of the amulet and shown the error of her ways, she had apologized to Twilight, and the two had parted on relatively good terms. Not that Twilight had been entirely willing to let Trixie off the hook, per se – she’d forgiven Trixie, yes, but the two were not precisely friends or even friendly. But then last week had happened. Last week, when Twilight had been one frayed nerve short of a complete mental breakdown over, of all things, her friendship reports to Princess Celestia. Last week, when Twilight had cast the want-it-need-it spell upon her old doll, Smartypants, and turned Ponyville into a battleground. Twilight had, all too suddenly, become very aware of how easy it was to misuse raw magical power. And if there was one thing Twilight had, it was raw magical power. So looking down at Trixie now, seeing her self-proclaimed rival in a state like this…it was easy for Twilight to want to set aside all differences and past problems with Trixie, and just start over. She resolved to do just that, as soon as Trixie woke up. Trixie groaned a little in her sleep, her horn glowing a weak, pale blue. Twilight blinked at that – Trixie’s horn had always glowed lavender in the past, hadn’t it? She leaned in a little, confused, when Trixie groaned again, and started mumbling something in her sleep. Twilight’s ears perked up, straining to hear Trixie’s faint voice. “Stupid…storm…” she breathed, clutching the pillow closer to her. “Stupid…Twilight…” Twilight blinked a few times at that, listening still, but Trixie didn’t say anything else. Twilight sat back on her haunches, staring down at Trixie. Evidently, though Twilight was willing to put everything behind her, Trixie was not. Then again, it may have just been Trixie’s subconscious talking. She was, after all, recovering from an apparent lightning strike and overchanneling. “Don’t worry, Trixie,” Twilight said, horn glowing as she moved Trixie’s covers into a more comfortable position. “Just focus on getting better, and we can take everything from there.” She smiled. “Maybe…we could be friends?” --- My Little Pony, My Little Pony, What is friendship all about? My Little Pony, My Little Pony Friendship is magic! (My little pony) Friendship never meant that much to me. (My little pony) But you're all here and now I can see. When I was young, friends were just means to an end Anything more was just too much effort to expend But My Little Ponies, you opened up my eyes And now the truth is coming clear as moonlit winter skies And it's such a wonderful surprise! (My little pony) Friendship never meant that much to me. (My little pony) But you're all here and now I can see. When trouble Raindrops into town, your true spirit always brings me 'round Kindness is quite easy too, it's something anyone can Ditzy Doo For loyalty you always play your part, you pluck the Lyra strings of my heart On the Carrot Top of the world, as generous as can be And the way you all teach laughter, makes me wanna Cheerilee! (My little pony) Friendship never meant that much to me. (My little pony) But you're all here and now I can see. Our friendship's magic and it's growing all the time. A new adventure waits for us each day is yours and mine. We'll make it special every time! We'll make it special every time! (My little pony) What a wonderful wonder friendship brings (My little pony) Did you know that we're becoming true (Friends!) Friends, we're becoming true (Friends!) Friends, we're becoming true (Friends!) Friends, we're becoming true (Friends!) Friends!