Twilight Sparkle gazed at each of the girls in turn, waiting to hear their answer. Finally, Fluttershy cleared her throat.
"I think I can answer this and it makes sense now, what Twilight said to me the first time we met." Fluttershy said.
"The first time we met? But that was just the other day and I don't remember anything about a Princess coming up." Twilight objected.
"Actually..." Fluttershy started and then paused to gather her thoughts. "I guess the other day was the first time I met you, but it's not the first time that I met Twilight Sparkle." Seeing the uncomprehending look on Twilight's face, Fluttershy gulped, but continued nervously. "It was just after lunch one day, right before the Fall Formal. I had been handing out flyers for the animal shelter, as I normally do. I was standing over by the statue in front of the high school when a crown came flying out of nowhere and hit me in the head. Not knowing for sure what to do with it, I took it to Principal Celestia. Then later, when Sunset Shimmer was yelling at me for doing that, the Twilight from Equestria intervened. After Sunset Shimmer left, Twilight asked me about the crown and I told her that I had taken it to our principal. She asked me if Principal Celestia was our ruler. I'm pretty certain in Equestria that Princess Celestia is the ruler there, so Twilight just assumed it would be the same here."
Fluttershy sat back down as she finished her answer, pouring herself a little more tea to calm her nerves, trying not to spill it with her slightly shaking hands.
Twilight had set down the box of quills while Fluttershy was speaking, her expression moving from surprise, to disbelief, and finally to one that appeared more calculating and analytic. "So what Sunset was saying and what all of you are saying is that another world exists where there are duplicates of each of us and somehow a duplicate of me came to our world and when that happened, magic was unleashed?"
The other girls all looked at each other, a little uncertain what to say. Finally, Rarity sat up, looking at Twilight and said, "I'd say that sums it up pretty succinctly, yes."
The room grew very quiet, then the sound of laughter could be heard. It started slowly, then grew in intensity as Twilight's mirth turned into full-blown hilarity.
Finally, Twilight wiped the tears from her eyes as her laughter subsided. "Sunset was right about you all being funny. That's the craziest thing I've ever heard." Twilight looked up, expecting to see grins from a joke well shared. Instead, Fluttershy looked as if she wanted to hide, Applejack had a look of concern, Rarity had a completely straight face, and Rainbow Dash looked somewhat annoyed. Only Pinkie Pie was still smiling.
"You don't believe a word of it, do you?" Rarity said, looking Twilight in the eye.
"How could she?" Rainbow Dash interrupted. "It's like a late-night movie plot." Rainbow Dash shifted uncomfortably in her chair. "Look, Twilight...we get it. And if we hadn't experienced it ourselves, I think we'd all be where you are. But it happened. It was real. And it was really hard on some of us..." Rainbow's voice trailed off as the memory of flying possessed her again. It had taken weeks to get over losing her wings. Rainbow Dash looked over to Applejack, who gave an supportive nod in return.
Pinkie Pie bounced up off of the couch, breaking the somber silence. "I have an idea!" she exclaimed. "Fluttershy, go get your laptop?"
"Uhmm...OK," Fluttershy answered, heading into her bedroom to retrieve her computer.
"Now what? More pictures?" Twilight asked curiously.
"That's right!" Pinkie Pie answered with a grin. "Are you sure you aren't psychic? Anyway, I want to show you some more pictures from the Fall Formal, the student newspaper, and the school website. Even you will have to admit that while this would be the prank of all pranks, there's no way we could have gotten so many people involved, especially school administrators."
Twilight thought that over and started to retort, but the surprising logic from Pinkie Pie stopped her. She'd come here tonight to try and discover just what really had happened, but now her initial presumptions were starting to crumble.
Fluttershy returned with the laptop and set it down on the coffee table. Pinkie Pie reached past Twilight, somehow having appeared next to her with a chair, turning on the power. Twilight could have sworn that Pinkie Pie was sitting on the couch a moment before.
"Fluttershy's on the yearbook staff, so she should have access to all of the pictures they took. Let's start with the school paper and then we'll check out the rest after that." Pinkie said as she started to pull up the files.
As Pinkie Pie pulled up image after image and mulitple articles, Twilight sat spellbound, listening closely to Pinkie Pie as she narrated. The more and more evidence that she saw, the more that Twilight's skepticism started to melt. Soon Pinkie Pie started to show pictures from the day of the Fall Formal and Twilight began to see things she hadn't noticed before. In every one of the pictures, especially when she was surrounded by the other girls, she looked happy.
Happier than she could ever remember having looked, in fact. Just being close to all of the girls around her made her want to smile. The final picture that Pinkie Pie pulled up was a copy of the one she had seen before, the other Twilight surrounded by her five friends that had worked so hard to help her win the crown of the Fall Formal and the adoration of the other Canterlot High students.
"Thank you Pinkie" Twilight said with a little sigh. She sat back, reflecting on what she'd seen, what she was feeling. She was a little jealous of the other Twilight, which surprised her.
"You're very welcome!" Pinkie Pie beamed and shut down the laptop. "So now you see why I said it felt like forever since we've seen you and why we knew Spike was yours. And now that you found us we don't have to not talk to you like Twilight told us not to!"
Twilight looked up sharply at Pinkie Pie and said, "Wait, why did I...I mean, why did this other Twilight say you weren't supposed to talk to me?"
"She said that since you hadn't ever found us like she found her friends like she did then it might not be your destiny to be our friend, but that would be a total bummer." Pinkie replied. "But now you're here and we've met so we can be friends!"
"Friends..." Twilight said with a wistful smile. "I've never really bothered to develop any real friends. I've always devoted myself to my studies. I never made time for friendship."
"Well, now's the time," Applejack said. "Like Sunset said, we took a shine to the Twilight we met right away, an' I'm sure we're all hoping that we can share that with you." The other girls all smiled and nodded their agreement.
"I'm touched, really." Twilight said honestly. "I need a little time to process all of this. You all seem really nice, and Fluttershy, you've been especially kind. I just need to wrap my head around everything you all have shown me. Can you understand if I need some time to figure it all out?"
"Of course we can dear," Rarity said. "You have Fluttershy's number, and if you like, you can have mine as well. Call us when you're ready to talk again and we'll be there for you."
"Sure can, sugarcube," Applejack added. "Jus' take all the time you need an' let us know if we can help."
Twilight smiled and stood up, gathering up the wooden box that Sunset Shimmer had given her. Glancing down at it, Twilight turned to Rainbow Dash and asked, "Could you also get me back in touch with Sunset? I think I'm going to have lots more questions about this other Twilight and Equestria."
Rainbow Dash nodded and said, "Sure, I'll let her know you want to talk, just give me your number and I'll get her to call you."
"Thanks, Rainbow." Twilight said and took out a piece of paper and pen from her pack. She scrawled her number on it and handed it to Rainbow Dash. Twilight then turned to address all of the girls once again. "Thanks for understanding, everyone. I'm very glad that I got to meet all of you. Fluttershy, I'll be in touch." With that, Twilight picked up her pack, putting the quill box inside and gave a little wave goodnight as Fluttershy walked her to the door.
Once Twilight had left, the five girls gathered in close to discuss how the evening had gone.
"She must think we're nuts." Rainbow Dash said.
"Well, it is a lot to take in." Rarity added. "But she didn't run screaming, so perhaps once she lets it all sink in, she'll be able to handle it. After all, we all adjusted pretty well, all things considered."
"An' there ain't a lot we can do now anyway." Applejack said. "It's kinda like the other Twilight said, if it's meant to be, then she'll come 'round."
"I really hope she does!" Pinkie said eagerly. "It would be totally, completely uncool if we never heard from her again."
Fluttershy nodded in agreement and said, "If she calls me, I'll make sure to tell you all the first chance I get."
Rainbow Dash stood up and ran her fingers through her hair. "I'm going to head out, it's getting late and I promised to call Sunset. I'll see you guys tomorrow."
"I should get on back to the farm, chores come early." Applejack said with a little yawn.
The other girls excused themselves one by one and soon it was just Fluttershy standing in the living room. As Fluttershy finished cleaning up and putting things back in their usual place, Angel came hopping out of her bedroom. "Oh Angel, do you think we'll ever see her again?" Fluttershy asked.
Angel gave a little shrug of "Why should I care?" that Fluttershy interpreted as "How should I know?"
Fluttershy reached down to pick up the little bunny and carry him back to the bedroom for the night. "You're probably right, Angel" she said, trying to sound hopeful.
The next few days at school went without incident, though Fluttershy found herself looking at her phone much more often than usual to make sure she didn't miss a text, email, or call. But to her disappointment, there were none except the normal ones from her friends.
It was lunch period on Friday and Fluttershy was once again standing out at the statue handing out flyers for the shelter. She was a little down, only one person had bothered to take one and her time at lunch was nearly over. As Fluttershy watched a group of students walk towards the main entrance to Canterlot High without acknowledging her presence, Fluttershy felt a soft nuzzle at her ankle and jumped in surprise with a little "Eeep!" Looking down, she saw a small purple dog with green eyes rubbing his cheek against her ankle, then looking up at her with big green eyes.
Fluttershy blinked and then said hesitantly, "Spike? What are you doing here?"
A familiar voice rang out. "I'll take one of those flyers, please."
Fluttershy turned at the sound and nearly dropped the stack of papers when she saw Twilight standing there with a smile on her face.
"Oh my goodness! Twilight!!" Fluttershy gasped. "What are you doing here?" she repeated.
Twilight's smile grew a little wider. "Well, seeing as I just transferred here this week, I'm getting ready to head to my first class. Advanced Calculus, 5th period Honors program." she said with a cheerful tone.
"You...you transferred here?!?" Fluttershy asked with amazement. "But what about the Gifted and Talented Academy?"
"Well, I can't possibly study applied temporal physics, parageography, and exobiology there like I can here, especially once the portal opens up again, now can I?" Twilight replied with a wink. "And even more importantly...I won't have the same opportunity to spend time with friends there like I will here."
Fluttershy nearly squealed with delight, dropping the stack of flyers and running up to give Twilight a huge hug which Twilight reciprocated.
"This is so wonderful!" Fluttershy beamed. "The other girls will be so happy!" Fluttershy finally let Twilight go and realized her flyers were starting to scatter. As she hurried to gather them up, she asked curiously, "What made you decide this?"
Twlight bent down to help Fluttershy pick up the errant pages. "I had a long talk with Sunset Shimmer, she told me all about Equestria, being a unicorn...which I find completely fascinating...and the other 'me', who I hope to get to meet someday." The two girls gathered up the rest of the flyers and stood back up. "She also spoke at length about the Elements of Harmony and how well you all have treated her and befriended her even after what she did." Twilight gave Fluttershy a smile and said "I can see why you represent Kindness."
"The first time that I saw that picture of myself at a dance I'd never been to, I thought it was all some misunderstanding or some elaborate joke. But then, after meeting you all and talking with you, seeing how much you mean to each other and how much I...how much the other Twilight meant to you all, I realized just how much I missed having good friends." Twilight said, giving Fluttershy her stack of flyers.
The warning bell sounded and Twilight bent down to let Spike climb into her pack. "I should probably get going, I still need to learn my way around campus. Tell the girls that I'm here and I hope we all can get together after school?"
"I sure will, Twilight!" Fluttershy promised. "They are going to be so happy to see you again!" Fluttershy gathered up her things as well and walked back with Twilight into the main wing of the High School. It suddenly didn't matter she had handed out only one...well, two flyers at lunch. Twilight was back and this time she didn't have to rush away through a magic portal. She was here to stay.