Twilight felt her mind slipping. Tons of questions ran through her head as she watched the filly slowly walk across the room towards her.
“Who was the father? Am I even married? Wait, is this just a possible future or... I don't even...?!” All this and more ran through Twilights mind as the filly made her way to her. Twilight was so lost in her own thoughts. She almost failed to notice that the filly was speaking again. “So I know you told me that I need to wear this everywhere I go, but don’t you think we could come up with a place that I don’t have to worry about it? Like Apple Jacks farm? I mean, besides here. I understand why it would be bad if ponies saw what I really looked like but, I would just like to feel... normal walking around a bit for once. Besides, I have feeling that my friends will be ok with it.”
Twilight hesitated before answering, “Um, I’ll think about it.” Shaking her head, she tried to clear her mind. “Ok Twilight, get it together,” She told herself, breathing deeply, “I just need to find that piece of the door and get out of here. So what if I have a filly?” Just then, the black filly removed her vest and set it on a chair nearby. Her wings buzzed a bit in sweet freedom. “Ok, I have an Alicorn filly. I think I need to sit down.”
Twilight took a seat on the floor as the filly removed her glasses and set them on her vest. She then turned and ran to Twilight, smiling as she wrapped her legs around Twilight’s fore-legs. She looked up at Twilight with her big blue cat-like eyes. Twilight felt her sanity begin to break, “Great, I think I married Nightmare Moon.” She decided to make a mental note to research a DNA test spell of some kind in the near future.
Twilight broke from the hug and took a few steps back, “I'm feeling a bit tired today," she said, sounding strained but trying to sound calm. "I think I'm going to go lie down."
The little filly looked disappointed, “But I want to tell you about my day. It was surprisingly great!” Twilight felt her fear slip away as she stared into her puppy dog-like stare. Her eyes appeared like saucers, trembling a bit at the edges. Twilight knew that look; she invented that look. "Ok, just because she shares a... special trait with me, doesn’t make her," she swallowed hard. "my daughter. I refuse to believe that she is my…" Twilight's thought process came to a screeching halt as she heard a small whimpering coming from her. “Ok, for the daughter of Nightmare Moon.. she is pretty cute.”
Twilight smiled at the filly, “Alright, I promise I'll listen later after a nap.”
The filly sighed as her cute face fell. But she gave Twilight a half smile and nodded. “Okay, thanks mommy.” Twilight smiled and nodded back, then walked up to her bedroom. She took one last look back and saw that the filly had taken out a book that was almost as big as she was and was levitating it in front of her. “Ok, maybe she is my daughter.” Twilight shook her head and closed the door behind her. Looking around, she saw that her room looked almost the exact same as it did in her world. A large book was sitting at the desk she usually wrote at. She went over and started to turn through a few pages. It appeared to be a book on Nightmare Moon. “Why was I-er the other Twilight- reading this earlier?” Twilight shook her head. “No... no time to worry about this now. I have to focus; I have to figure out where that missing piece is. And maybe figure out a bit about this world too."
Twilight searched amongst her books, looking for anything different or something that would give her a clue about this world but everything appeared the same. It was just like her old room and her own world, minus her daughter. Twilight banged her head against the wall and groaned, “This is going to take forever. Why didn’t I start writing a journal or something?” Twilight went over and lay on her bed. As soon as she did this, she felt her whole body relax. “I didn’t realize I was this tired. Maybe an actual nap isn’t such a bad idea.” Twilight felt her mind drift away as sleep quickly took her. She closed her eyes and soon found herself drifting into a deep sleep.
*
Twilight awoke when she heard the door slam. She growled and stuck the pillow over her head; she'd always had trouble when it came time to get up. That was nothing new but this time, she wasn't planning on getting up no matter what was at the door. Sleep... more sleep and less confusion. “Nyx? I’m back from errands,” came a voice from downstairs. An overly-familiar voice.
That changed things instantly. "Maybe I've slept long enough."
Twilight immediately sat up as the gears in her brain began to move again. This was not her world, which meant that this world’s version of her would still exist. That made sense... she thought. For the umpteenth time, she wished for a book or something detailing the rules of inter-dimensional coexistence.
“Back from errands? But you just went upstairs to take a nap two hours ago,” Came a reply.
Twilight flinched as she realized how weird this would look to her other self.
“What? Didn’t you see my note? What do mean I went upstairs to take a nap?!”
"I dunno. You said you didn't feel well and needed to lie down. You wanna hear about my day now? It was surprisingly-"
"Hold on, Nyx, you said I went upstairs?" the other voice asked. Twilight immediately recognized the speaker, understood what it meant. Well... this won't be the first time I've talked to myself.
"Well, yeah," the filly answered.
"Let's just get to the bottom of this right now..."
Twilight immediately straightened out the bed before making for the window. One thing apparently different about this world it is that the bedroom window was different. While the bedroom window in her world was round, this one was square. And smaller. Twilight quickly realized that she would not fit through. She began to franticly look around for a place to hide but the only place that came to mind was under the bed. The covers laying across and touching the bottom did a good job of covering any visibility below. Twilight could hear herself coming up the stairs. “Wow, never thought I’d be hiding from myself.”
She dove under just in time to hear the door open, knowing her double was inside. The edges of the blanket blocked her view but she could hear the distinct sound of her own hoofsteps as she entered.
“Nyx, I don’t see anypony in here,” Twilight heard herself say.
“But... but it was you! I know what I saw; you went upstairs to have a nap. It had to have been you!"
“Well, I don't remember doing any of that. You're sure you didn't just dream this or remember it from another day?"
The filly entered the room as well. Twilight heard the quick-patter steps of filly hooves as her daughter ran and jumped up on the bed. She bounced on it a few times making the mattress dip down. Each time, it mashed Twilight in the muzzle, whapping her repeatedly. Finally, the energetic bundle atop the mattress ceased her pouncing. Twilight turned her head to the side, slightly disoriented and covered in the dust of the underside of her bed.
“Hey mom, would you mind showing me your tail for second.”
“What?”
"Just need to make sure that it didn’t fall off.”
The other her sounded skeptical. “Why would it have fallen off?”
“Because I can see it sticking out of the other side of the bed.”
Twilight gave a soft groan as she felt the filly on the bed grabbing her tail with her magic. A purple aura soon covered the bed. Twilight was blinded as light flooded back in and the bed was lifted upwards, hovering off to the side. Twilight soon found herself staring at… herself. The other Twilight gave a her a curious look. The Twilight still laying on the ground rubbed the back of her head with her hoof, “Well this is awkward.”
Nyx sat just few feet away with her mouth hanging open. “I have TWO mommies?!” Both Twilights simultaneously facehooved.
*
The Twilights stared at each other as they sat in silence. Nyx sat just few feet away looking at both her mothers. After a long period of silence, the 'visiting' Twilight spoke, “So who is the lucky stallion…or mare?”
The other Twilight blinked and stared as if she was shocked out of her thoughts, “Uh... there is no other stallion. Or mare. Nyx is kinda adopted. But at the same time..." the other cast a loving glance at the filly. "She's my little girl."
The other Twilight stared in confusion. “It’s a long story.”
"I've got time."
"A REALLY long story."
The other Twilight scratched her head. Nyx cocked her head sideways, “Um, so does this mean I get double presents on my birthday from now on?" she grinned enthusiastically.
Both Twilights turned to Nyx then back to each other. “She’s right; we need some way to determine which of us is which." Non-visiting Twilight said. "It will help keep me from feeling like I am talking to myself.”
Guest Twilight held up a hoof. "Got any ideas?"
"I don't know!" the other said, exasperated.
"Am I me? Or are we both me? Or does you being here mean I'm really-" The two Twilights postulated out loud, slowly walking in a circle around their room. Nyx began groaning and rubbing her head with her hoof as the conjecture-thon continued.
"Okay... we need something to help us tell each other apart!"
Host Twilight got up and began to rummage through a dresser nearby. After a few minutes of looking, she turned her head and smiled. Her horn glowed as she picked up a blue handkerchief and tied it around the other Twilight’s neck.
“Since you’re the visitor, I decided that it would make more sense to give it to you. Also, in order to keep me... keep US from going crazy, I think one of us should use some kind of nickname.” The Twilight with a blue handkerchief put her hoof to her chin, “How about you call me Twi and I just continue to call you Twilight.” Twilight nodded, “Works for me.”
They both smiled as Twilight walked back over and sat down. “So you’re from another world, what’s it like?”
Twi was silent as she thought for a moment, “Well, up until a few days ago I would say it is close to this one, without Nyx.”
Twilight put her hoof to her chin, “What happened?”
Twi sighed and summoned her Keyblade, “This came into my life."
Twi twirled it around in the air. "Since then, life has never been the same.”
Twilights eyes grew wide as she inspected the blade, “What is it?”
“It’s called a Keyblade. A strange voice told me what it was. It seems to be the most effective weapon against these beings I call the Shadows. It can also unlock and lock seemingly anything.”
“Shadows?”
“These dark beings with yellow eyes, that seem to rely on instinct and attack ponies for no reason. They can steal your heart and can be relentless if attacked. They seem to be somewhat organized however, as they did manage to take Canterlot. There are also some big ones that I have come across, that destroyed Ponyville in short amount of time. They scattered all of its inhabitants to who knows where. Even my friends were lost. Me, and as I found out later, Dinky seemed to be the only Ponyvilians left. I theorize that some may have escaped but have not returned due to there not much being left of Ponyville.”
Twilight mouth hung opened as she listened. Nyx seemed to scoot closer and closer to Twilight as Twi continued to talk about her experiences. From her meeting Night all the way to her eventually coming here, Twi told Twilight everything she told Luna not too long ago. When she finished, Nyx was practically clinging to Twilight and Twilight was quickly wiping her eyes with her hoof.
Twilight took a deep breath, “That sounds awful. But I don’t believe that Celestia would do such a thing. It just doesn’t seem like she would go to such extremes just out of fear or wanting to protect her Kingdom.”
Twi smiled, “Well I’m glad to hear that this Celestia is different.”
“Anyways, what I am mostly intrigued about most is this weapon you keep mentioning.”
“You mean the Keyblade?”
“May I see it?”
Twi summoned her Keyblade she had set off to the side earlier and set it in front of Twilight. Twilight picked it up with her magic. It was surprisingly light. She gave it an awkward swing. As soon as she had, the blade flashed and returned to Twi. “Amazing.”
Nyx’s stomach growled. Both Twilights turned to stare at her. Twi’s stomach soon began to do the same thing. Twi grinned sheepishly at Twilight. “I don’t suppose you have something to eat. I haven’t eaten in some time.”
Twilight smiled and nodded. “I had just come back from shopping. I have plenty to eat.”
Both Twilight’s and Nyx made their way down the stairs into the kitchen. Both Twi and Nyx sat down at the table as Twilight began to make some daisy sandwiches. Twi glanced around noticing some differences in this kitchen from hers. The room was quiet for a few moments. Nyx glanced off and stared at the calendar.
A smile slowly spread across her face. “Mom, you know what tomorrow is right?”
Twilight finished making the first sandwich and set it down in front of her.
“Friday?” She asked as she began making another.
Nyx smile grew bigger, “Not just that. It’s the last day of school!” Nyx then bit into her sandwich, as she silently squeed in joy. Twi looked at Twilight with a bemused smile. Twilight set down a plate in front her and rolled her eyes. Nyx quickly finished her sandwich.
She raised her hooves up in the air. “Tomorrow, everything changes. I can tell that it is going to be a day to remember.” She sat back in her chair and grinned as both Twilights rolled their eyes and smiled.