//------------------------------// // Princesses and Palaver // Story: An Extended Field Trip // by ePonymous //------------------------------// It wasn’t until the next morning that Spinel Doublet felt his patient was well enough to make even the relatively short trip from the palace’s infirmary to the council chambers. Sweetie Belle had donned her clothing – freshly washed and smelling of newly-mown hay – and cradled a glass of grape juice in her hand to nurse her still-dry throat with. All around her, walls of gemstone, mica, and crystal rose, interrupted by alabaster furnishings and stained-glass windows. This was most undoubtedly a palace, and whether or not she was hallucinating, Sweetie Belle was awed and enchanted, having to be nudged along on occasion by the crystal pony guardsman accompanying her. She let out a soft coo of wonder when the doors ahead of her glowed with a combination of golden and blue light, swinging open without apparent effort from anyone. “Hello again, young one,” spoke the rainbow-maned pony that Sweetie Bell had decided was her principal. “I’m glad to see you are well enough to join us.” ‘Us’ apparently consisted of three other winged unicorns – the candy one, a mostly-purple one standing a head below the others, and the last, a dark blue with the same sort of flowing mane as Celestia. Also in the room was a fifth unicorn, wearing a well-coiffed violet mane and an expression of wordless shock. “Uhm, no problem, I guess,” Sweetie Belle mumbled, for a moment feeling awkward, gangly, and more out of place than ever – which was certainly saying something. She reached up, rubbing the back of her neck. “Am I in trouble? I didn’t mean to go in the, uhm, the artifact room...” She sounded uncertain, looking between the five. Celestia chuckled softly “No, you are not in trouble. Please, have a seat.” Sweetie Belle’s mouth dropped open as the princess’ horn glowed, along with a pillow nearby, settling at the table as a seat. Gulping, Sweetie Belle settled herself upon it, legs folding together. “Allow me to make introductions. I am Princess Celestia. that is my sister, Princess Luna. And between are princesses Cadence, and Twilight Sparkle. The lady at the end of the table is Twilight’s friend, Rarity.” “Wait… princess Celestia? Princess Luna?” Sweetie Belle looked between the two, chewing the back of her lip, then looking to the last pony introduced “There’s a Rarity that goes to my school. You… do sort of look like her, I guess? Except for… you know… Everything, I guess.” Rarity just kept staring without a word. Celestia and Luna exchanged a look, before Luna spoke. “It sounds almost as though you know of us, young…” a glance at a paper in front of her “Young Hyooomaaan?” She turned to Twilight, muttering “Is that right? I have such a time with doctor’s handwriting….” “Yeah, ‘human’ that’s right,” Sweetie Belle nodded. “And you two look sort of like the principal and vice principal of my school… I don’t recognize you two at all, though,” she said with a glance at Twilight and Cadence. “So, I guess if I’m crazy, I’m totally making you two up. Sorry.” “We understand that you might be having a hard time,” Celestia began, looking back to the young girl. “But you can rest assured in that, if nothing else, you are perfectly well, aside from some bruising. But there is some… bad news, I am afraid…” Sweetie Belle gulped. Bad news? She was in a room with telekinetic unicorns sipping tea and mispronouncing her species, and there was bad news? “Uhm, what sort of bad news?” The purple unicorn took the opportunity, not noticing Sweetie Belle gawking as she used magic to separate and tap a stack of papers. “It seems that you translocated through a dimensional locus by accident, resulting in your being deposited on our side of the Temporal-Spatial boundary, precisely within the reliquary of…” Twilight paused, noticing the awkward silence around here, and the girl’s dumbfounded look. “Uh, what I mean is, you fell through a portal and ended up in our world.” “You’re joking.” Sweetie Belle asserted flatly “That would be magic!” Magic doesn’t happen!” “Would you like some tea?” Cadence asked demurely. “What? Tea? No, thanks, I have… uh… bwuh…” Sweetie Belle’s jade-green eyes crossed a little as she noticed that the teapot, cup, and saucer were hovering in front of her at the table, limned in a pale blue sparkling light. “That’s, you’re, you’re, that’s…” The doors, the pillow, the papers, and now it was starting to sink in. “She seems to be reacting better to magic than we thought she would,” Luna noted, sipping her own tea “At least she’s still conscious.” “So you see, magic is very much a part of our world,” Celestia explained, ignoring the snark from her sister as she focused on Sweetie Belle. “And once every thirty moons, for a period of three days, our world connects to your world. Here, the portal is a mirror. Perhaps on your world, it is the statue you believe you fell into.” Sweetie Belle’s eyes followed the tea set as they floated back onto the table with a little clink. She took a big gulp of the juice she’d been carrying all this time, blinking one “That… was… SO COOL!” Celestia’s words had gone in one ear and out the other, apparently. “Can all ponies do that? Can I do that now?” She closed her eyes and concentrated really hard, and all that happened was reminding herself of the splitting headache she still had. “I don’t... think so,” Celestia admitted “But there is still much about your world, and how the two interact that we do not know. As I said, there is bad news…” This reminder recaptured the girl’s attention. “The portal opens once every thirty moons, and closes after three days. You’ve spent three days in the infirmary recovering from the blow you took, and Cadence believes you may have been in the artifacts room for as long as a day. Slowly, surely, this sunk into Sweetie Belle’s sore head “But, then, that would mean... that it’s closed? As in, no way back through?” Four of the five nodded. “Well, oh, how long is a ‘moon’?” she chewed her lip “Is it like, phases of the moon? Thirty… I’m stuck here for a whole month?!” Her voice cracked into an undignified squeak at the last word, and she clapped her hands over her mouth, looking between the five unicorns, who wore a range of expressions, from concern and sympathy, tho curiosity and wariness, and the last one, Rarity… Yup, still shocked. Sweetie Belle wondered if she was broken. “It’s a little longer than that, actually…” the purple one, Twilight Sparkle spoke up. “A moon isn’t just one phase, but, all of them, from new moon to new moon. Which is roughly twenty-seven days. So thirty of those.” She observed Sweetie Belle’s perplexed look. “Twenty-nine times thirty?” Still blank. “I’m not very good at math,” the girl finally piped up quietly , a flush spreading on her bare cheeks. “Eight hundred and seventy days,” Twilight deadpanned, choosing to ignore the soft ‘ooooh’ of understanding coming from her sister-in-law. “That’s two solar years. Well. Two solar years, four months, two weeks, and five days. Give or take a few hours owing to-“ “We will try to find a way to get you back home, safe and sound well before then,” Celestia interjected before Twilight could continue her astronomy lesson. “However, until then, you are our honored guest here in Equestria.” Sweetie Belle’s vision blurred. For a moment she was afraid it was her contucussion or whatever it was, acting up again, until the wetness of tears spilled down her cheeks “But… but my mom and pop, and… and my friends, and…” Her lip quavered, on the verge of a full-out sob. “And your sister?” the new voice belonged to the unicorn that had been busy gawping for so long. Through bleary eyes, Sweetie Belle thought she looked a little expectant. “H-huh,-huh?” The word was a half-sob, forcing Sweetie Belle to reach up to wipe her eyes with the back of her hand “I don’t have a sister.” Confusion and sadness fought within her for a moment, sadness winning and making her snuffle and bite her lip. “You, you’ve all been… you’ve been very n-nice, buh… buh… “ she couldn’t get the last words out, instead just sobbing quietly covering her face to not make a spectacle in front of these princesses. Feeling two pairs of arms wrap around her was a comforting surprise, all the more so because they belonged to the unicorns Cadence and Rarity. Impulsively, needing the hug, she returned it. Celestia let off a soft sigh, no less upset by the hurt the young human mare was feeling. “Well, I suppose that just as there are similarities, there are differences… Nevertheless, Rarity has kindly offered to take you into her home in Ponyville until this issue can be resolved. In our world, you and she are sisters. That is, she and Sweetie Belle are… I mean…” for a moment, Celestia lost her composure in the confusion that transdimensional travel is sure to cause anyone. She gave up, giving a soft snort. “There’s a place called Ponyville?” Sweetie Belle sniffed, then giggled, which turned into a hiccup as her lungs tried to sob again. “And... we are? She is?” She turned to regard Rarity at her side, who just gave a mute nod. “Wait, so… “ she paused The princesses looked to her expectantly, all but Luna whose mind seemed to be elsewhere. “…So you mean there’s a pony version of me?!”