//------------------------------// // 01 A Purple Unicorn In The Mirror // Story: The Wrong Twilight // by Pinklestia //------------------------------// My head hurts. Oh my god how I hate hangovers! Why the hell I had to drink? I am not even the legal age! Maybe it was because I was tired of being called 'Little Miss Bookworm' and of being teased for always studying and having no fun. No, that's not it, to be honest I just needed a break, I had to study for two weeks for the exams we had last week, and then this week we didn't have any exam yet I was still studding. Never mind, I have to, getting a scholarship is the only way I can afford to go to university. So, my parents told me we were moving, and the only friend I had makes me a surprise goodbye party, then guilt trips me into drinking. So here I am, on a Sunday morning, waking up with my head hurting, everything looks like a blur and... This isn't my room! Heck, this isn't even my friend’s room, or her guest room, or the room of anyone I know! I mean is so big, the bedroom I am in huge, and as my friend would say, everything looks so fancy! Basically if you ever seen a luxurious Princess room in an animated movie, this basically looks like that. Since nothing in real life uses this kind of pastel colors unless is Disneyland. I groggily get out of bed. Man, I must be worse than I thought! I have to crawl instead of walking, and I feel kinda funny. I look around once more and notice a big decorated mirror. Then I look at it, and despite my vision being blurry, I see a purple unicorn in the mirror instead of my reflection. Am I dreaming? No, it hurts too much to be a dream. I give the pony a strange look of confusion and the pony does the same. I still can't stand up, but as I raise my hand in front of the mirror, the unicorn raises her hoof. I must be hallucinating, right? It’s not common, but maybe I am one of those people whose head becomes really messed up when they drink a lot. Yes, that's it! I should just return to bed and hope I get out of this hallucination. Then I hear knocking in the door "Twilight Sparkle, may I come in?" "Uh... okay?" I say, I don't know the voice, but if this isn't real, why panic? And if it’s real, panicking can come later. The door opens and what enters the room is... a dark blue unicorn with wings? Okay, a horse with wings is called a pegasus but how do you call a horse with both wings and a horn? Wait, Why I am seeing this? Sure I like unicorns like a lot of girls, but I am a teenager now, I am supposed to reject those childish things! "Twilight Sparkle, what happened to your wings? Did you try a new spell?" asks the unicorn pegasus (or should I call it winged unicorn?) with worry. "Wings? You mean that besides looking like a unicorn out of a kid’s book, I am also supposed to have wings?" Okay, I shouldn't have said that, it was a really bad idea. But try to see things from my point of view, it is not easy waking up with your first hangover ever. Add to that the fact I woke up in a strange place that looks like some kind of vaguely-European castle. Where was I? Ah yes, and to top it all, I can't even stand up and my reflection looks like a unicorn… And then I looked at where my hands where supposed to be and realized that's not the only thing about me that looks like a unicorn. "I don't understand, what are you talking about? Are you saying that you aren't Twilight Sparkle?" The creature looks at me right into the eyes, scary! "Yeah, I guess so.” Then the creature continues to stare, as if this was still rather dubious, looking angry and distrustful. "Uh... if I was bad, wouldn't I be trying to pretend to be Twilight instead of being honest?" The way I am shaking in fear seems to relax the bigger... pony? horse? Somewhat. "I guess I can give you the benefit of the doubt... for now." Well, I am very lucky this creature didn't react in a violent way, but how it knows my name? Does this unicorn I have become also respond to the name 'Twilight Sparkle'? Of course it does! Stupid hangover! "Sorry for causing you trouble, I was never a unicorn before so I am quite confused. You can call me... Tara?" Look, I technically didn't lie, I just told her I'm not her Twilight Sparkle and that she could call me Tara. I never said my name was Tara, did I? And where I got the name? I heard it somewhere and it sounded like a nice name, "Tara, I understand you must be confused and hurt, but may you please come with me to see my sister?" The unicorn pegasus says trying to sound nice, but I bet it must be because she is worried about HER Twilight Sparkle, after all why would she care about a stranger she just meet? And what about me? Why I aren't I screaming in panic? Or crying? This should be freaking me out! I blame booze. "OK." I follow the creature, walking as fast as I can in four legs. My balance is way off and I trip more than once. Soon she loses patience and her horn glows in a white color, so does me body, and she carries me floating around trough the hallway. Hey, I'm flying! Well, floating. I did not just think that, did I? How the hell could I be okay about being in a world of colorful unicorns? Again, I blame the booze. We finally arrive to a big throne room, there are two thrones there, and in one of them is sitting a different unicorn pegasus, She, because it looks like a female, is white with a colorful mane and tail. I did not notice it before, but these two are way bigger than I am now; that makes me feel somewhat scared. "Eh... could you... please put me down, miss?" I say in a squeaky voice. Thankfully she does that, the white glow fading away. The white unicorn pegasus looks at me with curiosity and interest, but I guess that since I look a lot like someone she knows it makes sense. Now, what I wasn't expecting was the white unicorn pressing her face with the side of one of her own hooves and saying "Why me?" Luna looks at her sister with worry, whatever she was about to say forgotten. She is probably confused about Celestia's face-hoof. "Excuse me..." says the unicorn Twilight "I'm Tara ... I woke up like this and... could you help me? I am not really a unicorn and I want to go back home." "I see. Are you hungry?" Celestia asks. 'Tara' was probably about to protest that she has no time to eat and wanted to be back into her own body and home as soon as possible, as she looked like that was just what she wanted to do. But then her stomach starts to grumble. "Uh... yes, I guess I am." Tara says blushing in embarrassment I find myself eating a lot of pastries instead of talking, so the white one does the most talking instead. Eating with just your mouth is difficult, and I am forced to do that because I have no idea how to float things like I had seen the blue pegasus do to me. I am told the two creatures are sisters, princesses who rule together a land called Equestria, and that they call their own species ponies. The blue one is called Luna and the white one Celestia. They tell me Celestia raises the sun while her sister Luna raises the moon, something I do not believe at all, because even if I am in a magical land full of colorful ponies, that's just ridiculous. Apparently I had been found two days ago asleep in front of a magic mirror, and they were so concerned, probably because they thought I was their Twilight, that they first missed the fact I had no wings or cutie mark. Then they assumed it some magical side-effect of using the mirror. A cutie mark is some kind off drawing that appears in a pony flank when they discoverer their special talent, and there is some discrimination to ponies that don't have one. Princess Luna had just arrived today from a diplomatic mission to a foreign country, she didn’t say which one. I can clearly see the distrust in the so called moon princess eyes (‘so-called’ because for all I know they could be lying about being princesses, after all). Her big sister is a lot better hiding it, but I know it’s there. Apparently there had been an invasion of shape-changing insect-like monsters called changelings not too long ago. An invasion Luna had SLEPT through. Yes, I ain't joking about that. She is clearly thinking I might be one of those creatures even after Celestia assures I am not. And how they found out I wasn't one of those changelings? They took a blood sample, it seems a changeling blood is different from the blood of a pony. - I’m not sure how, and my request for more details is politely denied. Oh, by the way, humans don't exist here, so I am stuck as a pony as long as I stay in this world. And where is THEIR Twilight? It seems that while I am stuck with these ponies the other Twilight is stealing MY LIFE, but that isn't the worst news. "Thirty moons? I have to wait thirty moons to go back home?" I say. They’re kidding, right? Assuming this planet had a close enough rotation to Earth that's... almost two and a half years! I can't be stuck here for that long!. "I assure you Tara, we will try to make your stay in Equestria as comfortable as possible." Celestia looks at me with kindness in her eyes, and I start crying. "I want to wake up! Why I am still stuck in this nightmare?" I say, and now even Luna looks at me with pity. I don't want their compassion! These... these MONSTERS are clearly responsible for me being stuck in their world.