Seeing Double

by Word Wizard

Boredom causes Problems

        The library was quiet.  Oh so quiet.  So quiet, princess Twilight Sparkle couldn’t stand the peace any longer.

        Nothing ever happens here, she sighed, deciding to ignore the several occasions she had saved Equestria from the precipice of disaster.  Spike puttered about the library, wearing his flowered apron while he hummed and dusted.  

“Maybe you could try one of those spells you’re always studying,” Spike suggested, waving his duster over an old book.  A plume of gray dust exploded from the cover.  “Maybe a dust-removing spell, maybe?” he wheezed.

“You’re right, Spike!” Twilight said cheerily, standing up.  “I should do something.  DO something.”

“That’s the Twilight I like,” Spike said approvingly.  “Wasn’t there a spell in Applied Magic you were wanting to try?”

        “Be careful,” Spike cautioned as Twilight began to leap about the library, collecting an army of floating books in the air next to her.  “Don’t you go falling in.”

        “Oh, Spike!” Twilight chuckled, ruffling her wings.  “You know I’d never do anything like that!”

        “Of course,” Spike grumbled, “nothing except messing up spells all the time.”

        “I’ll be very careful,” Twilight assured the dragon, slipping her saddlebags onto her back.  “And I’ll be back before nightfall.  Don’t worry!”

        And with that she plunged out the door, spread her wings, and was gone.  Spike heaved a sigh of relief as he slumped against a bookshelf.  “What I wouldn’t give for a nice, cold, cup of gem juice.”

        The dusting was a daunting task.  He had only finished the first floor, and the older sections of the library still needed work.  In the back, there was a whole room of books that hadn’t been opened for at least two years, and the amount of dust on them could probably choke a dragon.

        “At least Twilight’s not looking depressed anymore,” Spike muttered to himself as he trudged towards the eastern door from the library’s main room.  “Now I’m depressed.  Dang it!”

        Twilight hummed as she flew through the crystal clear, deep blue sky.  Large, puffy, white clouds drifted past as she slowly flapped her way through the air; her bulging saddlebags weighing her down like a lead weight.  But excitement inside her gave her strength, and on she went.

        The wormhole could be dangerous, of course, so she planned to execute the spell far away from civilization.  In the Great Pastures between Ponyville and Manehatten, a few hundred miles from the nearest house.  

        The sun shone its glorious midday light upon Equestria as the princess glided steadily over it.  She smiled as she looked down on passing towns, no more than large, brown spots on the landscape.  This was so much better than sitting at the Library.

        “Whatcha doing?” a familier voice inquired from a nearby cloud.  Twilight whipped her head around, and noticed the cloud was moving at the same speed as her… thanks to a couple of light blue wings sticking out of it.

        “Rainbow!” Twilight said disapprovingly.  “Get out of that cloud!”

        “Fine, fine,” Rainbow Dash said,whipping the white cloud into small tufts of drifting vapor.  “But what are you doing?”

        “I’m going to try a new spell,” Twilight said.  Rainbow reclined smugly on a passing cloud, giving it a shove in Twilight’s direction.  

        “Another one of those egghead things, I suppose?” she said sarcastically.  “I’ll be it’s dangerous if you’re flying all the way out here to do it.”

        “Well…” Twilight hesitated.  “Yes, it is.  But not THAT dangerous.”

        “Uh huh,” Rainbow nodded smugly.  “But dangerous enough that you have to be two hundred miles from everypony?”

        “Yes.”

        “Sounds ‘not dangerous’ to me,” Rainbow grinned.  “Anyway, mind if I come along?”

        “I suppose not,” Twilight replied, beginning to glide in a descent.  “But don’t stand too close.”

        “Sure,” Rainbow rolled her eyes, delving off the cloud in a flash.  “I’m not stupid.”

        “Right,” Twilight smiled.  The plains were coming in view now.  They were beautiful, expansive fields of grass, with the occasional tree dotting the landscape.  Rainbow had already chosen one to recline under to observe the entertainment.

        Twilight touched down lightly on the grass and swung her saddlebags onto the dirt, quickly unhitching the latches with her magic.  Out of them she pulled an army of books, and laying them across the lawn, she began to read over one very quickly.  ‘Last minute review,’ she called it.

        “Come on!” Rainbow called from the shade of a drooping tree.  “We haven’t got all day!”

        “Sure we do,” Twilight muttered, but nonetheless slammed the book she was reviewing.  “Alright!” she shouted across the field to Rainbow, “I’m ready!”

        “Good!” Rainbow said, yawning.  “Let’s see if all this ‘egghead’ stuff is more interesting than flying practice.”

        Twilight spread her hooves on the grass closed her eyes, concentrating hard.  Slowly, a small burst of purple magic oozed off of her horn, as if forced.  The air around the princess began to crackle with energy, a light purple aura surrounding her.  Suddenly, two crackling spines of energy flew from her horn and arced into the air, twirling around each other as they travelled higher and higher leaving a trail of sparks behind them.

        They flew high into the sky, and then they crossed.  A huge discharge of magical energy exploded across the landscape.  Rainbow hid behind her tree, which presently disintigrated.  It was a lethal force; a magical explosion of obscene proportions.

        Luckily for Rainbow, enough of the blast had been absorbed by the tree that she survived.  The air around her crackled, however, but her eyes were fixed to the sky.

        A huge purple and red mushroom cloud hung in the air, and bolts of magic still flew from the focus of the explosion, exploding into tiny magical fireworks all across the sky.  The sun had disappeared, and an artificial night lay over the plains; only the light from the explosion lit the landscape.

        The explosion had done quite a bit of damage indeed.  Trees lay in dust, grass burned, and craters were commonplace about the landscape.  Rainbow could only watch in awe as another arcing bolt of purple energy smashed into the ground next to her, shaking the ground beneath her hooves.

        Her rainbow mane was speckled with ashes and burns as debre started to fall around her.  A cloud of magical fallout was descending, and Rainbow figured it was probably a good idea to get out of there, and quick… but Twilight was still in the heart of explosion.  Gritting her teeth, Rainbow plunged into the cloud of dust.

        “I’m coming, Twilight!” she shouted, plunging through the blinding cloud of dirt and debris.  “Hold on!”

        Although she could only see a few feet ahead of her face, Rainbow felt her way to where Twilight was.  She crawled on the ground and flew in the air: whatever was necessary to get past the many obstacles in her way.  Finally, after what seemed like miles of dust, debris, and craters, Rainbow saw what she was looking for: a limp purple body splayed upon the ground in the bottom of the deepest crater.

        Twilight’s wings were spread, bent carelessly from her fall; in a fairly painful-looking position.  She lay on her back, her face was covered in scratches and burns; and covered with blood.  A huge wound lay on her skull, just to the right of her horn.

        Rainbow gasped with terror and dove into the pit, and alighted next to the limp princess.  She leaned over her, looking at all the injuries.  Twilight’s body was covered with wounds and burns; some bleeding, and some looking quietly painful.

        “Twilight?” Rainbow asked, nudging the librarian with her hoof.  No response came.  “Are you okay?”

        The dust seemed to be settling as Rainbow started to drag the unconscious Twilight out of the crater, but even for an award winning athlete it was too much.  As soon as they reached the edge, Rainbow collapsed from exhaustion and confusion.

        What went wrong? she pondered as she lay on the burnt grass next to Twilight.  Is this the end?

        The last thing she remembered was a bright white light piercing the cloud of dust, and the shape of a tall alicorn diving from the sky.  Dust and debris seemed to clear out of sheer respect for her as she plunged towards the ground.  Another, smaller princess glided beside her.

        “The royal sisters,” Rainbow mumbled.  “At least they’re here-”

        Twilight groaned.  The ground beneath her was hard and unforgiving, and everything hurt.  She didn’t bother opening her eyes; she didn’t want to know what was out there.

        It was dead silent.  Twilight lay on the strange surface for awhile, and eventually made up her mind to open her eyes… and shut them very quickly again.  It was a horrible scene.

        The room was dank and bare, with only a few medical machines in it for furniture.  She was lying on a stiff, unforgiving cot; with bandages all over her legs and head.  The room was white, and strange.  Very strange.

        There was one door in the corner, one, wooden door with tiny metal bars across a peephole in its upper region.  Twilight hoped with all her heart that this was a bad dream.  And yet, when she opened her eyes again, it was very much reality.

        The pain was real.  Very, very real.  And as much as Twilight wished it to, it would not disappear in a poof of consciousness.  No, as far as she could tell it was reality.  But what really bothered Twilight, was the black, pointy weapon with a handle hanging on a hook not too far from her.

        It looked strangely familiar, and yet she couldn’t quite put her hoof on it.  It had two handles: one curved forward, and one slanted backwards.  The latter had a square box surrounding the first inch of it, expanding a few inches forward and then slanted back into the weapon.  Inside this box, was a lever.  But not just any lever; a very dangerous looking lever.

        As she stared quizzically at the weapon, the only door in the room creaked open and a mare entered.  She was a fair, gray earth pony wearing a red uniform; with a stoic expression upon her face.  She lay a meal tray down on Twilight’s lap, and then stood stiffly by her bedside.  Twilight looked at her curiously.

        “Who are you?” she asked, suspiciously eyeing the stoic mare that now stood by her bed.  The mare raised an eyebrow, as if surprised she was asked.

        “I am Blazing Gun, general,” she answered.  “Permission to speak freely, ma’am?”

        “Granted,” Twilight said warily.  She remembered this conduct from a book on Equestrian military history; it was the way soldiers regarded superiors.  That means I’m important here? Twilight guessed, but sat back to here what Blazing Gun had to say.

        “You and I were combat partners,” Blazing Gun said seriously.  “Our last mission was a complete failure.  We were ambushed by the griffins on all sides.  One slashed you ma’am.  All over.  You fell unconscious after a missile hit you straight in the forehead.”

“Um-”

“By missile, I mean rock, ma’am,” Blazing added.

“Thank you,” Twilight said, bewildered.  “We’re fighting griffens?”

        “We engaged the enemy five years ago, general,” Blazing stated.  “After a hostile attack on Equestrian trading caravans.”

        “Okay,” Twilight shook her head in disbeliefe.  “What’s that on the wall?” she asked, pointing at the weapon.

        “A Redfire MK 1 standard issue assault rifle, ma’am,” Blazing Gun said quickly.  “Effective at medium range, .22 caliber with a sixty round clip.”

        “Assault what?” Twilight asked confusedly.  Blazing Gun, to Twilight’s astonishment, showed no annoyance at explaining things that appeared to come naturally to her.  This, of course, was in Twilight advantage, as she could ask all the questions she wanted.

        “Assault rifle, ma’am,” Blazing Gun said patiently.  “A class of weapons that are automatic, hard hitting guns with rifled shots.  They are a staple of E.A.S”

        “What’s E.A.S?” Twilight asked.  Blazing Gun didn’t even sigh.

        “Equestrian Armed Services, general,” Blazing Gun said in a fast monotone.  “That’s what you’re a general in, ma’am.”

        “Wha-”

        “Eat up.  Doctors orders,” Blazing Gun cut her off and left the room, slamming the door behind her.  Twilight looked at the food she had been presented with; and didn’t like the sound of ‘eat up.’

        It was watery green beans and dried alfalfa, with a bit of salt preserved beans thrown in.  Twilight was about to turn it away in disgust, when her stomach respectfully disagreed with that decision. Warily, Twilight took a bite.

It was awful.

But nourishing, and it seemed to satisfy her stomach far faster than most other foods she knew.  Maybe it was the salted beans.  Or maybe the dried alfalfa.  It couldn’t possibly be the watery green beans; she knew that much.

Suddenly, the room shook.  Twilight could hear rumbles of distant thunder, expect it didn’t seem to be thunder.  It sounded sharper; deadlier.
 
            Plaster fell from the roof, and a brick in the wall jiggled free and clattered to the floor.  Twilight looked around in terror.  What could have caused such destruction, at such a distance?
 
            “ALERT!” a strong, commanding voice shouted, amplified by some artificial means.  “HOSTILES INCOMING!  PREPARE FOR COMBAT!”
 
            The halls outside Twilight’s chamber were filled with hoofsteps, hurried voices, and the clanging of equipment.  There was a loud click and the sound of metal on metal as a gun was loaded just outside of Twilight’s door.  She cringed a little at the sound; it seemed to rival horseshoes on blackboards.
 
            The small wooden door was flung open, and Blazing Gun stood in the doorway.  She had a vest on now, over her red uniform.  On the vest was wrapped lines and lines of bullets in small, brass casings.  Holstered by her side was a small pistol, and hanging from a strap around her neck was an assault rifle.
 
            “What’s going on?” Twilight asked as another blast shook the room.  Blazing Gun quietly cocked her pistol with her right hoof, and stared grimly at Twilight.
 
            “We are under attack, general,” she said, grasping the handle of her assault rifle in her hoof.  “I’m going out there.  You should too.  Here’s your suit.  Good luck.”
 
            Blazing hurled a large ball of metal and cloth into the room and disappeared from the doorway.  Twilight cautiously got up and lifted the supplies, her ‘suit’, in a lavender aura of magic.  It seemed to be a uniform like Blazing Gun’s, except it was purple.  There was also a helmet with a golden crest on it, and a vest.  The vest was almost identical to Blazing’s, except it had a golden pin attached to it, a pin which symbolized importance and authority.
 
            “I’m a general,” Twilight breathed.  “In Celestia’s name…”
 
            Another blast shook the building, this time disloging a few bricks from the ceiling.  They missed Twilight by a few feet, but they were enough to shake the princess to her senses.  There was shouting coming from the hallway, panicked, frightened shouting.  And then a loud, intruding sound.  A sharp sound that sliced through everything Twilight knew.
 
            It was gunfire.
 
            “How did I get here, anyway?” Twilight pondered, slipping the purple uniform on over her body.  “What is going on here?”
 
            There was a crash from the hall outside, a few screams, and then a blaze of gunfire that left Twilight’s ears ringing.  Quickly, she put on the helmet, levitated the rifle from its hook on the wall, and stepped towards the door.  She stopped in her tracks, however, when a horrifying hissing came from the hallway.
 
            She recognized it from a species analysis on griffons, done by a professor at Canterlot school.  It was a griffons’ war cry.  It called for aid and rallied the troops.  And it meant hell for enemies who heard.
 
            Another blaze of gunfire sounded in the hallway, and then a small, squealing noise and a heavy thump, as if something large and organic hit the ground.  Twilight bolted for the door and flung herself into the hallway.  She turned to face the sounds, and was horrified at what she saw.
 
            A hole was ripped in the roof above, and the air was heavy with plaster and dust.  Twilight couldn’t see much, but she did see a claw about five feet from her face.  It was covered in blood.
 
            An equine figure trotted through the gloom as well.  It seemed to be limping, and when it got closer, Twilight could see it had a good reason to be.  It was Blazing Gun.
 
            Her face had a scratch down it, the visor on her helmet had shattered.  Her left front hoof had a huge wound in it, a wound that left a trickle of blood wherever she went.  Her eyes were hard and determined, but her body seemed to falter beneath them.
 
            “General!” she cried weakly.  “We’ve got a breach!”
 
            Twilight looked at the hole in the ceiling.  No kidding, she thought to herself, and outloud she said, “Blazing!  Are you alright?”
 
            Blazing Gun nodded shakily, and presently collapsed on the floor in pain.  Twilight immediately crouched by her, looking over Blazing’s body in horror.  It was scratched and bleeding all over, as to be expected, but one thing caught Twilight as odd.
        
        “Where’s your cutie mark?” Twilight asked, looking at Blazing’s blank flank.  

        “Don’t… have one,” Blazing wheezed.  “None… of us… do.”
        
        “What do you mean?” Twilight asked quizzically.  Blazing began to speak, but started choking.  A few moments later blood spilled from her mouth, covering the stark concrete in a bright red.  Twilight cringed.

        “Is there a medical wing, or something?” Twilight asked, desperately.  Blazing slowly nodded, with a face that made it seem like every motion pulsed her with agony.  Her eyes, which Twilight remembered as bare and stern, were now large and pleading.  No tears came forth, though.

        “Where is it?” Twilight asked, looking down the hallway.  It was dark and misty, through the smoke and dust arisen from the explosion earlier.  Blazing grimaced as she started to raise her hoof, pointing to the right.

        “Okay,” Twilight said quietly, “I’ll get you there.  I promise.”

        Her horn glowed as she enveloped Blazing in a levitation spell, lifting her off the ground.  The soldier looked around, suddenly panicked for a few moments, and then merely whimpered in the pain of her attempts to protest.

        Twilight horn grew slightly brighter, and Blazing fell into a deep sleep.  One that pain would not waken.  “I’ll get you there,” Twilight muttered.  “Don’t worry.”

        She charged down the hallway, lifting her weapon in another ball of magic and holding it directly in front of her as she bolted for the crossing.  The piercing sound of gunfire rang out through the building as soldiers frantically defended the compound, but Twilight didn’t care.  Blazing Gun was going to make it.

        “Don’t die.”  Twilight looked at the unconscious gray earth pony floating in a magical aura next to her.  It was sad, almost, that she never had time to find her special talent.  This war had caught her in her youth, and she never gave a thought to other parts of life.  Twilight wondered if Blazing Gun was her real name, or a name given to her by the millitary.

        And as for these weapons… they were the strangest things Twilight had ever seen.  They shot all by themselves, as if by magic… and yet, an earth pony could easily operate them.  Twilight had never, in any of her studies, seen anything like it.

        The grating hiss shocked Twilight out of her thoughts.  They sounded close, and Twilight knew griffins had an amazing sense of smell.  Twilight tensed her muscels and crouched, laying Blazing down behind her.

        “Where is the pony flesh?” one voice hissed.  Twilight cringed.  These were not griffins like Gilda’s kind.  These were griffins whose sole purpose was to fight.  The southern colony of warring griffins.

        “They are close,” another, deeper one said.  Twilight raised her gun.

        “The ponies always are close,” the first voice complained, “this place reeks of their foul oder.”

        “Silence!” the second commanded.  “We must use caution.”

        “I hear Headfire got killed in battle,” the first voice moaned.  “He was my best friend.”

        “Did you not hear me?  Silence you fool!” the second voice demanded.  Then, as he so wished, there was silence.  It was an anticipatory silence for Twilight, staring down the sight of her gun and breathing heavily.  A claw started to come into view.  It was a naturally red claw; not a claw stained with blood.

        As the first sign of a feathery breast, Twilight pulled the trigger.

        The gun sounded out in a deafening roar, a roar that makes lions seem like pussycats.  Twilight’s helmet had ear protection, and now she learned why.

        The griffin Twilight had aimed for spun around, as if rotating like a top, and the crumpled to the floor, its horrible brown and red crested head landing right in front of Twilight.  It looked at her with anger, but fear as well.

        “YOU!” it cried, and raised its claw to slash her heart out.  Twilight was quicker on the uptake, however.  The griffin’s claw was wrenched backwards by a burst of magic, and twisted until she screamed.

        Then, the beast lay quite silent… and her eyes glazed over.  Twilight guessed the shock had torn what grasp on life it had and sent into the never ending pits of death.  Twilight felt sorry for the creature.  It seemed as though, perhaps, it had a family to return to.  Maybe it had things it loved and friends it played with.  What hole had Twilight ripped in their lives by killing their loving friend?

        But she was torn from her sorrow by a horrid sound.  The second griffin was quicker on the uptake, and had stepped back from the doorway.  It gave a loud hiss, and something made of clay flew from its claws and smashed into the ground near Twilight.  A white vapor started to fill the room; and Twilight looked around in panic.

        “Ether of Willow,” she said to herself.  Ether of Willow, sometimes called ‘sleeping gas,’ is an easily produced naturally occurring anesthetic.  It renders victims unconscious in a matter of minutes, and keeps them under for hours.  Twilight shook her head furiously.  “No!”

        Strength was leaving her fast, but she crawled into the hallway and raised her gun, aiming straight for the griffin’s breast.  It smiled smugly, but Twilight resited the ether just long enough to pull the trigger…

        The griffin fell over backwards with a gaping hole in its chest, and Twilight crawled back to where Blazing Gun lay.  She could feel the ether working.  Already, her legs felt like lead, and her eyelids began to droop low.

        “If there is a Faust,” she mumbled, falling to the ground.  “Let her save-”

        And the world fell away, into a blackness.  A dreamless blackness the ether brings.

        Princess Twilight awoke to the beep of heart monitors, and rays of sunshine on her face; which, to her amazement, was perfectly clean.  She was stripped of her uniform, her helmet, and her weapon.  She was perfectly bare on the infirmiry bed.

        But when she looked around, she saw this was no infirmiry.  This was Ponyville hospital.

        “Hey Twilight!” Pinkie shouted, bouncing into the room, trailed by her other friends.  Twilight looked at them in confusion, and then looked into her mind at the warzone she was just in and kept looking between to two, trying desperately to figure out how one could relate to the other.  It seemed almost impossible that either worlds existed at all.

        “WHAT IS GOING ON HERE?!”