"So these Elements of Harmony, they embody all of the good things in friendship, right?" Twi and Twilight were sitting in a cafe at Sugarcube Corner, discussing their own dimensions and what lied in each of them. Ponies passing by saw the doppelgängers and their eyes widened in shock before they turned their heads away, pretending not to notice the abnormal sight.
"Yes, we have used them a couple of times, like when we had to use them against Nightmare Moon, and when we had to turn Discord back into stone. Celestia has used them before also."
Twi sat back in her chair. She would have to remember these elements for future reference. "And Celestia and Luna, they are kind and fair rulers, you say?"
"Of course!" Twilight, began to describe Celestia's court, and how the laws were made in Equestria. When she was done, Twi launched into how things worked in her dimension.
Twi nodded and began to explain the dark workings of her government,"In Equestria, Celestia and Luna work together to run a strict dictatorship. Celestia tends to make the laws and deal with the people, while Luna works with the military to quell riots, and stop a resistance. Magic is in short supply, and most of it is under lock and key. Celestia is very good at what she does. Ponies everywhere live under oppression, and the resisters are brainwashed with spells to strong for normal ponies. I was finally able to get enough magic and enough people to stand up to Luna's armies, and now I'm almost there!"
Twilight digested the new information, and after a while, she asked, "What about your other friends? Do they help?"
Twi's expression became mournful, and she explained that information had leaked to Luna, and they had all been brainwashed into Celestia's personal group of supporters. She was hoping that when all was said and done, there would be a way to revive their minds, but that was out of the question with her in Twilight's dimension.
Twilight nodded solemly, " I can't believe how different our dimension's are, yet so similar! How does that work?"
Twi got that look that Twilight knew so well on herself. It was a look that you got when some pony wanted to know something you knew, and you wanted to explain to them. "Well, there are millions of different dimensions, and everything is slightly different in each one. Like there is probably another dimension where everything is the polar opposite, or where our personalities are the same, but something about us is different. It all depends. You just happened to pick me from my dimension, when you could have picked a me from any other dimension, and I would be completely different."
"Wow, I didn't know dimensions were so complicated, it's not really a subject we ponies study in Equestria. Maybe you could come back to the library and help me understand more of the spells in the book I used to bring you here? It would really be a great learning experience for me!"
Twi smiled that genuinely-not-evil smile of hers that made Twilight blush ever so slightly. "Sure let's go."
As the unlikely pair walked back home. Twilight studied her other self. It was good to have somepony who listened to her, who knew what she was talking about when she tried to explain a complicated theory, or a certain spell and what it did. Twi may look evil and dark, but she was like Twilight, but different too. They're pasts were opposite, so it was clear that they would be different, but Twilight liked this Twi. Maybe more than her other friends.
Oh don't be silly Twilight. She's your other self! She is you! A voice in Twilight's head was arguing with her, telling her that any attraction to Twi was impossible, not natural. But her being here isn't natural, and it's not like she's related to me! She's just another mare who happens to look and slightly act like me! How is it bad for me to like her?
Twilight gave Twi another glance and made up her mind. I'll spend the rest of the day with her, and then get her to help me send her back. She has things to do in her Equestria, and I can't hold her up. She's probably just coming back with me to be nice anyways.
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When the two arrived at the library, Twi marveled at al of the spell books Twilight had in her possession. "The Princess just gives these to you whenever you ask? Back at home, theses are locked up in a vault."
After Twilight's inner turmoil, she thought she was doing a pretty good job at hiding her feelings. If you could call them that. At this point she wasn't sure what she was feeling. "Well, I'm kinda the Princess's personal student. She sends me the books so I can study them and then report back to her."
The two walked over to where Spells of Another Dimension lay open to the spell Twilight had cast. Twi rushed over to the book and started flipping pages with a thirst to know what lay in the faded pages of the book.
"Do you know what most of these spells do? Most of them aren't in Equestrian so I-"
Twi cut her off, "These are all spells that reach into other dimensions and do things for you. Basically, all of these spells reach into another dimension, and they either manipulate things int that dimension, or it can pull things from that dimension into your dimension. You cast the latter."
"Are there other books like this in your Equestria? Or does Celestia have them locked up?"
"Celestia does have most of them locked up, but I happen to have a few of them in my possession. Would you like me to cast one for you? Just to see how it's done?"
Twilight grinned, "Sure! pick any spell you want."
"Ok, this one is just going to summon an object from another dimension, like you did with me. I however, can control what I bring because this spell gives me the range to do that. What would you like me to get?"
"I don't know, is a glass of water ok?"
"Sure." Twi's horn glowed as she cast the spell. A vortex opened up like before, except it wasn't pulsating to black, it was a steady blue color. Soon enough, out spat a glass of water-right on top of the spell book.
"NO!" Twilight dashed over the spell book, trying in vain to sop up the spilled water, but the more she tried, the more smudged the ancient ink became. Finally, she gave up.
"In retrospect, this doesn't seem like such a good idea."
Twilight let a single tear slide down her face before she replied, "I know. How am I supposed to get you back now? I'm sure you had things to do, and you had a war to fight, and now you're stuck here and it's all my-"
And then Twi's lips were on hers.
At first, Twilight was shocked, then tentative as she had never kissed anyone before. But as adrenaline coursed through her veins, she kissed her back harder and harder until she finally pulled away.
And all the while a voice was screaming at her, why are you doing this! She's you for pete's sake! You can't be in love with yourself! It's weird! It's narcissistic! It's...It's...It's....
Twi grinned, "What did you think?"
"What was that? Why would you even do that? That-that-that wasn't even-"
"What, proper? Twilight, there is no proper or improper with us. No matter what other ponies say, we are different beings. We come from different worlds. We may look the same, we may even do the same things, but we are from different worlds. We are not clones, so there is no reason for you to feel bad about liking me." She kissed Twilight again, quickly. "I like you, and I like it here. So don't worry about anything ok?" She shook Twilight by the shoulders, "I need you to tell me you understand. Ok?"
And when Twilight said ok, she believed it.
The two spent the rest of the day looking through the spell book to see if there was anything they could salvage (along with lots of kissing on the side), but there weren't any legible spells. When the two crawled into Twilight's bed, Twi replayed the events of the day. She had accomplished all that she wanted and more. She had set up not only a fake background, but a fake world where she supposedly came from. She had Twilight not only depending on her for security she actually believed there was a romance going on here! How stupid could she be? How could any alternate version of Twi be this boneheaded? Oh well, it was for the best anyways. This dimension was ripe for taking over, and once she had the means to do it. This world would be all hers. And she was such a good liar, how was poor little Twilight supposed to tell fact from fiction anyway?