“Twilight?!” Called out the other Fluttershy, she glided over to her friend and laid an ear near her friend’s mouth. She paused for a moment, and then pulled her head back up. She addressed the Pinkie Pie lookalike, who had not yet let her eyes wander from the group of ponies that surrounded her and her companions. “Pinkie! She’s not breathing again!”
The pink scarred pony spoke coldly, locking eyes with the original Twilight. “You know the drill, she’s overdosed, so just keep her warm and clear the airway, she’ll be up soon.” The yellow pony’s face grew frustrated; she stood quickly and shouted at her apparent leader. Twilight was shocked to see that face –the one usually so calm and peaceful- loo so outraged.
“Do you see any blankets?!?! How the hell am I supposed to keep her warm?”
Maybe it was out of her kind heart, or possibly because she couldn’t stand to see a face that looked so identical to hers suffer any harm, but Twilight cleared her throat. The tightly knit group’s heads unanimously swivelled to face her. The sight disturbed her, but she continued regardless. “Umm, my library isn’t far, if you could get your Twi- Your friend there, I have plenty of blankets and a fire, she could recover a lot easily from there...” She began to cower under the stare of the superior looking pink pony who headed the group. Her sentence trailed off and ended in a small and terrified whimper. “If...you... want...”
Silence rang out around the crater, Twilight tried to read the leaders expression but there was not a sign of her thoughts on her face. The pink pony breathed deeply, her chest filling out as it filled with air. Then with the quickness of a gunshot, she shouted to her small group, issuing orders to each of them. “YOU HEARD THE MARE! Fluttershy, you take Twilights head, Applejack you take her legs, Dash...” her eyes rested on the slightly cowering rainbow pony. She sighed begrudgingly, and began to walk away towards the town. “Just, come along I guess.” The small cowering pony nodded obediently and trotted after the indifferent pink pony. Rainbow dash watched in astonishment as the pony that looked almost identical to her acted like...like... Fluttershy! A cold shiver ran up her spine at the sight, and as she looked around, she saw all her friends seemed to be experiencing the same sensation.
The loud leader’s voice called out, already halfway to town, followed by her company who slowly carried the unconscious Twilight twin with them. “HEY! LIBRARIAN, YOU GONNA SHOW US THE WAY OR WHAT?!” Twilight jumped into action suddenly pulled from her engrossed thoughts. She cantered after the group, zipping passed a shocked looking Rarity as she did so. The platinum pony understood her friend’s intentions, she wanted to help that fallen unicorn as best she could. But yet... Her ears seemed to ring with the echoing of the high pitched squeal that had only moments ago, nearly pushed her to the brink of insanity. Nothing that made that kind of terrible entrance could be anything good. Surely.
She shook the thoughts from her mind, turning to her friends who still stood stock still in shock, she called out to them. “Come on everypony! I think we need to find out what’s going on!” Each member of the remaining group nodded in agreement before heading in the same direction as the strange doppelgangers.
........................... not chapter change
The library was quiet, tranquil and calm. The light of a single lamp illuminated the many golden trimmed spines of Twilights vast collection of books. Each one was a literary glimpse into another world, either of fantasy, or of fact. A single quill lay upon the writing desk in the corner, slowly twitching in the breeze from the window left ajar.
The tranquillity only lasted for a second, before the front door burst open, the quill was sent soaring into the air, and out the window into the cold night. A frazzled looking Twilight bolted in. She was followed by the other Pinkie, who cast a disapproving eye over the surrounding room before moving aside and letting the other Applejack and Fluttershy enter. They found it quite difficult; they grunted and breathed heavily at the difficulty of lugging the unconscious unicorn through the door and into the large open living room.
Twilight used her magic to move the sofa, surrounding it with her purple hue and spinning it around to face the door. “Here, put her down here I’ll get some blankets.” Without pause, she then rushed to the guest room on the bottom floor, flinging open the drawers she rummaged around until she found it. A particularly thick, discoloured blanket, it was brown and blotchy in patches, looking slightly burnt, but yet it still held the most warmth!
She darted back in, covering her double with the sheet and tucking her in tightly. The rest of her friends now entered the house, all of them hesitantly looking at the group of ponies with as much scrutiny as they had when they first arrived. “Spike?” Twilight asked quickly. The dragons head popped up above the rest of the little group of mares.
“Yeah?”
“Could you please light the fire for me?”
“Uhh...” The dragon looked back at the group of strangers again, the pink one locked gases with him. There was obvious dislike seeping from every pour of her body, and the hate unsettled the dragon slightly. “Umm, sure...” He stooped over the dry logs in the mantle and gave a soft blow onto them, a small trickle of green fire escaped his lips and was instantly absorbed by the dry wood, seconds later a roaring green fire crackled, spreading warmth to each pony in the room.
Finally, Twilight used her magic to adjust the sofa to face the fireplace. The purple pony under the covers remained still for a moment, every pony seemed to hold their breath in expectation. The light distorted her features, illuminating many marks and scratches across her visible flesh. The sight scared Twilight, but she remained still. She didn’t understand why, only moments ago she was nearly choking on her own vomit because of what was presumably this unicorn’s magic! But amazingly she felt as though this pony meant no harm.
Still no movement, the pony lay still under the covers and glow of the fire. The pony that looked like dash whimpered slightly, she tried to lean against her pink friend for support. With a cold and emotionless shrug, the pink pony pushed her away once more and continued to watch her motionless ally.
Sudenly, there was movement from under the covers. It seemed that the purple ponies hind legs were twitching. With a gasp, her eyes flung open wide, and the pony gulped down torrents of air. The group of strangers all let out a sigh of relief, which was even mimicked by their ponnyville doubles.
The pink pony came to her friends side, she knelt by the sofa and waited for the purple ponies breath to subside. “Twilight. It’s ok, you overdosed again but it’s ok. We’re in the other world, you did it!” She reached out and shook the unicorns shoulder in a congratulatory fashion. The sudden showing of emotion threw Rainbow dash and Rarity completely off guard. The two of them had pegged the leader as a cold and uncaring excuse for a mare, and yet suddenly, here she was showing a warmth and kindness they hadn’t expected.
“S-s-s-so, we’re...safe?” Shuddered the shaking unicorn, as she gazed up into those big blue eyes. The pink piny nodded in response and the purple unicorn let out a soft neigh of joy. She closed her eyes, laying her head on the soft cushions of the sofa comfortably. Her voice was beginning to trail off due to exhaustion. But still it was loud enough for all to hear. “Permission to sleep ma’am.” The hardened leader smiled serenely.
“Permission granted, god knows you’ve earned it!” her companions all let out a soft murmur of agreement as they all nodded and watched the exchange between earth pony and unicorn.
Twilight’s lookalike smiled, and snuggled into the sofa, sighing in comfort and happiness and quickly fell into a deep exhausted sleep. For a moment all that could be heard was her deep breathing, and then the scarred earth pony stood and sighed tiredly. She looked up to the real Twilight and her friends who where now gathered in the centre of the room
.
“Well,” She began, looking each member of the group in the eye. “I guess you going to want to know what’s going on?”