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// She's the reason we're here 
// Story: Very different beneath the surface 
// by Slick Dash 
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“Inter-dimensional travel? That’s the story you’re going with?” Asked an incredulous Rainbow Dash, now seated on one of the smaller sofas next to her counterpart. The far more timid looking copy, grimaced at her loud voice and shifted her weight away from the shouting Pegasus. 
“Well I’m terribly sorry! I didn’t realise we’d need PROOF!” shouted the indignant pink pony leader. Her scar seemed to shimmer in the flickering light of the fire as she glared at the rainbow Pegasus. She then turned her head to look at the real Pinkie Pie, who was stood on the sofa her forehooves supporting her weight on the armrest as she leaned towards her copy, staring unblinkingly at the tough looking mare.

“Do you mind?” 
“Mind what?” Asked the intrigued earth pony.
“Giving me room to breathe maybe?” sarcasm seethed from every syllable that escaped her mouth as she stared at the happy looking Pinkie Pie. Said pony then jumped from her seat and landed softly in front of the rough copy of herself. She extended her foreleg and flicked at the pony’s mane. It lifted with the hoof, and then fell limply back in line with the rest of the straight mane. 
“So what’s up with your mane?”  She asked, obviously referring to its difference to hers, if not a little too bluntly.

The scarred pony looked at the huge explosion of pink atop the party pony’s head. She closed her eyes and snorted in laughter. When they opened again she spoke calmly coolly. “Nothing’s wrong with my mane, I think if you look around, yours is the odd one out sweetheart.” Pinkie looked around at the other ponies in the room, all with reasonably straight manes. She then looked up at her own with a frown growing on her face. Her lower lips stuck out slightly as she realised what her counterpart was saying. She was the weird one, her hair was a huge mess of curls and flicks, while everpony else’s was straight and normal. 

With her eyes glistening slightly, she slumped back into her seat on the sofa and grew terribly quiet. Rarity chirped in quickly, not wanting her friends thoughts to linger on the strangers thoughts. “I do believe that we’ve gone slightly off topic! So you’re saying you’re from another universe?” 
“Yup!” Answered the scraggly looking Applejack copy, who stood next to her ponytailed counterpart near the sofa where the sleeping Twilight lay. 

“And, your Twilight... she was the one who brought you here?” Continued the platinum pony. There was a unanimous nod of agreement from every visiting pony. “Well that’s quite an unbelievable thing for a Unicorn to do! You were giving me and our Twilight quite a large amount of grief with that power of yours.” The counter fluttershy scoffed loudly and flung her head away from facing the fashionista. The real fluttershy cowered slightly at her counterpart’s brash actions, the two were the perfect reflection of the other two Pegasy across the room from them. 

“Got a problem?” Asked an annoyed looking Rainbow Dash, she was addressing the angry looking yellow Pegasus. Who now looked back at her, arched an eyebrow at her then stood up from the sofa. 
“And if I do?” Rainbow mirrored the movement off her own sofa. The two began to walk towards one another, neither giving an inch of ground to the other as they advanced. When the two met in the centre of the room, the yellow pony smirked and added in a whisper. “Wimp!” Immediately Rainbow Dash exploded into a yell of protest. 
“Who are you calling a whimp! I’m not like your little friend over there!” She gestured wildly at the alternate Rainbow Dash, who –Like the real fluttershy- was cowering in her seat, trying to let the cushions suck her away from the loud yelling.

“HEY! Don’t talk about Dash like that!” The angry yellow Pegasus exclaimed, “Only I get to say things like that! She’s my friend, YOU!” She jabbed the rainbow pony in the chest with a hard hoof. “Don’t even know her!” Dash puffed herself up and squared up to the Pegasus. 
“Then don’t act like that when Rarity talks!” The yellow Pegasus stared straight back at the rainbow pony both didn’t falter, each trying to stare the other down with little success.

At this point, the heads of both groups intervened. Twilight trotted over and placed a hoof on Rainbow Dash’s shoulder pulling her back with difficulty. “Rainbow, c’mon let’s just try to be nice ok?” she implored her friend as she was slowly able to get her to back away. The scarred Pinkie Pie double’s approach was far less gentle. She moved quickly and pressed her face up against the yellow Pegasus’s, through gritted teeth, all could hear her growling order to the yellow mare. 
“Back down Fluttershy! Don’t go starting a fight!” 

For a moment it seemed like the yellow pony wanted to hit her leader, but soon enough she let an indifferent “Hmph!” and returned to her seat, allowing herself to fall back into the sofa, making the other end (Which still seated the real Fluttershy) bounce slightly. Both the yellow mares looked at each other. The copy raised an eyebrow at her. The look was enough to scare Fluttershy, with a panicked squeal she ducked off of the settee and bolted behind Rarity hiding herself behind her arching flamboyant tail. 

The pink mare sighed in annoyance yet again, she looked to Twilight. “Sorry about her, she’s a bit...temperamental when it comes to strangers.” She looked over her shoulder and shouted the next part for the Pegasus to also hear. “Even when we are guests in their home, and they’re caring for our friend!” She looked back at Twilight, and gave a smile, or at least half an attempt at a smile before she gave it up as a bad job. 

“So?” She asked, planting her haunches on the soft rug beneath her. “Any questions?” Pinkie opened her mouth to speak, but her copy cut across her. “That aren’t about my mane?” the other pink pony deflated for a moment, then suddenly exploded with excitement yet again. “Or my scar?” That put a stop to Pinkie’s excited gibbering. 

Silence rang out once more, the scarred Pinkie looked from face to face. “Oh come on! You’re telling me none you want to ask me about anything? Why we’re here? How we got here? Anything?” Twilight cleared her throat, attracting the stares of everypony in the room. She looked at the pony with the scar for a moment then spoke.

“Well? How DID you get here? That’s probably a good place to start, and then you go on to the why. I think it would put other ponies...” She glanced at the glowering Rainbow Dash, still not breaking eye contact with the yellow Pegasus across the room from her, ad to Rarity who was slightly positioned behind the dragon, who was ready to jump in to defend his friends. “At ease.” The magenta unicorn finished. 

“Well,” The Pinkie double began. “We lived in a land called Celestia and we”-
“An entire kingdom called Celestia?” Asked Twilight cheerily, smiling at the recurrence of her teachers name in the other dimension. The pony frowned at her happy face, obviously unsure why she was smiling.
“Yeeeaah... Well it’s named after the empress. Celestia.” 
“Empress?” Twilight was slightly confused. 
“Eeyup!” Said the raggedy Applejack who slumped onto her haunches sounding unbelievably like Big Macintosh. Who stood slightly away from the group, listening but with his eyes focused on something else. The other Fluttershy, not once had she even looked at him, she knew he was there, but why was she avoiding his gaze? 

“Good ol’ empress Celestia! A.K.A Queen bitch!” Twilight gawked at the country pony in astonishment, she looked up and her jaw dropped. Every visiting pony was nodding their heads in agreement! When nopony continued, Rarity cleared her throat.
“As eloquent as your little name for her is, please could we simply continue your story.” She looked up at the dragon, who at the comment about Celestia had grown rigid, his claws balled into fists as he watched them all agree with their treasonous friend. “Before some people get...agitated from waiting too long!” added Rarity, quickly placing a calming hoof on the dragons back and stroking it gently.

The pinkie pie double frowned at everypony, she knew she had struck a nerve in a lot of the local ponies, what had she said? “Well, like AJ said, Celestia wasn’t exactly a kind and just ruler.” Before anypony could say anything, the darker Fluttershy growled and spat out a single word, she almost looked in Big Mac’s direction but she realised and quickly changed course to glare at a potted plant in the corner as though it had just insulted her. The single word made the room seem as icy cold as the death that followed it. 
“Murderer!” Even the real Fluttershy peaked out from her hiding spot behind Rarity at the unbelievable word she heard her own voice spew out.

The real Applejack spoke up for the first time that night. She’d had enough! Being rude was one thing, aggressive was another! But nopony was going to besmirch Celestia’s name as long as she was there! 
“Now hold on right now! You can’t just go around bad mouthin’ you ruler like that, it just aint right!” Her double looked up at her coldly and asked a question that seemed to glue the country pony’s tongue to the roof of her mouth. 
“Even if that ‘ruler’ ordered the death of your parents?” Silence.

“Or slaughtered the entire class of flight school for failure?” The quiet voice issued from the pony hiding behind a long rainbow fringe. At her dark words, Rainbow Dash looked down at the curled up little pony, her  expression one of complete incredulity! 

“Or locked you away for life in a cell that you had to fight your way out of?” Asked the pink pony leader. She reached up and tapped the scar under her eye with her hoof. Applejack was speechless, she looked from one stranger to the other, unable to form a coherent thought. Her double chuckled darkly at her expression. Resuming her staring contest with the floor she muttered quietly. 
“Like I said, Queen Bitch!” 

The leader began again, her voice a lot lower and darker now that the atmosphere had descended into this dark and sickening topic. “We come from the kingdom of Celestia. We got out of our own situations, found each other, and then realised the only way to survive was to escape.” The real Pinkie’s hair was quivering, suddenly on the verge of flattening at the words of her double. Who now looked whimsically towards the sleeping unicorn on the sofa. 

“She’s the reason we’re here.” A small smile crept onto her lips. “Not only because she did the spell... but she knew where to find it.” She stayed silent for a moment, then her voice grew quiet. “After everything they did to her, what they turned her into was actually what got us out of that hellhole.” She shook her head, realising she was daydreaming, and then looked back up at the gathered ponies. “Well, that’s it really. Or at least all I’m willing to tell you.”