//------------------------------// // Coincidences // Story: Twilight Incorporated // by Dead_Account_0 //------------------------------// Twilight Sparkle stifled a yawn as she mixed one mysterious beaker of purple liquid with one purple beaker of mysterious liquid. The solution frothed up as the two purples combined to empurple the purple; purple 2.0 as it were. Twilight continued to peer at the bubbling mixture as she levitated a pencil over to her clipboard, and scribbled another symbol into another margin. With a satisfied nod, she turned downwards to look at the book in front of her. A very large inked drawing of the vial sat slap-bang on the centre of the page next to a rather articulate sketch of a unicorn’s horn. She levitated an eyedropper into the solution and took a single drop. She then lifted it up to just above her head where she gently released it onto her horn. Her horn suddenly felt all tingly, although there were no visible differences. She picked up some callipers with her magic and measured her horn. With an excited squee, she dropped the callipers and hastily scribbled down something on the paper. A sly grin suddenly broke out on her face as she scribbled. With a nonchalant whistle, she glanced left and right to make sure nopony was home. She lifted the entire solution of purple liquid above her head and sprinkled a few more drops onto her horn. The bony protrusion visibly grew this time, only by around a millimetre, but it still visibly grew. She placed the solution back onto the table, and turned the page of the book. The purple solution she had just made was on the left with a picture of a strong orange liquid next to it. Rather than turn the page and look at the result, Twilight decided to carry it out herself in the spirit of discovery. With a shine from her horn, she whisked the orange liquid over and placed it beside the purple solution. The two liquids mixed together, and suddenly everything exploded. Twilight was thrown off her hooves and hurtling into the air. The room flipped over twice, before landing awkwardly splayed on the floor. She wrenched open her eyes and fought the oncoming waves of blackness, just managing to remain conscious. Her ears rang with the ferocity of the old school bells at the Canterlot Academy. Her eyes span as fast as Pinkie on a sugar rush. Through the ring of bells came a garbled voice, unintelligible in her current state. Her eyes managed to pick out a vague purple shape. “Spike?” she called out in what she hoped was a coherent voice. The figure reacted and walked closer, she noticed four legs that all looked the same. “A pony? Who are you?” she called out again as she tried her best to stop the spinning of her head by clasping it with her hooves. The voice replied again, she could see its lips moving if she foused and managed to put together a little of what was said. “I… Spark… teleport… breakthrough… Twilight?” Hearing her name, Twilight’s ears instantly pricked up. With the extra air resistance, she managed to correct her head and stop its sudden need to orbit her neck. Her eyes began to focus, stood in front of her was a dark purple pegasus wearing what looked like everything she could possibly find. In fact, Twilight couldn't name a single piece of clothing that she didn't seem to be wearing. "That poncho doesn't go with that bow-tie," Twilight eventually managed. "I'm so sorry about breaking into your office!" the newcomer was shouting, but to Twilight she still sounded like she was several miles away, behind a brick wall and underwater. "That's okay!" Twilight shouted back at deafening volume. The Pegasus clutched her ears and took a few steps back. "No... to... out." "What?" Twilight shouted again. "I said there's no need to shout!" the pony bellowed at the top of her voice. "Okay!" Twilight shouted back, then realised what she was doing and giggled. "I mean ok," she said at a still uncomfortable, but no longer deafening volume. "You seem... different, somehow! Did you do something with your mane?" the pony shouted at a volume which she deemed comfortable, and one she hoped Twilight could hear at. "No offence, but I'm pretty sure we haven't met before!" Twilight replied. "It's Fluorescent Spark," Spark said with a hoof to her chest. Twilight shrugged in response, which prompted Spark to roll her eyes. "I work for Dr. Veil." Once again, Twilight shook her head, an awkward smile on her lips. "We're working on the teleportation project? The one that you have personally saved five times in the last three years!" "I honestly don't know what you're talking about," Twilight said a bit quieter. "How can you not? We're the talk of Twilight Incorporated!" "Twilight what?" Twilight replied with another confused shrug. "Your company! Are you okay? You haven't been taking loco again, have you? Pinkimina will not be pleased." "My Company? Twilight slowly pushed herself to her hooves. The weight behind her words suddenly filtered in. "Pinkie Pie set you up for this didn't she? Very funny, Pinkie!" Twilight shouted at the open doorway. "Yeah, uh... very funny." Spark laughed along awkwardly, before leaning in and whispering in Twilight's ear, Who's Pinkie?" "Pinkimina Diane Pie!" Twilight shouted incredulously, sending Spark flying back again with the volume of her voice. Spark's eyes went wide as she tried to work through a solution, then suddenly narrowed."Wait a second; your flank! That isn't your cutie mark!" Spark pointed at Twilight's rear with an outstretched hoof. "This has always been my cutie mark. Are you all right? You seem a bit... confused." Twilight got "I'm fine. A-okay. Nothing wrong here, not at all. If you're looking for a prime example of fine, look no further," Spark babbled nervously. Twilight stared at the strange babbling pony and sighed. "You're not okay, are you?" she said flatly. "Not in the slightest. Who are you, and where am I?" "I'm Twilight Sparkle, and this is my personal laboratory in the basement if the Ponyville Public Library." "What? But... but you should be Twilight Tinker, and Ponyville doesn't exist any longer. You renamed the town after pretty much every pony there became employed at the facility." "What? There is clearly something very wrong here. I'm not Twilight Tinker... and I sure as sugar aren't head of any companies." Twilight lifted a hoof to her chin idly. "Where did you come from?" "I teleported here?" Spark looked at Twilight in the hope that she'd tell her if she was right or not. Twilight just wrinkled her brow and began tapping her chin. Twilight suddenly clapped her fore-hooves together and pointed at Spark's head. "You haven't got a horn! How did you teleport?" "Like I said, I'm a scientist." "What kind?" Twilight interrupted as she leant forwards in anticipation. "Theoretical physics, but I volunteered to test out our newest prototype; the apparationater and vanisher 3000! "That's an... interesting name." "Meh, it's a work in progress. The guys wanted to just call it a teleporter, but apparationater and vanisher 3000 is so much cooler." "Sure it is," Twilight said weakly with a very fake smile. "It was supposed to move me from one pad to the other, but it seems to have deposited me here." Spark rubbed the back of her neck nervously. Twilight's mind wandered back to a book she had read several weeks back. "Are we alone?" A lot if it had been crazy conspiracy theories about aliens and the Princesses, but there was one section on something called "multiverses". The author had believed that there were different universes where created whenever a being made a concious choice to do one thing and not the other. This pegasus seemed to be talking about a universe where there was a Twilight who looked just like her, but was completely different in every way. There would be an easy way to test this with one of Twilight's absolute favourite things in the world. "Time for a pop quiz!" "What?" Spark spluttered. Twilight motioned for Spark to follow her, so she did. Twilight trotted upstairs and took a seat at a table, before motioning for Spark to sit down opposite her. With a non-committal shrug, Spark took the offered seat. "So, uh, how's this going to work? Twilight pulled a pair of glasses out of nowhere and fixed them to her snout. "I just want to ask you some questions. A few questions that anypony couldn't possibly get wrong. Let me just cast a simple lie detector spell." Twilight's horn lit up a bright white as she pulled a notepad off a desk behind her, magically of course, and opened it up just in front of her. "Okay, Fluorescent Spark, was it?" "Yep," Spark said with a nod. "Let's start with something ridiculously easy. Who created the world?" "Faust." "Uh huh." Twilight wrote something in her notepad. "Where do we live?" "Equestria. This is easy; next question." "Okay. Now, who is the current ruler of Equestria?" "Oh, Oh, I know this one. Think, Spark, think. Last year it was President Privileged for the Upper Crust party, but then there was the whole ballot box stuffing scandal. I think it's now President Blueblood with the Liberative Conservocrat party. Twilight's jaw practically hit the floor, but she yanked it back close again, and started scribbling more fiercely in her notepad. "So, uh, a Republic, eh? Did Luna win the Lunar War? "Lunar War? What's that? Is that some kind of video game? I don't play FPSs after Modern Waremare killed the genre." Twilight scribbled something else down in her notepad. "Are there any alicorns?" "Alicorns?" Spark snorted. "They're a myth. Do you take me for a foal?" she added with a laugh. Twilight stopped scribbling and leant over the notepad. "What happened to Celestia and Luna?" "Who?" "Then how does the Sun and the Moon work?" "Ah, that I can answer. Here's the simple version: Earth orbits around the sun elliptically whilst simultaneously spinning on an axis. Then the Moon just orbits Earth." "Then why do we only see one side of the moon?" "That's a fascinating answer: the moon also spins on an axis, but the speed at which the Moon rotates has lead to this particular phenomenon. Millions of years ago, the Moon spun at a much faster pace than it does now. However, the gravitational influence of the Earth has gradually acted upon the Moon to slow its rotation down, in the same way that the much smaller gravitational influence of the Moon acts upon the Earth to create tides. This influence slowed the rotational period of the Moon to match that of its orbit, leaving it in its current locked state." Twilight's jaw once again decided to hang open. "But... what... that..." Twilight had to take a short break to untangle her tongue and replace her jaw. "that makes perfect sense." "Of course it does, it's basic astrophysics," Spark said with a snort. "O-of course." Twilight straightened back up and began to hastily jot down a summary in her notebook. "Now, um, so. How did you become a Republic?" "That's a story. The "media" would have us believe that we were horribly repressed by a tyrannical monarch forcing people to raise up in protest. Truth is, Starswirl the Bearded managed to convince Commander Hurricane, Chancellor Puddinghead and Princess Platinum to work together, and the first council was formed. Starswirl served as the first president, and then he was replaced by Clover the Clever who revolutionised the entire voting process; proportional representation and all that." "No Windigoes?" "What the hay's a Windigo? Is that like a balloon?" "Okay, I think we're done here." "How'd I do? Please say I passed! Please, please please!" Spark said as she leapt to her hooves. "Sure, you, uh, definitely passed." Twilight nervously rubbed the back of her neck with a hoof. "Yes! Now let's go get drunk!" "Drunk?" Twilight asked nervously. "That's what I always do after I pass a test! C'mon!" Spark grabbed Twilight by her hoof, and dragged her out of the front door, then she stopped. She couldn't help but gawk at how different the town was. Stout, concrete houses had been replaced by thatched roof huts. The omnipresent, thick early morning fog was completely absent. "I'm guessing the Logical Fallacy hasn't been built?" "Look, I'm not quite sure you should just be wandering about," Twilight said as she tried to drag Spark back. "Come on, spoilsport, don't you want to party?" "Did somepony say party!" a pink pony with a puffy mane and tail popped up out of the window of a nearby house. "Pinkie! How did you get in Berry Punch's house?" Twilight gave Pinkie a sharp look but Pinkie just shrugged in reply. "Hang on! I've never seen you before..." Pinkie began as she leant forwards to stare at Spark. Twilight's eyes went wide as she suddenly realised where Pinkie was taking this. "No, Pinkie! No!" "...then that means you're new! And if you're new to Ponyville, then you must not have any friends here..." "I'm her friend Pinkie. Come on, Spark, lets head back to the library." Twilight put one of her legs around Spark's shoulder and tried to turn her around. "... and you must feel so sad and lonely..." "I'm fine, Pinkimina, really," Pinkie stopped and looked as if she'd been hit by train. Her eye began to tick crazily as she said, "Did you just call me Pinkimina?" "Pinkimina Diane Pie, that is your name, isn't it?" "Hahah! Hah! Hahahaha!" Pinkie threw back her head and laughed in small fits. Twilight gave up trying to pull Spark and turned to Pinkie. "Pinkie?" Pinkie laughed again, before turning on her hooves and galloping away. "Uhh, did I do something wrong?" Spark asked a gobsmacked Twilight. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- High in the air above the headquarters of Twilight Incorporated, Pinkimina Diane Pie was not pleased. An angry scowl soured her face as she manoeuvred the small transport craft. The craft barely held the eight security guards she had brought with her, let alone their security armour. Their armour consisted of a kevlar jacket around their chest and four big black boots, along with knee pads. Black helmets sat on their heads with extendable glass visors and "INC" stencilled on their helmets in block white capitals. For a private security force, they were extremely well armed. The guards all carried shoulder mounted scatterguns, loaded with beanbags of course, along with a baton on their hips. This was not the first impromptu party that they had crashed. They had a lot of experience when it came to the matter. One of the guards was wearing the wrong helmet, and Pinkimina was trying her best to ignore it. It was grating against her mind though; she couldn't focus with that damnable guard in there. Her eye began to tick irately, but she tried to keep it under wraps. "Are you okay, Ma'am?" one of the guards asked. Pinkimina looked down to see that she was visibly shaking. With a giggle, she noticed the guard that had asked was the one with the silver helmet. Another glance told her that he was also a pegasus. She pushed a button and the door to the craft slid open. Wind whistled as it rushed into the cabin, carrying the biting cold in with it. The guard looked at the open door then back to the pink earth pony. "Have you gone mad?" "No! No I have not, but you have. Silver helmets are not part of the dress code. There is a reason you are issued with black helmets." The slightly shaking pink pony poked the guard in the ribs with her hoof. "I, uh, lost my previous one." He looked up to see Pinkimina advancing on him and backed up slightly. "Lost? Lost! Oh, that's okay then. You just lost it." Pinkimina's face was alternating between happy and angry in quick spasms. "I've put in an order for a new one!" the guard said defensively as he found himself stood in front of the open door. "Not good enough! Consider yourself fired!" Pinkimina shouted as she bucked the guard in the chest and sent him flying out of the craft. She then exhaled and a gentle smile appeared on her face. With a whistle, she strode back over to the console and pushed the button again. The door slid shut with a satisfying pop as the pressure equalised. Pinkimina gazed through the window as the small craft approached Twilight's personal dirigible. Two colossal balloons spread out from either side of the craft diagonally. Both were a deep purple and displayed Twilight's cutie mark, along with "INC" in bold white. Suspended from the balloons was a large metal box that spanned five floors. The craft was being pushed along lazily by a series of rear-mounted propellers. Pinkimina twisted the metal wheel in front of her to direct the craft towards the rooftop landing pad. Down below a few ponies lay in various states of drunkenness. "Remember we are just here for Twilight. However, if you see anypony causing property damage, then I give you permission to stop them," she said calmly without turning. "Yes, Ma'am!" the guards replied with a salute as she pressed the button. "So I says, 'I'm drunk, you don't have an excuse!'," a very drunk, red unicorn slurred. "Whoa, that's pretty deep. Why don't we party more often?" an orange earth pony replied with a puff of smoke. The unicorn hiccuped loudly, before raising another bottle of wine and tossing it down his throat. "This is a party? Then where's the music?" As if on cue, a heavy beat suddenly kicked off in the background. Electronic bass pulsating around the cabin. The unicorn looked around in surprise. "Pretty... *hic*... snazzy. Now where's them mares at?" The unicorn looked around expectantly, and found himself surrounded by a pair of security colts. "Meh, I'm not picky," he said as he tried to drag himself up, before collapsing onto the floor. "You there, where is Twilight Tinker?" one of the guards demanded as he stepped forwards with his baton in his mouth. "Everything's somewhere, colt," the orange pony replied with yet another puff of smoke. "Damned hippies." The guard spat on the floor. "Hey, Five-o. Are you shutting this party down?" somepony called through the fog that had filtered all over the second deck. "There's no stopping one of Twilight's parties this far in. We just need to speak with the host. There's been a development," the other guard replied. "Twilight's down in the club on deck five." "Thank you party-goer," the guard returned and went to leave. He stopped as he noticed his companion was still staring at the orange pony lazily smoking on the sofa. "Hey, Grunt, we gotta go." "Hrm. Damn hippies," the other guard replied before galloping after the other security guard. After checking both the guards were gone, a yellow pegasus walked out of the fog. Her pink mane was cut short and tied with a bandanna. "Jack, are we ready to move?" The orange earth pony took another puff of smoke, before climbing to her hooves. "Point the way, Flutters." "The guards are here, and we need to hit Twilight before they find her. She's in one of the bedrooms on Deck Three. Remember, we just want to rough her up. You kill her, and you don't get paid." "I got it. We gotta spread our message of peace with violence, am I right?" "Someponies gotta stand up to these big corporations. Otherwise, they're just gonna suck the planet dry." Fluttershy raised a hoof and shook it in anger. "You coming, Demo?" Jack turned her bright green eyes to the red unicorn on the floor. The pony snored loudly as if in response. "I bought two tickets to the..." he mumbled from the floor. "You snooze, you lose." Flutters said as she headed off to the elevator. “Damn Rarity, you sure know your stuff!” Twilight Tinker laughed gruffly. “Thank you, Twilight,” the white unicorn replied with a distinctly unladylike giggle. “Do you really have to go now? Don’t you want just one more round?” she added coyly. “Believe me I do, but a multi-million bit business isn’t going to run itself into the ground,” Twilight said before bursting into another hearty laugh. Rarity tilted her head and looked at Twilight quizzically but shook it off. “It was a pleasure to meet you, Mrs Tinker,” Rarity said with a very diplomatic smile and putting extra stress on the “Mrs”. Twilight finally took stock of her surroundings. She was sat on a double bed with red covers. If she recalled correctly, that matched the description of the beds in her airship's personnel quarters. The plain painted white walls and a window showing the blue sky outside seemed to confirm this. It was then she noted the absence of a certain grey earth pony."Um, I don't suppose you remember where we left Inky?" "The geologist?" Rarity bit her lip as she entered thought mode. "Yeah. She was with us when we picked up DJ Tav3." "Then we threw that party and invited everypony we could find." "Didn't she attack that dentist?" "No, no. I think that was Bolts? I'm pretty sure they had wings." "Of course, because they did those acrobatic manoeuvres." "Was she there when we crashed that..." Rarity began when the door suddenly flew off its hinges. "You! Prepare for a beating like you'd never believe!" a voice bellowed through the open portal. A furious pink pony marched in with two security colts. "P-p-pinkimina... w-w-what a pleasant surprise," Twilight stuttered as she took a few steps back. "You! You abandon me in the meeting you force me to go to! Then you sneak out with a director's wife! And to top it all off, you leave my sister alone in a nightclub!" Pinkimina strode forwards, her eyes almost alight with flame. Behind her, the two colts struggled to replace the door. "L-l-look, I can explain," Twilight backed up to the wall as Pinkie advanced towards her. "But, that isn't why I'm here." "It's not?" Twilight looked up hopefully. "Veil accidentally "lost" one of our scientists. He's requesting your expertise to help him figure out what went wrong." "I can do that!" "Yes, well. Get yourself cleaned up and..." The newly replaced door flew off and slammed the two guards to the floor. "Prepare for trouble," a yellow pegasus said as she strode through the doorway. "And make it double," an orange earth pony followed her in. "She's already in trouble. Could I ask you two to come back later?" Pinkimina replied. "Okay," the earth pony said and turned to walk out. "Jack!" the pegasi said gruffly. The orange pony spun on her heels and trotted back in. "Sorry, Flutters." "Prepare for a beating like you'd never believe!" Flutters said as she cracked her hooves. "Hey, that's my line!" Pinkamena replied sharply. "Hey, the door was open and-" a rainbow maned pony trotted into the room and suddenly everything went white. Two security guards pushed the heavy metal door off of them. "What just happened?" one asked the other. "I think they all just disappeared?" the other one replied with a shrug. "I don't get paid enough for this." The first one sighed again.