//------------------------------// // 1: A Most Shocking Awakening // Story: Rock ☾ Equestria // by Blind Gardener //------------------------------// Twilight Sparkle had had a long night. It had been game night. Rainbow Dash had kept insisting that oxyphenbutazone was not a word, and demanding a rematch. Pinkie Pie and Applejack had gotten into a skee ball competition that Dash had eventually joined after her pezuña-a-pezuña rematch with Twilight had gone badly. Fluttershy and Rarity had tested their fine manipulation skills in a game of Jenga and Twilight had joined in, until Spike accidentally brought the tower down with his godlike snacks. She licked her lips in her sleep, remembering the nachos Spike had put together, and rolled over in her bed, moving her left hand easily up to cushion her long thin ear against the pillow. Wait. Her face scrunched up as she pondered exactly what felt wrong, eyes half open. HAND?! Her sleepy eyes snapped the rest of the way open! Twilight bolted out of her richly canopied bed, got tangled in the decadently thick down comforters that had apparently been decorated with her cutie mark, and tumbled across the floor, carpeted with intricate interlocking patterns of rugs. She face planted in a small wicker basket that held... Her lips curled into a soft smile, as her wings relaxed against her side. It looked sorta like a very small purple and green dragon, about as long as Twilight's current armspan, and about as thick around as Twilight's thigh at the thickest point. Two intricate wings of stained glass and bronze sprouted from his back, and he was curled up in a small coil, head resting on his own hunches on a pillow in the basket. He had a small purple collar, with the name 'Spike' written on it. Twilight pushed herself unsteadily to her feet as the small dragon woke from the commotion and unwound itself sinuously from the basket and crawled up her leg and torso with a quick pricklepater of small claws. Her wings ruffled with the prickling, before settling down again. He wound around her neck like a very large and heavy necklace, then patted her on the ear before releasing a quick puff of green smoke. Within moments the small creature was letting off a soft rumble that sounded like a combination of a purr and a snore. It kinda tickled! Twilight rose a hand to her mouth as she giggled, then lost her balance and gyrated her hands wildly, ears following the motions of her hands, before falling to the ground. She puffed her cheeks contritely, then gently exhaled. Picking herself once more, and finding herself subjected to another quick pat on the ear by spike, she looked around the spacious room for a mirror. She turned her head slowly and carefully, eyes darting about as she identified objects in the room. Bookshelf with books about magic. Bookshelf with books about engineering. Work table strewn with crystals and scraps of brass. Toolrack... Mirror! Carefully, occasionally dropping to four limbs when her balance failed her, Twilight stumbled her way over to the gilt-framed mirror. The frame was heavy and old, with symbols of her brother's shield, her stars, and her father's moon all worked into the rim. She glanced into the silvered glass and was astonished at what she saw. She rounded her lips into a tiny o. It reminded her of where she had been when she was tracking down her lost crown. She was balancing on two thin legs, her skin was the usual shade of purple, and was roughly 'human'. What was different this time around was that she had kept her wings, a short horn, and long purple hair that rippled down her back. Her ears were long and thin, with small tufts of magenta fur dangling from the tips. Her clothing was a simple night-dress, smooth and silky against her skin. Through the silk, on her hip, she could see her cutie mark sparkling gently. She was pretty sure humans normally wore more than this, so step one was to get dressed. She guessed that the door next to the mirror was the closet, and slowly reached for it, repositioning her wings for stability as she smoothly slid the door open. Twilight opened the door to reveal utter darkness. There was a soft clicking sound overhead, followed by a loud warm humming sound. Lights slowly flickered on across the ceiling, revealing the contents of the room. Racks of dresses, piles of chemises, rows of shoes, and boxes of socks and underthings all meticulously organized by some arcane criteria that Twilight could not grasp lined the narrow room. Leather and lace were the primary themes of the room, with some gears, wires, and crystals making up a running sub-melody. Twilight stared into the massive walk in closet, then let out a deep breath that she hadn't realized she had been holding. Whomever lived in the room she had woken in was certainly a clothes horse, but she had only a vague idea of what sort of outfits were appropriate for which situation. This was a far cry from the simple outfits she had worn in the other human world. Rarity would have loved this. Her ears drooped as she thought of Rarity. She imagined Rarity there, standing beside her, gasping in pleasure. She imagined the fashionista fired up with energy, grabbing outfit after outfit in her magic, and holding them up to Twilight, only to reject them one after another."This one doesn't match your hair," she'd say or "That one has suffered from too much décollage.," or "Oh, this one's really designed with somepony like me in mind dear, I can put up with some discomfort in the name of fashion. I, however, would certainly not recommend it for you. You would be far too stiff in it, and uncomfortable as well." Twilight attempted to mimic the pretend Rarity's actions, only to find her magic weak, flickering around the objects she was trying to lift. She placed her hands firmly on her hips and tried again, more commandingly. Her magic was still weak, and slow to respond. The room filled with a slight taint of ozone, tickling her nose. She scrunched her brow tightly. Weak was the wrong word. Unsuited to this task would be more accurate. She could feel her magic, and it was certainly powerful, but it did not want to focus nor flow properly without a spell matrix. Instead of simply following the shortest possible route, the normally sharp magic currant widened as it flowed away from Twilight, and the magic was even evaporating around the edges of the flow. Once it reached the target, it expended its energy in an undirected, inefficient way. She was probably warming the target more than she was moving it. She bit her lip, pondering the implications. Her eyes narrowed. The most likely explanation for the evaporation was that there was simply less ambient magic available in the air. The spreading was most likely due to a similar cause, though it would be easier to overcome, simply weaving a tight spell matrix into her normal TK should fix that. The wastefulness of the energy was the most curious of the oddities. It, ultimately, should have just followed her will. She brought a hand to her lip and began rubbing the side of a finger against her teeth. Still a problem that could be overcome by weaving a better spell matrix, but the difference drove home how alien this world was compared to her own. TK should not require a spell matrix in the first place! Worse, the magic here was stiffer, drier, and harder to direct than the magic she was used to. It would certainly be more effort to weave a spell in it. She huffed irritably as she began to plan out experiments to determine the differences. Spike gently prickled Twilight's neck with a claw, to draw her out of her musings, causing her to squeek, jump, flap her wings, and fall forwards. She hit the ground nose first, and cried out in pain, rubbing her nose. She was fortunate that the floor was covered with such thick shag carpeting. Spike swarmed up to her nose, licking at it worriedly, and crooning at her. She tried to glare at the little dragon, but couldn't keep it up as he showed his obvious concern. With a sigh, she softened her glare and carefully brought herself back to her feet. Spike gave her a toothy grin, and patted her nose, before pointing at the clothing. Right! Twilight was supposed to get dressed! Her ears perked up as she looked around, once again bringing up an imaginary construct of Rarity to help her decide. In the end she chose a flowing purple dress with warm ruffles down the front, and a pair of comfortable magenta silk slippers. She grinned to herself, brushing her hair out of her eyes as she basked in Imaginary Rarity's approval. Spike launched himself from her neck, and the surprise nearly knocked Twilight over once more. She grabbed at the rack of clothing to steady herself, then stood back up to stare at the little dragon. Spike was doing loop-de-loops in the air, almost managing to form a heart shape with his long, sinuous body, before pointing her to a low table tucked out of sight in the closet. Twilight walked over to it. Her face broke into a wide grin, and crinkles formed around her eyes, as she saw that it was a small sitting stool and a writing table. The stool was short and well padded, and the table was carefully joined. Sitting on the table were a brown leather book, a inkwell, and what appeared to be a fake feather pen made entirely of glass, as well as a carefully decorated stained glass box of small gems set in biscuits labeled 'Spike Snacks'. Glad some things were still normal, she pulled a biscuit with an tourmaline in it, and tossed it up to Spike, who caught it midair in his tiny claws, and began nibbling on it, crooning. He quickly landed to wrap around some of the supports on the table. She carefully opened the book, using just the tips of her fingers to touch it, licking her lip nervously as she did so. Property of Twilight Sparkle of the DeMysier house. If lost return to 509 Artisan Straight way, box 117. The brass plate within the cover loudly pronounced in friendly, bold, letters. On the other side, in exquisitely delicate handwriting Twilight's Journal of Thoughts and Experiments. Reproduction and reading by unauthorised personnel is prohibited. This means you, Shiny. Twilight stared intensely at the first page, looking for some hidden meaning. This wasn't her hoofwriting, but it was the sort of hoofwriting she had wished to have possessed before realizing that, while she was powerful, she would never have the precision in her TK that Rarity seemed to possess in spades. She gently rolled her tongue in her mouth. Did she qualify as 'authorized'? She was Twilight sparkle, for certain. But she was not the Twilight Sparkle who wrote this journal. Spike chirped at her, noticing her hesitation, and reached down to the book. He turned the page with a quick flip of his tiny claws. Nothing untoward happened. With another teasing chirp, and a slow blink directed right at her, he returned to his comfortable position. Eighth of February, 1913 This is my first entry in this journal. The old one got full up with drawings and pictures. Shining and Cadence took me out to Fancy Pant's store to buy a new one. It was very exciting. Fancy Pants is a human, not an elfin like me, Shining, and Cadence. He showed me some magic tricks, but they weren't real magic because he didn't use any mana. I still don't know how he did it! She skipped ahead a little past the youthful drawings and entries. In her intense interest, she didn't notice herself absently plucking a loose feather from her own wings. Eighteenth of August, 1914 Today I found a most unusual egg in the garden. I saved it from a weasel. Cadence said that weasels are eggsuckers, and asked me if I wanted to cook and eat the egg. She said it wouldn't hatch without a mommy to care for it. I told her I could care for it. She helped me set up an incubation chamber for the egg, but said it probably wasn't fertilized and probably wouldn't hatch. Twilight blinked and chewed thoughtfully on the feather she had plucked. Was this how she had met Spike in this world? Twentyfirst of June, 1915 The egg finally hatched. I had earnestly nearly lost faith (isn't earnestly a darling little word?). I never quite matched the egg with any of the ones in my books. I was quite surprised to find out it was some sort of baby lizard! I think he's a Dragon, but he's much smaller than the dragons father meets with. I asked Cadence, and she left for the stacks. When she returned she indicated that it might be a Fairy Dragon, except that he is lacking in wings. This little one is quite spiky, which immediately suggested a good name for him. I believe I will call him Spike. They say fairy dragons are just as smart as we are. I wonder if that is true. Also, I must remember to thank Shining for that thesaurus he got me last Hearth's Warming Eve. The writing was improving as she navigated through the book, and the illustrations became less childish. Now they were drawings of magic leylines and mechanical devices. Many of them seemed functional, with parts labeled. Some of the mechanical devices seemed to be designed to run partly off of magic. Twilight by now was leaning deeply into the journal in fascination. She gathered, from social details, that Cadence was a young noble who was helping to raise and train Twilight due to favors owed between their houses. She also clearly had something for Shiny even in this world. Twilight's parents were the mayor, and the guild leader of the island. Shiny was admiral of the anti-piracy naval task force. There was no mention of Princess Celestia, nor Luna. First of July, 1916 None of my family will talk about Cadence anymore. As suddenly as she swept into my life, she's gone, leaving behind only memories of happiness and ladybugs. Whenever I mention her to Shiny, he looks sad and changes the subject. I know they were dating, I saw them kissing in the halls more than once! Before she arrived, I never minded the solitude of living on the estate, but now... I feel alone. Not even spike can cheer me up. I want to go elsewhere. I want to explore. I'm supposed to inherit my family's fortunes and manage the estate as some sort of quasi-immortal ruler, like Cadence was for house Jemi. But how can I do it without more life experience, without awareness of the events occurring outside our cinderblock walls? I need to get away. On a happier note, my parents agreed to buy some corpses from the morgue for my medical studies on the biologies of the various races. My notes and sketches should take up the next few pages. Twilight grimaced, and had to work her throat a little to keep her gorge down when she saw the... detailed drawings of corpses and their contents, each bit labeled. She continued to read through the journal. Apparently Twilight Sparkle, or at least the one here, was some variety of rare hybrid between winged sky elves, and horned 'crystal' elves. Her brother shining was actually her half brother. Since hybrids were so rare, and most of them were sickly enough not to survive past toddlerhood, it was traditional for married couples of mixed heritage to have children with friends to secure their lineage. She shuddered to think of her mother getting with anyone, let alone a stallion outside her family. It was also odd to think of Night Light as having wings. It was clear also that her parents, and brother, both loved her dearly. A bit too dearly, in fact. The Twilight who had lived here had found their love stifling. There was no further clarification on the mystery of Cadence's disappearance, but another of the entries caught her eye. Third of November, 1916 Spike noticed my loneliness, and has been redoubling his efforts to cheer him up. In thanks I have decided to get him a heartswarming Eve present. Other fairy dragons have wings. I believe that the reason he does not is some form of birth deformity. I intend to correct this for him with a most marvelous prosthetic. I will need to make a list of supplies. What followed was a collection of drawings of the small copper and glass wings attached to Spike. They were apparently mostly powered by magic, both intrinsic to spike, and general in the area. They also had a bunch of special attachments that Twilight could make no sense of. By now she was nearly out of pages. She turned to the final page, and a note fell out. To whomsoever is replacing me. The date is 5th May, 1922. Your name is now Twilight Sparkle. I have instructed Spike to be gentle with you, and to help teach you how to take my place. I have left for Avalon to find Cadence. Do not follow me. When I have found her, I will return and send you back to when and where you belong. If you do anything to upset father and mother, or Shiny, I will be quite put out with you. While you await my return, please enjoy the wealth and status that my life gives you. Do not look for the next journal. I will have it with me as I will need it for my voyage. Yrs Twilight Sparkle Twilight slammed her palm against her face, and dragged it downwards, contorting her features. Of all the selfish, self centered, irresponsible things! A twinge reminded her that she had biological needs. She crossed her legs in consternation. "Uh... Spike? Where's the bathroom?" The little dragon let off a peel of laughter like silver bells, and took off to show her the way. After she had used the facilities, and cleaned herself up, Spike gently guided her through the halls to a small dining hall. He helped her grab a blank notebook, and a pen before he allowed her to leave the bedroom. Fruit and pastries sat out on the table, as did several varieties of fried meat. The smell made her mouth water, but the thought of eating meat churned her stomach. The combination of the two made her break out into a pale, shuddery sweat. "Are you alright, Mademoiselle Sparkle?" A light blue colored sky elf in a maid's outfit asked her. "Yes I just... feel a little ill this morning. I believe it's my time of month" Twilight improvised, with nervous darting eyes, remembering many railings in the journal against said time. The biological mechanisms were fascinating... "Up all night again working on your newest toy then?" The maid asked pointedly "You always use that excuse. As if we maids wouldn't notice that we weren't having to clean stained night-things when it actually is your time. I'm afraid I'll have to tell the mistress" The injunction against upsetting her new mother fresh in her mind, Twilight shook her head. Violently. "Please don't tell Mom" she pleaded "I'm working on a present for her." "Alright, I won't," the maid said kindly. "But in exchange, I'll be eating that meat of yours. Can't have bacon on a delicate stomach, can we?" the maid giggled impishly, stealing the offending plate away. Twilight watched the maid dance off, wondering if this was normal behavior. She had almost sounded like Trixie. She turned her attention away from the odd maid, and back to the food on the table. It was gone faster than she had expected. She guessed the large portion sizes were possibly due to magic burning calories. Another difference between her own world and this one. One spectacular belch later, and she decided to take a jog around the house to burn some calories just in case. With her hands over her mouth to prevent a repeat of the gaseous incident. From the looks of things today was some sort of day of rest. She was pretty sure if she had tutors scheduled today, Spike would have made her aware of them. She hoped. She found herself glancing around for a clock, as though afraid she would be late. Definitely best to look around just in case. It didn't take long to explore the parts of the estate that she was permitted to visit, which allowed Twilight to become certain that there were no classes scheduled today. The other Twilight's life was certainly limited. She was only allowed into what was, by her calculation, a little more than a sixth of the estate. She stomped with frustration, as she stalked the halls back to her room and workshop. She might have forgiven it, if the staff hadn't informed her that large portions of the massive library were also off limits to her. Apparently she wasn't allowed any texts on navigation, nor atlases. Even history was a limited subject for her. The other Twilight had apparently attempted to flee more than once, and as a result the present Twilight found her every book request scrutinized and treated with the same level of suspicion that a pony would have before handing a knife to a diamond dog. Only Spike biting her between the thumb and the forefinger had stopped her from revealing to the librarian the truth in an effort to get around the restrictions. That event had made her wonder how he knew what she was about to do, and turned her mind to a different track. As a result of the change in gears, she carried in a bag on her back several books on passive mind magic. Active mind magic was also denied to her. She gritted her teeth, continuing to stomp as she passed through the beautiful marble hallway on the edge of her garden. Her garden had been a nice surprise when she first found it. It was peaceful, and the other Twilight had picked out the plants growing in the small interior courtyard. Most of them were useful in some way or another, and somehow the gardener, Green Gimbal, that worked for Twilight was managing to grow a Kumquat tree in the same climate as a date tree. She relaxed a little as she stepped past the arches in the hall, her mantled wings slowly relaxing to her sides. Still, far too soon, she was out of sight of the garden again, and on her way to the workshop. She scratched her head gently. She was starting to feel a little sorry for the other her. Still angry though. Just because her life sucked didn't give her the right to thrust someone else into it. Setting her teeth, she marched on. At first Twilight didn't understand the meaning of the bell that began to interrupt her studies. She was already remastering her TK! It wasn't until Spike wrapped his tail around her arm and began to drag her forcefully out of the workshop that she realized it must be something important. Her ears drooped a little, as she felt sorry for fighting so hard. This was clearly something important. Soon she was dragged before a pair of large double doors she had not been permitted to enter earlier. Cautiously, she pushed her way through. Her lips spread into a wide O, and her eyebrows became one with her hair as she took in the scene. A large table sat in the middle of the grand room, sitting on a rich purple carpet. Overhead an extraordinarily filigreed chandelier sparkled with all the vivid colors of the night sky, reflecting dancing lights on the ceiling and walls. Sitting at the table were six ponies... Twilight's thoughts skittered to a halt. People. Not ponies. Right. She shook her head vigorously to clear her thoughts and started forward. One of the people was clearly Shiny, dressed in a suit of red and gold. Two were clearly her parents, Night Light, and Twilight Velvet. Night Light was in an older deep purple tailed coat with blue wainscotting and gold highlights. Velvet wore a particularly fluffy gown, with a frilled neck and a high hairdo strung with gems. The other three's identities escaped her, but none of them were any younger than Night Light, nor Twilight Velvet. She took a quiet, uncertain seat at the table, and decided to follow the other's cues for the conversation. The first course was some sort of salad, and she ate of it heartily, before she noticed Velvet's upset glare. "Dear, I know you are angry at me for canceling your trip to the university, but you shouldn't eat like a porcine in retaliation. Especially not in the company of Sir Truth Hawk, Dame Heart Dale, and Mr Grump Burn. They're very influential people you know." "... Sorry" Twilight managed, bending over her plate, eyes squeezed shut, and ears drooping. "I am so sorry, but you know how young women sometimes get, you've raised several of your own after all." Velvet went on to Dame Heart Dale." She listened into the conversation, but it was honestly boring. She took notes inside her head in an effort to relieve the tedium. Next course out was soup, which she drank slowly and carefully. Shiny glanced around to make sure that the older people were deep in their conversation, then he bent carefully over to whisper to her "I'll be able to take you around town tomorrow," he said. "If you're well behaved I'll take you onboard my ship." She almost felt better, and had felt her cheeks raising. But that final comment made her feel pandered to and babied. She wasn't even the person they were trying so hard to protect. Cheeks falling once more, she turned to the main course that had been slipped in front of her during her moment of distraction. Meat. She scowled and stabbed it viciously with the fork, sawed with the knife, and brought a chunk to her mouth. She opened up... and gagged, nearly spraying vomit-sweet saliva across the table. Coughing violently she slammed it back onto the plate. She couldn't do it. Not yet, at least. "I'm not feeling very well." She announced. "May I be excused?" "Oh dear, what's wrong?" Velvet asked, suddenly at her side. Twilight almost thought she had teleported. "I just feel..." she flapped her hands uncertainly. "Out of sorts. I don't want to disrupt dinner." "Oh, I shall contact the nurse at once. We shall get you a nice posset and some tincture of poppy" Velvet declaimed, gently ushering the young woman she believed to be her daughter out of the dining room. Armed with a warm drink, and some sort of tea made out of poppies and poppy milk, Twilight sat in the richly canopied bed, legs kicking as they dangled over the edge. "Enjoy your new life" she sarcastically said to herself, teeth set to edge and voice piped through her nose. She reached for the journal to re-read it for clues. "Some new life" It was gone. Her half lidded eyes shot open once more and her legs stopped kicking. She took a deep breath, then stopped, realizing that a scream of frustration would bring unwanted attention. She flailed around with her arm looking for the journal, then began digging through the room, and through the closet. Had Shining taken it? No. Who? Her thoughts flashed back to the oddly behaving maid she had encountered earlier. It couldn't be... could it? Several blocks away, the Great and Powerful Trixie had dropped the illusion giving her wings and hiding her horn. She had acquired what she was looking for from the house of the Sparkles, and more besides. She grinned sharply, her teeth almost appearing shark like, as she read the note entitled To Whomsoever. There would be very that she wouldn't be able to buy, beg, borrow, steal and blackmail with this little gem by her side.