The portal within the main room of the Palace of Friendship began to crackle and fizzle with energy, the devices around it starting to whirr and hum as the fuzzy outline of a portal began to appear against the glass. The phenomenon wasn't witnessed by anyone save for the books scattered about as the magic began to increase. Finally, with a loud pop, a purple unicorn was flung from the shimmering surface.
“Ow ow ow!” Rolling several times along the unforgiving crystal floor, the purple pony came to a stop, her legs tangled in a white lab coat and her glasses slightly askew. “Ugh...Twilight's notes on portal velocity mechanics...they hurt. A lot.”
Despite the landing though, the implications of an actual working portal were enormous. Instantaneous travel from one place to another had only ever been the stuff of science fiction, and while it may have been old hat to that genre, there were hundreds upon thousands of ways it could be used to improve life for everyone.
“Please don't tell me I damaged my recorder,” she groaned, patting her lab coat a couple of times. Something was off though. Her hand found the pocket easily but...
Slowly, the human turned pony raised her hoof to her face, wobbling unsteadily on three legs, looking dumbfounded at the limb in front of her. Slowly, with deliberate care, Twilight looked down at the crystal floor and at the blurry image and the pony features that stared back at her.
Even more slowly now, with her eye twitching slightly, Twilight staggered forward to the mirror she had been thrown from. In addition to working as a trans-dimensional portal, the mirror also worked very competently as a mirror, and now the proof was staring right at her. She was a horse. No, too small to be a horse.
“I am a pony,” she said finally, “Why am I a pony?” Twilight blinked several times, but the image in the mirror remained very much a purple pony sitting in dumbfounded shock at her reflection. Her eyes slowly traveled upwards towards the horn poking out from her mane. “No, not a pony, a unicorn...no that doesn't make it any better,” she mumbled to herself, her eye twitching dangerously now.
Carefully she got to her hooves once again, trying to put her foreleg to her chest and perform a breathing exercise. Halfway through the second breath, her legs wobbled and gave out.
“Okay...this isn't working. WHY THE HELL AM I A PONY?!”
---
“Ahhhhhhh!”
Dash jerked awake quite suddenly, nearly toppling off her cloud as a loud cry echoed around the crystal palace. Perking her ears up, Dash suddenly snapped to her feet. “That was Twilight! Wait...what's she doing back so soon?”
Either way, this needed investigating, and with a rainbow streak behind her, the pegasus tore off towards the sound of the cry.
---
Walking was getting easier just so long as she didn't think about it, though she wobbled unsteadily as she paced around in a frantic circle. “Okay, there must be a logical explanation for this. This is a different universe after all. One where I'm a pony...a purple pony. And I can talk. How does something like a pony develop linguistic skills? Are they even called ponies here?”
Once again her eye turned towards the mirror hooked up to a myriad of devices. She'd tried to go back through the mirror after seeing her appearance, but the glass had remained solid to the touch. “And why the hell would ponies use human analogues clearly meant for fingers?”
Letting out a sigh, Twilight slumped down onto her flank, staring at the unresponsive machine. “I need more data...bigger sample set...and probably some hard apple cider-”
“Twilight!”
“Ahhhh!”
The unexpected voice shattered her thoughts. Her head turned and she had a scant second to see a rainbow-tailed winged creature before she landed in front of her, the air she had been dragging rushing to catch up with her and nearly blowing the unicorn off her hooves.
Groaning, Twilight stood up and faced the new arrival, only for another million questions to flood her mind. “You...you have wings!”
Rainbow blinked. “Um...yeah, last time I checked,” she said with some amusement as she casually defied the laws of physics right in front of her. “So what are you-”
“But there's no way those could support your weight! Are your bones hollow?”
“What? No! Why the heck would they be hollow? Are you feeling alright, Twilight?”
“And how do you know my name?” she said, her voice practically a high pitched squeak now. “That's been happening all day and I haven't met any of you people!”
“Er...people?”
“Ponies! Whatever!”
Rainbow waited until Twilight's panic had run its course before responding. “Twi, we've known each other for years,” she said finally, folding her wings, cautiously approaching the frazzled unicorn. “You weren't experimenting with some crazy magic again, were you?”
Twilight's eye twitched again. “Magic? Oh god, don't tell me there's magic involved...”
“Look Twi, I'm glad you're back and all, but I think you need to go see Celestia.”
“Who?”
“Um...giant white alicorn who raises the sun?”
“That's...there is so much wrong with that I don't...I can't even...” Standing up, Twilight carefully put a hoof to her neck and breathed in and out, calming herself. “You...you're Rainbow Dash,” she said, slowly starting to recognize the similarities between her and her human counterpart.
“The one and only!” said the pegasus with a relieved sigh and a confident smirk.
“That might be a bit debatable,” murmured Twilight, looking back towards the mirror, shifting her body so the lab coat settled a bit better on her back. “That must mean...” She turned back to Dash. “Hey um...Dash, is this how I usually look?”
Dash gave her a curious stare. “Only when you're doing mad science. Gotta say I like it thought. It's like you've gone ultimate egghead.”
Okay, so there was another version of her here. And she seemed just as smart. No doubt she was the creator of this portal too. “Rainbow, let's assume my memory is a bit fuzzy. Where was I before this?”
The pegasus seemed to give this some thought. “On some boring diplomatic mission to Saddle Arabia. You weren't due back for another three days.”
Twilight's eye twitched again. “Saddle what?”
“Saddle Arabia.”
“Okay, I'm calling parallel dimension. That's too close to be coincidence.”
Rainbow blinked but shrugged it off. She was used to Twilight's confused mutterings by now. “Still, it's good to see you again, Twi.”
Distracted as she was, Twilight didn't notice Rainbow approaching her until it was too late. A soft furred leg wrapped around her neck and she got a moment to see Rainbow's warm smile before her lips closed with hers.
I'm being kissed by a pony. A female pony. With wings.
Twilight froze, her mouth open as the thoughts continued to fly through her mind while Rainbow simply took the chance to enjoy the kiss.
Do something Twilight! You just had your first kiss taken by a pony! No, something besides squeaking! Something productive! Actually this isn't too bad...okay that's a tongue!
With a gasp, Twilight finally managed to pull away, panting slightly. She wasn't sure if a blush could even be seen beneath her purple fur, but her muzzle certainly felt like it was on fire. In front of her Rainbow was grinning widely. “Wow, Twilight, you haven't reacted as cute as that since I took your first kiss.”
Embarrassment was starting to reach critical mass now. “That...we...just...” Her horn glowed, reacting to the intense emotions and the panic building inside of her and the desire to be anywhere but here. With a bright violet flash, the unicorn vanished, leaving a perplexed pegasus behind.
---
Twilight appeared far outside the crystal palace, just high enough off the ground to fall a few inches onto her flank. “Ow...okay, how did I do that?” she groaned, shaking her head a couple of times before examining her surroundings. Suddenly, the whole situation finally sank in.
“I'm on another world,” she murmured, staring unblinking at the town stretched out in front of her. Brightly colored ponies were everywhere; walking, flying, and a few here and there had horns like herself. Everything seemed more colorful too, the vivid scenery imprinting on her mind. Even the air felt cleaner and more fresh. Despite her earlier fear and panic, she couldn't help but sit and admire the novelty and take in the new experience.
Giggling to herself, Twilight slowly got to her feet, or rather her hooves. “Geez, I wonder if I can go five minutes in this world without something surprising me,” she muttered, curiously walking towards the town with slow, measured steps, her presence drawing looks and greetings from the locals.
“So is everyone here just naked or am I overdressed?” she asked herself. She was just about to theorize a subtle way of asking someone when suddenly-
“Princess Twilight! The great and powerful Trixie has arrived for our scheduled duel!” There was a flash of blue light and suddenly smoke filled the area, making several ponies cough and try to wave away the dust. When the smoke finally cleared, it revealed a blue-coated mare at the center of a lot of angry stares, though the pony dressed in the cape and hat seemed to easily ignore them.
“Wait, did you say princess?” asked Twilight, giving the new arrival a curious look.
“Did Trixie not articulate enough? You are most certainly a princess still, are you not? Trixie has come to challenge you!”
“Why are you talking about yourself in the third person?”
“Pardon?”
“Er...third pony?” she tried.
“Humph. Trixie has told you before that an entertainer must leave an impression on her audience. 'Tis only natural to make sure your title sticks!”
“Do ponies have trouble remembering you?” Twilight glanced around, noticing that the supposed 'crowd' seemed to be quickly clearing away and giving her a wide berth.
Trixie's eye twitched ever so slightly.
“Wow, I guess you have the opposite problem I do...”
“The Great and Powerful Trixie intends to make a name for herself very soon once she is victorious over Princess Twilight!”
Twilight sighed, rapidly trying to think of a way to remove herself from the conversation, wishing she could do that thing she'd done with Rainbow Dash again. “So, what kind of duel?”
“You must ask? Why, a magic duel of course!” The pointed hat she wore rose slightly, revealing a glowing horn atop her head.
There really is magic on this world...and I don't know anything about it!
There only seemed to be one way out of this situation now. “Okay, you win.”
Trixie's horn winked out. “W-what?”
“I surrender. You win.”
“B-but I...I mean Trixie-”
“Yes, Trixie wins, now could you go be great and powerful somewhere else? I'm a bit busy doing...princess things.”
A wide range of emotions seemed to play out on the other unicorn's face from surprise, to anger, to embarrassment, before settling on a carefully neutral look. “Ha! Trixie admits she almost fell for your cunning plan!”
Twilight groaned. “What plan? You won! Go away!”
“You were trying to get the great and powerful Trixie to let down her guard!”
“What? No!”
“Trixie shall not be taken for a fool! Prepare yourself Twilight!”
Her horn glowed once more and Twilight could feel the fur on her neck raise in warning.
---
“Duel me, Twilight Sparkle!”
“No! I'm not dueling anyone!”
BOOM!
“What the heck is wrong with you? That could have killed me!”
“Do not jest, you are an alicorn!”
“What the heck is an alicorn?”
Lyra cracked an eye open as the sounds of fighting drew closer, quickly recognizing the voices before turning her attention back to the clouds. Another relatively peaceful day all things considered. Twilight had gotten quite good at containing Trixie's tendencies towards collateral damage after all-
The green unicorn suddenly shot up into a sitting position. “Twilight just said anyone,” she murmured, “Nopony says anyone to ponies.” Fully alert now, Lyra's eyes honed in on the bright flashes of magic in the distance.
---
Twilight and Trixie were both panting now, the former looking frazzled with several hairs sticking up from her mane while the latter had lost her hat at some point in the chase and seemed to be struggling with her hot and heavy cape. “Trixie...haa...admires...haa...your evasiveness, but you can't run forever!”
“Say 'I'. Let pronouns enter your life, Trixie!” snapped Twilight, clearly on her last nerve, having been dodging for her life for the past few minutes.
“Trixie...does not believe Princess Twilight-”
“I am not a princess! I do not duel people, and I'm not an alicorn! Whatever the heck that is!”
Trixie blinked, momentarily taken aback. “Did you just say-”
CRASH!
Twilight winced as one of the barrels behind a market stall suddenly exploded outwards, revealing a mint green unicorn. In a blur of speed, she slammed into Trixie, sending her flying with a yelp of surprise.
“You said it! You said the word!”
Twilight blinked, trying to determine if the new unicorn was more or less crazy than the one she had just sent flying into a fruit stand. “What word?”
“People! You said people! Ponies don't say people because ponies aren't people, but people do because they're not ponies! You know something about them, don't you?”
Twilight gulped, feeling her stomach drop slightly. “About who exactly?”
“Humans!” she squealed, her high pitched, excited tone making her wince. “You've seen them, haven't you? Where are you hiding them? Or are you a human in disguise?” Despite her accusatory tone, her excitement was only building.
“Er...” Twilight hesitated, her mind racing to try and defuse the situation. If someone normal had asked her, she might have openly told them, but this particular unicorn looked like she'd have her on a dissection table in record time. “Look, just because someone talks a bit differently-”
“You did it again!”
“What?”
“You said 'someone' instead of 'somepony'!”
“That doesn't make any sense! Someone should be ambiguous to species!”
“But only a 'person' would use it!”
Twilight groaned, wincing as her hoof proved to be a lot more unkind to her face than her hand in the act of facepalming...or facehooving as it was probably called here. “Do I look like a human to you?” she asked finally, hoping that there wasn't something on her person, or rather pony, that would give her away.
“Well, no, but you could be disguising yourself!” Lyra stepped forward and Twilight nearly stumbled backwards, wondering if she was about to reach towards her face and try to tear away a mask.
“Twilight!” Four female voices suddenly sounded out from behind her.
Whirling around in surprise, Twilight nearly stumbled again as four more brightly colored ponies seemed to bear down on her, looks of panic shared between them.
“It's not Twilight!” shouted the green unicorn from behind. “She's a person! A human! A member of the Ilunamati!”
“What? That doesn't even exist in my wo- ahh...I mean...”
“See? She admits it!”
“Lyra, don't be silly. Twilight is Twilight.”
“But she-”
Twilight blinked and suddenly the group of four became three, the pink pony having inexplicably moved behind her.
“Here, have a Pinkie special.” From within the pink bushy tail, a blue frosted cupcake shook loose. Before Lyra could get another word out, her mouth was stuffed with the confectionery delight.
“Twilight! There's a hydra attacking form the Everfree Forest!”
The unicorn's attention was pulled back from Lyra who was wobbling unsteadily on her hooves towards an orange colored pony with a very familiar looking hat she'd seen earlier that day. “Applejack?”
“Er...yeah?”
“And the rest of you...you're all the Rainbooms!”
“Beg pardon, the what now?”
“That's five data points now! It is a parallel dimension, I knew it! Everyo- pony has a counterpart here!”
There was a moment of silence, broken only by Lyra's unconscious body hitting the ground with a thud as Pinkie's 'special' took effect. “Ah'm glad you're happy, sugarcube, but there's still a hydra to deal with.”
Twilight blinked, her excitement fading. “A what now?”
“A hydra!” said the white unicorn sharply. “A giant three-headed fire breathing beast with three times the intelligence of anypony and a raging temper to match!” Her voice rose steadily, ending just shy of a screech. “It is quite literally the Worst! Possible! Thing!” Letting out a breath, the unicorn composed herself. “Can you take care of it?”
“A-actually they're really only angry because the heads disagree with one another a lot of the time-”
“Ah don't care why they're doing it, ah just want 'em gone! He's already destroyed part of my farm!”
“And what am I supposed to do exactly? Aren't there any policeme...er, policemares who can deal with problems like this?” The stares she got in return was answer enough. “What about guards?”
“Don't be absurd! The closest guards are at least an hour away!”
“I'm sorry, but is it usually the job of princesses to fight hydras?”
“Well, of course!”
“Then what do the guards do?”
“Ah, well ya see-”
Before the purple maned unicorn could say anything further, Pinkie jumped in. “There's no time for nitpicking, Twilight, we gotta save Applejack's farm!”
Despite Twilight digging her hooves into the ground, Pinkie's pushing and Applejack's tugging on her tail quickly moved her towards the open fields. “Hey, quit that! Ow! Look, I really think we need a better plan laid out first!”
“No time!”
---
“Wow...that's really big,” said Twilight, trying not to bolt at the sight of the massive, scaled, three-headed monster the size of Applejack's barn and house, casually uprooting apple trees and devouring them whole. “That has to be ancient level at least.”
“A-Actually it's only a teenager,” came Fluttershy's nervous mumble from behind her, flinching badly as one of the heads burped out a gout of flame.
“And you want me to do what exactly?”
“Just pick it up with your magic and throw it far away!”
Twilight blinked. “She can...I mean, I can do that?”
A loud cracking sound filled the air as two of the heads began to fight over one of the trees, hissing and growling at one another. “Yeah, did it to the last one,” said Applejack.
“Last time? How often does this happen?” said the unicorn, practically shouting now.
“About once or twice a week,” said Pinkie casually.
“Just part of being on the edge of the Everfree. Place is full a critters like him.”
“Why is this town anywhere near here, then?”
“Twilight, darling,” interrupted Rarity, “We've been over this before, but right now we really need to stop that hydra.”
The lab coated unicorn groaned, watching the three heads bicker with each other over yet another tree despite several more being within reach. “Fluttershy,” she said suddenly, drawing a squeak from the pegasus, “That thing is three different personalities, right?”
“Y-Yes!”
“Does it understand or speak our language?”
“It can understand just fine, but they're really hard to talk to, even worse than dragons!”
“I think I have a plan then.”
“Yer not just gonna toss it?” asked Applejack, puzzled.
“Little too tired to do that right now. Magic...experiment thingy.”
“Ahh, alright. What do ya want us to do?”
“Be ready to evacuate the town if this doesn't work. Oh, and call the guards or something!”
Twilight ran off, unsteady on her hooves still, but getting better by the moment. It was Pinkie who finally broke the silence she left in her wake. “So when did Twilight start wearing glasses?”
---
Twilight was about halfway to the ever growing hydra before she slowed down. “Okay, even if they call it magic, it still has to follow rules, right? That means if I can replicate the scenario in which I did it the first time then...” The unicorn's eyes closed and her cheeks reddened as she brought up the memory of what had triggered her teleport. The way she'd been kissed, the way Rainbow's tongue had- POP!
Blinking several times, Twilight looked towards the place she'd been standing moments before. “Wow, it actually worked!” she said excitedly before a roar quickly reminded her of the task at hand. “Well at least I have an easy way to escape now.”
Part of her was wondering what the hell she was doing. This wasn't her world, nor was she the per- er, pony everypony thought she was. In the moment though, that didn't seem to matter.
The hydra didn't seem to notice her as she approached the base of its body, the heads still hissing and snapping at one another. “Yep, definitely a teenager,” she said confidently. Taking a deep breath, she delivered her next line at the top of her lungs. “Hey! Hydra! What's the big idea coming into my territory, huh?”
The bickering stopped and three pairs of eyes turned to stare at her. “You heard me! These lands are under the protection of Princess Twilight Sparkle!” Twelve years ago, she remembered a time when she had pretended to be a princess. Now she was delivering that line with sincerity.
One of the heads simply snorted and took a bite out of the apple tree. The other two heads quickly turned their attention back to him. “Fine, have it your way.”
POP!
Twilight didn't know much about hydras or even what rules they operated under in this world, but one universal constant across all creatures, human and animal, was a consistent weak point, and when the unicorn teleported above the middle head, her hoof came down hard on his right eye. The resulting roar made her ears flatten against her skull, but she was already gone.
POP!
Carefully, she landed on the right head, holding back a giggle as the injured head looked around wildly. “You know,” she spoke to the head she was standing on, “It must be really annoying putting up with him all the time. He seems really short tempered.” Just in time for Middle to notice her, opening his jaws wide before lunging.
POP! CRACK!
The sound of two skulls colliding made her wince, but Twilight was already on the left head. “Those two must fight all the time. When was the last time you ever got to do anything on your own?” Enraged now, the middle head furiously jerked around to face her once more. Twilight simply smiled and waved a hoof.
POP! CRACK!
Dazed now, it took the middle head several seconds to notice the unicorn was now standing on his own head. “It must really bite being in the middle of every disagreement. Getting dragged into every fight and all.”
Middle had just enough time to see both of his partner heads looking at him before he was in the center of a three head pileup, with Twilight safely on the hydra's back. From there, everything erupted into chaos.
ROAR! CRACK! POP!
“Wow, you're not just gonna take that are you?”
SMASH! CRACK! RAHHH!
“Teaming up on you? Must happen pretty often.”
GRAHHH! FWOOSH! POP!
“You know he's just gonna turn on you, too.”
With a final pop, Twilight collapsed onto the ground a good distance away, her task complete. Even though she was gone, the heads had more than enough aggression to work out on each other now, leaving her and the apple farm alone, and from the looks of it they were tiring quickly.
“Magical observations addendum: Teleporting is really tiring,” she mumbled, feeling like this was a great place for a nap.
Five minutes later, it was over. The three heads were slumped over one another, two unconscious with the third pinned beneath them and not going anywhere. Before the unicorn could drift off herself though, a slow steady clap began to fill the air.
“Bravo Sparkle, bra-vo. I haven't seen such a lovely use of disharmonious tactics in over a thousand years.” Twilight's ears perked up. That voice sounded incredibly familiar. Despite rapidly turning her head though, she couldn't find the source. “Up here, Twilight.”
If she'd been standing, Twilight would have fallen over in surprise. As it was, she was too tired to do either as the snake...dragon...goat...thingy, stared down at her. “Okay, this world is officially just messing with me now. What the flying buck are you supposed to be?” Twilight blinked. She had most definitely meant to say that particular word with an 'f'.
The hybrid creature blinked, looking at her with a puzzled expression. “Amnesia? No, too cliché. Alternate personality? No...ah! A fellow cross dimensional traveler! First time crossing worlds?”
“Er, yes?” Twilight tried to keep track of him, but he was in constant motion, casually defying gravity as he looked her over from ears to tail. And he didn't even seem to need wings. Finally, something clicked. “Wait, I know that voice now! You're Q!”
The exclamation froze Discord in midair, complete with icicles. Shaking them off, the draconequus slid next to Twilight and wrapped an arm around her neck, looking around conspiratorially. Putting a clawed digit to his mouth, a soft 'shhh' passed over her ear. “I'll admit it, this world is a not-so-guilty pleasure of mine, but let's keep that between us, yes?”
Dumbfounded, Twilight nodded, trying to find her voice but before she could ask anything, the draconequus held out a hand, silencing her. Conjuring a wand and a top hat, Discord tapped the brim and reached inside, only to come out with nothing. Frowning, Discord upended the hat and smacked it several times, only for the top to open. Putting his entire arm inside, the creature fished around a bit before suddenly pulling out...another Twilight.
“Gah! Discord, what did I tell you about-” Her voice stopped suddenly as she noticed the glasses-wearing Twilight. “Something tells me this isn't your fault for once.”
“My dear Twilight, the best chaos is always organic in nature,” came the smug response.
Sighing and shaking her head, Twilight climbed out of the hat, her wings becoming visible as she landed.
“Huh. Didn't get those,” mused the glasses wearing Twilight.
Alicorn Twilight only smiled. “With how things have been going in your world lately, it's only gonna be a matter of time until some magical mystery presents itself for you to solve.”
“Huh?”
“Long story. So tell me, how did you get through the portal at Canterlot High?”
“Wait, you've been through too? No wonder everypon- I mean, everyone knew my name!”
Alicorn Twilight giggled. “Sorry about that, I was just as confused with my first time in your world. I didn't even think I had a double over there.” For a brief moment, Alicorn Twilight's horn glowed and a pink sphere of energy appeared around the hydra. “That should hold him if he wakes up. Really good job on taking him down by the way, even if it was a bit dirty.”
“Hey, he's like...a million times bigger than me!”
The alicorn simply smiled. “Well, I suppose I can't fault you for not having a complete grasp on magic yet. I'm betting you have a lot of questions right now too.”
“About three-thousand in my last mental checklist,” responded the unicorn immediately.
“I'll try to answer what I can, although I can guess the first one already. How does magic work, yes?” Sheepishly, Unicorn Twilight nodded. “You feel up for walking?” The unicorn tried her limbs before shakily standing up next to her and nodding again. “Well then, let's start at the beginning. Magic today came into being several thousand years ago in an event scholars refer to as the...”
---
“...and that's essentially how magic works. Any questions?”
“Wow...no, not really. I think you've literally answered every question I thought up in your explanation.”
Alicorn Twilight smiled sheepishly. “I had a pretty good point of reference to work with.”
“Although that doesn't really explain him,” said the unicorn, gesturing towards Discord who was still following along.
Twilight sighed. “I'm going to need a few hundred more years for that. It's a toss up between him and Pinkie on whom my inner scientist is more infuriated by.”
“Pinkie? What's so bad about-”
“Twilight!”
“Gah!”
Unicorn Twilight fell over as her vision was filled with pink. “No...two Twilights? Heeey, did you go to the mirror pool without me?” It seemed like every time she blinked, the pink pony was in a new position, carefully examining each of the two purple mares with a critical eye.
“What? Two of them?”
“Consarnit Twilight, were you testing a new spell again?”
“O-Oh my...”
“Hmph. I knew that lab coat was too tacky for our Twilight to wear.”
“Hey!”
“I-Is this another accident?”
“Girls, calm down,” said Alicorn Twilight with a giggle as the two of them were mobbed by her friends. “Do you remember the mirror world I visited a while back?” There was a collective nod. “Well, this is Twilight Sparkle from that side.”
There was a unified 'ahhh' of understanding. “And as you can see, she is still a unicorn,” she added, pulling up the flaps of her lab coat with her magic.
“Eep!” The unicorn squeaked and jerked away, blushing slightly as she covered herself.
“I'm so sorry!” said Fluttershy suddenly, rushing forward and bowing deeply in front of her. “We thought you could handle the hydra. I-I had no idea!”
“H-Hey, it's okay,” said the suddenly nervous unicorn. “I did manage to take care of him, didn't I?”
Rainbow Dash looked between the two of them several times before flying down and whispering in Alicorn Twilight's ear. “Oh? Well, I can forgive you this once Rainbow. It was me after all.” Rainbow let out a sight of relief before grinning and whispering something else. The alicorn immediately blushed. “W-what? No! Rainbow, she can't stay here!”
“Aww, why not? Not even one night?”
“No!”
“What are you two talking about?” interjected the unicorn.
“Nothing!” There was a moment of silence as the alicorn composed herself. “Twilight, allow me to introduce you properly to my friends. In your world you probably know them as the Rainbooms.”
The purple unicorn nodded. “I'm familiar with them, although I haven't really 'met' any of you before today.”
“Whaaaat?” Pinkie once again filled her vision, but this time she managed to keep her hooves. “You mean we're not friends over there?”
“Well, we don't even go to the same school-”
“Unacceptable!”
“W-What?”
“We're your best friends in the whole wide world! That needs to include other dimensions!”
Unicorn Twilight looked around desperately for help. Alicorn Twilight simply chuckled at the sight. “Well, she does have a bit of a point.”
“She does?”
“You remind me a lot of myself before they found me. I know you didn't get the best first impression of them, but then again neither did I.” There was a collective giggle at that shared memory.
“Well, I'm not sure I made a great impression on the Rainbooms come to that...”
“You don't need to worry. I'll write ahead to Sunset Shimmer and explain what happened,” said Twilight, levitating a book beside her as she slowly walked through the halls of the crystal castle.
Unicorn Twilight looked hesitant. “Um...do I have to go right now?”
The alicorn gave her a knowing look. “I promise to bring you back here someday, but the portal is really unstable right now. I don't want you to get stuck here. Believe me, there are a ton of things in your world I'm just as eager to learn about.
“I guess I'll show you my world sometime then too,” said the unicorn with a smile. They were standing in front of the mirror now, the book placed on its stand as the portal slowly charged. “I wonder though, why didn't I get wings like you?”
“Ask your friends when you get back.” The alicorn was levitating a pencil now, a purple glow surrounding the object as it danced across the page. From behind, Rainbow watched. “Did you want to include something Rainbow?” Eagerly, the pegasus nodded before landing beside her and whispering in her ear again. “What? I can't write that!”
“Please, Twilight?”
“No! You write it!”
Puzzled, the purple unicorn watched as Rainbow took the pencil in her mouth and began to scribble in the softly glowing journal, the devices around it slowly starting to power up.
Stepping away from the book, the alicorn approached her and the mirror, her horn glowing. “Listen, I know Pinkie can be a bit much, but she does have a point. I'm guessing you're a bit of an introvert, right?”
Wordlessly, the unicorn nodded. This close it was impossible not to observe the subtle differences between them. Her voice was louder and more confident, she definitely came across as more cheerful, and she even seemed to be...well, graceful and somewhat elegant in her mannerisms. It was hard not to feel envious as it felt like she was looking at a better version of herself.
“Well, being like that is completely fine, but you're cutting yourself off from so much like that. I know it can be hard to reach out and open yourself up to new po...er, people, but it'll be worth it in the end. I've already run that particular experiment twice after all.”
Unicorn Twilight couldn't help but sigh at that. “I suppose I can't argue with duplicated results.” There was a flash and suddenly the mirror was glowing a bright white color.
“Take care over there,” said Alicorn Twilight with a smile.
Unicorn Twilight looked towards the portal and then back. “C-Can I ask for one last thing before I go?”
“Of course.”
Blushing slightly, Twilight mumbled something that only the other Twilight was able to hear. “I...guess that's fine. Discord?”
In a pink puff of smoke, Discord vanished from the ceiling and reappeared next to Twilight. “Oh, I don't see why not,” he said, snapping his fingers and making the lab coat flash. Twilight peeked at the inside of the jacket and just barely fought back a squee.
“Now then, just walk through the portal and brace yourself for a fall on the other side.”
“Do take care darling, and be sure to ask my other self to spruce up that coat of yours!”
“U-Um goodbye, it was nice meeting you.”
“Don't forget to make friends with me! And the others!”
“Real good job with that hydra, sugarcube. Thanks for saving mah apple farm.”
“Come back as soon as you can!” called out Rainbow Dash, “The mirror pool just isn't the same as the real thing!” There was an awkward silence. “What?” Before the unicorn could get any more embarrassed, she ran through the portal, the magic winking out after she was gone.
“So why did she want your autograph anyways, Discord?” asked Twilight.
“My dear little princess, yours is hardly the only universe I torment.”
---
The ground came rushing towards her, but instead of cold hard cement, a bright blue mat was in its place. It wasn't a comfortable landing, but it was definitely softer than what could have been. The changes from one world to the next were noticeable and sharp, the colors a bit more drab and the air a bit more suffocating, but it was definitely nice to have her human hands and feet again. Before she could move to her feet though, two pairs of hands were helping her. Sunset Shimmer on her right and Rainbow Dash on her left. The other Rainbooms were there too.
“Nice landing there, egghead,” teased the rainbow-haired athlete.
“Six out of ten!” graded Pinkie.
Catching her breath, Twilight looked around at all of them, putting names to faces she'd seen on the other side. “No po- I mean no one is going to believe this.”
“We will,” assured Rainbow Dash, giving her shoulder a pat.
“And I'm originally from Equestria, so I have a pretty good idea of what you might have seen.”
Twilight's eyes widened. “Really? Were you a unicorn too? Did you use magic?”
Sunset chuckled and put up a hand. “I'll answer everything, but not here. School is about to close. You got a place you like to eat?”
“Not really...”
“Sugarcube Corner then! New friend party!” cut in Pinkie.
“Well, I suppose...”
Rainbow picked up on her hesitance. “You don't have to if you don't want to. If you're tired and all that...”
Twilight hesitated, briefly looking around at the hopeful faces before smiling. “No, I would like that. But only if I'm not paying,” she added.
Sunset gave her a smile in return. “Okay, but you have to tell us the story of how you beat the hydra.”
“Wait, you did what?”
---
Dear Sunset Shimmer,
I'm just as surprised as you that there was another of me in your world so you might want to be on the lookout for another you just in case. Twilight is probably going to have a million questions so if you don't want this book completely filled with our correspondence you should probably help her out.
Joking aside, I'm a bit concerned for my other self. She reminds me a lot of the time before I came to Ponyville and made friends. Even though you don't go to the same school, I hope you can help her to open up to others like my friends helped me. Consider it your first friendship assignment.
Sincerely,
Twilight Sparkle
---
Dear Rainbow Dash,
This is a message from Rainbow Dash to the other awesome Rainbow Dash. Everypony else look away. I mean it.
Anyways...go for it! You totally have a chance with her, and I know your Twilight is just as awesome as mine! She took down a hydra on her first visit here! I've written down a few things my Twilight likes so maybe you can use them on your Twilight. Trust me, she's worth it.
-Rainbow Dash