As Seri prepares the dining table with Sienna bothering her about the food, Reykan and I are listening to Twilight as she paces around.
“—but the only thing I can think of is that she would need me in this plan of hers instead of herself... So...that could be it, I suppose,” Miss Purple says as she stops and looks at the longcase clock—forty-two minutes past six in the morning—before she resumes her pacing. “She did say that she needs me to be the one performing our part of the plan instead of herself.” She stops and looks at us. “So I guess that would make sense.”
I slightly shake my head. “It doesn’t make sense to me, since, y’know,” I shrug, “I still don’t know what Alter-Twilight’s plan is...” I wanted to call her ‘Psycho-Twilight,’ but I don’t think Real-Twilight would approve...
Miss Purple nods her head. “I understand, but it’s best that I tell all of you about her plan over breakfast.”
“Do I really have to eat plants again?” Reykan asks weakly, lying on his belly beside me. He raises his head, his ears turning. “I can hunt outside now, since that wild storm’s gone.” He pouts. “I’m just going to hunt slower prey for now though... Ugh...”
Oh yeah. The storm’s gone. Hm... “Random question, Twilight.”
“Hm?”
“Why does the rain from the, uh, wild storm taste so awful?”
“Huh,” Reykan blinks, turning his attention to Twilight. “I wanna know, too. Mom didn’t know, so my siblings and I never knew, too.”
Reykan has siblings?
Twilight sits down in front of us. “Well, I haven’t really spent that much time...studying and researching this new environment.” She brings a hoof to her chin as her gaze shifts to a random book on a shelf. “But based on my observations and quick magical analysis, wild storms are created by chaos magic.”
I blink. “Chaos magic?”
Reykan sighs, his ears drooping. “I never understand almost everything Twilight pony says...”
Seri chuckles as she places five bowls on the circular table. “Just nod and smile and pretend you understand what she’s saying, Little Rey.”
Reykan sighs again.
Twilight chuckles shyly. “Well... To be honest, I can’t really find an alternative term for chaos magic...” She shakes her head. “In any case, chaos magic is a destructive and unpredictable type of mana. It enhances other chaos-like mana and chaos material, but, aside from naturally cancelling harmonious magic, it also cancels other chaos mana.”
My head hurts... I’m having a headache from all this magical nonsense talk... And all I wanted to know was why the wild storm rainwater tasted nasty.
“I know what chaos magic is...” Reykan says. He slightly shakes his head before he throws a soft glare at Twilight. “I just don’t know what ‘studying’ and ‘reach seething’ and ‘everyone mint’ and ‘ob—’ whatever are...”
I smile a small smile. “Yesh... Twilight knows a lot of big words, huh?”
“Eh,” Reykan ehs as Seri carries a steaming metallic pot towards the table with Sienna tailing her. “At least I now know that wild storms are created by chaos magic.”
I blink at him. “...How come you know what chaos magic is?”
He looks and blinks at me. “How come you don’t know what chaos magic is?”
“Most non-magical beings don’t know a lot about magic,” Twilight suddenly says, catching our attention.
“Oh! Forgot the spoon again!” Seri suddenly says. “No! Bad deer! Bad!” I turn and see her shooing Sienna away from the steaming soup in a pot. “No eating until we’re all sitting around the table!”
“Get out of my way!” Sienna tries to move past the white feathery blockade to no avail.
I roll my eyes and return my attention back to Miss Purple, who has an amused smile on her face as she stares at the scene. I clear my throat. “Ahem... Go on...”
She blinks and turns her attention back to me. “Oh, uh, sorry about that.”
I shrug.
“Well, chaos magic and harmonious magic are two natural and prominent mana that is available...well...everywhere. But non-magical creatures, especially in this world, don’t usually know about it, nor do they even know it exist in the first place. But magical creatures, like Sienna and I, can feel the mana around us and it also influences us more than non-magical ones, because...well...we use magic.” She turns her head to look at Sienna sitting by the table with a grumpy look on her face. “The deer kind can sense harmonious magic more than chaos magic, because of their natural magical ability to heal.” She turns back to us. “And because the deer kind are closely connected to nature. Unicorns, however, are neutral, therefore we can sense both mana equally.” She frowns slightly. “However, and I’m sure that you’re aware, unicorns are...naturally hot-tempered, and the negative feelings they have kinda automatically absorbs more chaos magic than harmonious magic, enraging them even more.”
I blink at that.
“Emotions act like magnets to attract mana more to us. If we’re angry, we absorb chaos magic to fuel our anger further, almost making it difficult to control ourselves...like...the Twilight of this world.” She takes a breath and sighs before she composes herself. “If we feel love, we absorb harmonious magic to help us act on those feelings.”
I arch an eyebrow. “So...if it’s mating season, there’s more harmonious mana flying around that may infect other ponies, right?”
Twilight blushes slightly.
I still don’t understand how blushes work if our skins are covered with fur. Wait... I blink. My eyes then slowly widens in horror. “T-Twilight, I was kidding... This world has a ma—”
“I found the spoon!” Seri exclaims triumphantly, raising the spoon high with a wing as she emerges from the kitchen.
“Horay...” Sienna says quietly with glaring eyes on the wobbling swan. “Can we eat now?”
Right... I needed that distraction. “Since when did you became a grumpy free-loader, Sienna?” I ask with a teasing smile.
She turns to me, her glaring emerald eyes unchanging. “...Everyone gets grumpy when they’re hungry, Jay. Even you.”
I blink blankly at her.
I hear Twilight chuckle as Seri places a spoon by a bowl. “I think your deer friend doesn’t know what a free-loader means, Jay.”
“I don’t know almost everything you say,” Reykan suddenly says.
“You’ll get used to it, my little panther,” Seri says with a beaked smile. “Come on, everyone. Breakfast is served!”
“Jay,” Reykan calls, giving me a pleading look as he pokes my hoof with a paw. “I don’t wanna eat plant food... It hurts my tummy!”
Twilight smiles at him as she gently pats the panther’s head. “Don’t worry. I’ll make sure that you won’t eat too much that’ll upset your stomach, Reykan.”
He bats her hoof away and looks back to me. “But I don’t wanna! Can I hunt a rabbit or a bird outside, please? Pleeeaaase?”
Welp, I can’t say no to those big, sparkly sapphire eyes of his. “Alright. But—”
“Awesome!” he exclaims happily and rushes towards the door. He hops in place, staring at the wooden blockade. “Open up! Open up! Open up!”
Twilight turns to me and gives me a disapproving frown that contrasts my amused smile. “But he needs to hear the plan.”
“Do you really expect him to understand the plan?” I ask.
“Open up! Open it up already! Open up!” chants the jumpy little furball.
Twilight sighs a defeated sigh. She ignites her horn with purple magic, enveloping the wooden door with her purple magical aura and opening it. “Just be careful with...”
Reykan is already gone.
“...cockatrices...”
I blink. Huh... That reminds me—
“Can we eat now?” Sienna asks impatiently as Twilight magically closes the door. “And thank the deer god, the predator’s gone.”
Twilight and I approach the table and take our seats...on the floor. She uses her magic to distribute the veggie soup to our bowls, Sienna and Seri instantly attacking their bowls the very moment Twilight’s purple aura disappears.
I might as well ask about the cockatrices and the lack of statues—
“All right,” Miss Purple says as she looks at me.
—or maybe I’ll just wait for the right opportunity...
Twilight continues, “The plan—”
“Seconds please?”
Twilight gawks at Sienna. Seri as well. Heck, even I’m gawking at her.
Sienna blinks and looks at each of us. “What?”
Twilight refills her bowl after snapping out of her trance. “Anyway,” she looks at us. “I want all of you to listen.”
“We can listen while we eat, right?” Seri asks with a smile. “Seconds please?”
Twilight rolls her eyes as she refills her bowl. “As you three may or may not be aware of, something happened to Equestria. This world that we live in right now?” She shakes her head. “This isn’t what Equestria is supposed to be.”
“Oh! Oh!” Seri suddenly interrupts with an excited look. “Do that glowy showy thingie!”
Glowy what now?
Twilight nods her head at the swan before she ignites her horn with purple magic. The table soon glows a faint purple light, and seconds later, many various animated scenes appear on the table. Ponies walking on the sidewalks in a city, ponies watching the passing scenery through the train’s windows, ponies bowing to Princess Celestia and Princess Luna inside the castle’s throne room, the bug bear scene in Ponyville, and so much more. And by that, I mean there are also scenes of different creatures in different locations, like those griffons helping each other with fixing a tree house, dragons leisurely swimming in lava, deer milling around a market place, a giraffe couple talking merrily as they approach a movie theater, and so much more...
“What...” I hear Sienna say in a quiet, awed tone. “...are these...?”
Seri smiles at the gawking deer. “This is what Twilight’s Equestria looks like!” She looks back down at the table, staring. “Isn’t it beautiful?”
“I...don’t even know what I’m looking at,” Sienna says with a slow shake of her head.
“I don’t either!” Seri agrees merrily. “But it still looks pretty.”
“You’re looking at the various places of the real Equestria,” Twilight explains.
Sienna looks up at her. “You keep on saying about this ‘real Equestria,’ Twilight, but, isn’t this Equestria real, too?”
Twilight nods her head. “In a sense, yes, but...” She looks back at the table, frowning. “Your real Equestria, Sienna, isn’t real.”
“I...don’t follow.”
“Something happened,” Twilight says. “What you see on the table is what the real Equestria should be. But...something happened, and the many scenes you see on the table?” She closes her eyes and shakes her head. She reopens her eyes with a sad frown. “It all disappeared, and it all became this Equestria.”
Sienna slowly, slowly shakes her head. “I...don’t understand what you’re saying.”
“Don’t be sad, Sienna!” Seri says with a cheerful smile. “I don’t understand it, either! But think of it like this...” She grabs her bowl of soup and tilts it enough for Sienna to see. “Pretend this bowl is Equestria, and the soup is all those you see on the table. Now...something decided to eat all those up!” She lifts her bowl up, pours the soup down her open beak and gulps it all down. “Mmm...” She then shows her empty bowl back to Sienna. “And what happened to Equestria now?”
“Uh...” Sienna blinks, looking completely lost. “...the soup is gone?”
“Yes!” Seri nods her head. “And I’m going to ask Twilight to refill it again! But later! Now do you see? The bowl is empty. The soup is gone! The real Equestria you see on the table-thing is gone! And do you know why?”
“Um... Because some...one ate the real Equestria?”
“Exactly!” Seri says as she slams her bowl down on the table with a huge smile, startling the rest of us. “And Twilight wants to refill this bowl again so she can get the real Equestria back! And also that I can continue eating, because I’m still hungry.” She then smiles at Twilight.
Twilight rolls her eyes and refills her bowl as the magic scenes on the table disappears.
“I...think I get it.” Sienna says with a blink. She turns to Twilight. “So...the Equestria outside...isn’t the real Equestria?”
Miss Purple nods her head.
Sienna looks around. “...And this is what your home looks like in the real Equestria, right?”
Twilight nods her head, looking unsure.
Sienna then looks at me, blinking. “...Jay, you’re from the real Equestria, too?”
Er... Should I tell them where I really am from? I glance at Twilight. She’s looking at me expectantly. Eh... “Yeah...” I say with a hesitant nod.
Sienna nods her head and turns to Twilight. “And you two want to return home, I take it?”
“Of course,” Twilight replies. “But I’m going to need each of you to help me, but...” She bites her lip. “I...I should probably ask you first if you want to help us or not.”
“I wanna help!” Seri cheerfully announces. “And more soup, please!”
Twilight refills her bowl before she turns to look back at Sienna.
The deer shrugs. “I can help. It’s better than wandering around.” She looks down at her bowl with a smile. “And if these are the food you eat back there, then I don’t mind going there to eat more of this stuff!”
Way to go, food. It’s always nice to know that no matter what world, we can always use you as a tool to use others...
Twilight smiles. “Thank you, Sienna. I really appreciate your help.”
“Okay, so...” I say, catching the three females’ attention. I blink. Shut up, brain. This is not a harem. “A-ahem... Right. So uh, the plan?”
Twilight nods her head. “We can’t really go ahead and try various methods in hopes of fixing Equestria.” She shakes her head. “Not until we learn what caused the change.”
I blink.
Twilight continues: “So the first thing we need is to figure out who or what changed the events that happened in the past.”
I arch an eyebrow.
Twilight continues: “To be more specific, we need to know who or what stopped the Windigoes from freezing Equestria.”
Seri stops eating and lifts her small swan head up and looks at Twilight. “Windigoes?” she asks, blinking.
“Question,” I say as I raise a hoof. I bring said hoof down before I say, “How are we supposed to accomplish that?”
Twilight smiles. “With a potion.”
“With a what?” I ask, blinking.
“What’s a potion?” Sienna asks.
Twilight explains: “There was a time when Ponyville was overgrown by chaos vines that—”
Ahh... I remember that episode. The only season premier without an actual villain. Oh, derp. I should probably pay attention.
“—but then Zecora, my zebra friend, gave me a potion that helped me see visions of the past,” Miss Purple says with a smile. “And that’s what we’re going to need to see what really happened in the past! Once we learn who or what caused the change, we can then formulate a plan on how to fix Equestria!”
“Yay!” Seri cheers.
“Zebra?” Sienna asks. “Are those pony-like creatures with black and white colors?”
“Yes,” Twilight replies, smiling at her. “Have you met one before? I don’t think my altered self has met one before.”
Sienna shakes her head. “I haven’t met one, but I’ve heard of them and where they live.”
“Oh?”
The deer nods her head. “If I remember correctly, zebras live beyond the hot, windy and grainy earth with no trees and rain.”
A...desert?
“They live in a desert?” Twilight asks.
“What’s a desert?” Seri and Sienna ask.
They live beyond the desert? We’re going to cross a freaking hot desert?
Twilight shakes her head. “Well, we don’t need to walk through a desert and meet up with zebras for this plan.”
“I still don’t know what ‘desert’ is,” Sienna says with a pout.
“Oh! Sorry...” Twilight smiles an apologetic smile. “A desert is...the hot, windy and grainy earth with no trees and rain.”
Sienna blinks at her. “...Oh...”
“The more you know,” Seri says as she slowly sways a wing from left, then up, and right.
“Anyway,” Twilight continues, “Zecora has told me the ingredients she used to make that potion.”
“Ah,” I ah, “so all we need to do is to gather the ingredients for the potion, yes?”
Twilight nods her head. “Exactly.”
I nod as well with a smile. That smile soon starts to fade when something from that episode reminds me of something... “But Twilight...” I say with a frown. “You need alicorn magic to change that potion’s color, if I remember correctly.”
She blinks her curious eyes at me. “...You really do know a lot...” She furrows her brows. “...I don’t remember telling any newsponies about that. So how did you know about that?”
Er... Welp, I’m screwed...
She shakes her head. “It doesn’t matter. Right now, I need you three to gather the items.”
“Us three?” I ask.
Twilight nods her head. “I want to join you, but, well, other than the fact that ponies and other creatures are afraid of ‘Crazy Twilight,’ I need to power up those gems to help me amplify my magic to be strong enough to match an alicorn’s level of magic.”
I blink at her. “Wow... You’ve thought of that plan well, huh? But,” I slightly shake my head, “I uh, by three, I was asking if we’re going to include Reykan in this little quest of ours.”
“Why do we need that predator?” Sienna suddenly asks me with a glare. “I wanna help you two, but if we bring that predator along, then I won’t help you, no matter how delicious the food is in your Equestria.”
Food...you failed us...
“Actually, Jay,” Twilight says, catching Sienna’s and my attention. “By three, I was referring to you, Sienna and Reykan.”
“Aw...” Seri pouts. Don’t ask how a beaked bird can pout, because she can...for some strange reason... “But I wanna come along!”
Twilight shakes her head. “I’m sorry, Seri, but I need your help with the gems.”
Seri hangs her head and sighs a defeated sigh. “...All right.” She lamely pushes her bowl forward with her beak. “More soup, please?”
“Why do we need that predator to come along?” Sienna asks angrily.
Scratching sounds suddenly echoes around the library after Twilight refill’s Seri’s bowl. We all turn our attention to the door.
Squinting, Twilight ignites her horn with magic. Afterwards, her eyes light up. “Oh! It’s Reykan.” Enveloping the door with her magic, she opens it...
...And in comes a bloody-faced panther cub, carrying a dead rabbit in his jaws, leaving a muddy trail behind him as he approaches us. He stops two or three hooves away, drops the bloody mess on the floor and gives us a bloody proud smile.
“Twilight pony,” he says with twinkling eyes. “You can make this rabbit taste more delicious, right?”
Seri, Twilight and I stare at Reykan who excitingly wags his tail, and I wince and shiver from the sounds of Sienna who’s throwing up in her bowl.